Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows 8

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Video: Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows 8

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Hi, you're watching VisiHow. This is a tutorial on how to show hidden files and folders on Windows 8 computers. For the sake of the tutorial, we have specifically hidden two files. One of them is a text file, and the second one is a folder. To make them visible, we will need to go to the Control Panel. There are several ways to access it, but one of these is to go to the start menu.

1. 1
   Click the lower-left corner of the screen

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2. 2
   If the Control Panel is on the start menu, click on it

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   For this demonstration, ours is among the apps on the left-hand side, in a medium-blue box labeled "Control Panel". If it is not in this menu, click the downward-pointing arrow in the lower-left corner of the screen.

   

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3. 3
   Scroll to the right and find the Control Panel icon

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   Click it and the Control Panel will open. Here, we're looking for "Appearance and Personalization".

   

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4. 4
   Click "Appearance and Personalization"

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5. 5
   Click "Folder Options"

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   The "Folder Options" menu will open.

   

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6. 6
   Click "View"

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   It is the center tab.

   

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7. 7
   In this tab, click the white circle next to "Show hidden files, folders, and drives"

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   It is a sub-option under the heading "Hidden files and folders".

   

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8. 8
   Click "Apply" or "OK"

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   We're going to click "OK".

   

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9. 9
   Look at our desktop

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   Two files are now visible. One of them is a folder, and the other one is a text file. They appear transparent, which means that they are hidden. Let's make them visible again.

   

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10. 10
    Right-click on either file

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    We will right-click on the folder.

    

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11. 11
    Click "Properties" at the bottom of the pop-up menu

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12. 12
    Click "Hidden" to remove the check mark from the adjacent box

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13. 13
    Click "OK" or "Apply"

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14. 14
    Look at the folder on our desktop

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    It is no longer transparent. We will do the same with the text file.

    

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15. 15
    Right-click the text file

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16. 16
    Click "Properties"

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17. 17
    Click to remove the check mark next to "Hidden"

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18. 18
    Click "OK"

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19. 19
    This concludes our tutorial on how to show hidden files and folders on Windows 8 computers

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    Thank you for watching VisiHow. If you have any other comments or questions, please leave them in the comments section below.

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If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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