How to Hide a File on Windows 11

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2025-01-10

In this tutorial, we'll learn how to make a file or folder "hidden" on Windows 11. Hidden files aren't displayed by the File Explorer by default when listing the files of a location.

Danger: Hidden Files Aren't Really "Hidden."

To hide a file or folder on Windows 11, follow the following steps:

1: open the file properties dialog of the file or folder that you want to hide.

How to Open the File Properties Dialog on Windows 11

A dialog titled "New Text Document Properties." It has 5 tabs: General (active), Digital Signatures, Security, Details, Previous Versions. The first field, unlabeled, has the value New Text Document. To its left an icon of a document. Type of file: Text Document (.txt). Opens with: Notepad (a button "Change..."). Location: C:\Users\en\Documents. Size: 0 bytes. Size on disk: 0 bytes. Created: Friday, January, 2025, 11:29:54 AM. Modified: (same date). Accessed: 3 minutes ago. Attributes: two checkboxes, Read-only and Hidden, both unchecked. A button reads "Advanced..." At the bottom, three buttons: OK (with a blue outline), Cancel, Apply (greyed out). — The file properties dialog for a new text document on Windows 11.

2: in the General tab, check the checkbox that reads "Hidden."

3: click OK. The file will be hidden.

Note: after the file is hidden it will, literally, be hidden, i.e. it will disappear, which means you won't be able to unhide it unless you change a setting to make the File Explorer display hidden files.

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