.DS_Store Viewer

What it's for

See what’s inside a .DS_Store file, the hidden file Finder writes in folders to remember icon positions, view settings, comments and more. It lists the names of the files and folders Finder has seen there, including some that have since been deleted or renamed.

When you’re…

• checking a ZIP, a shared drive or a repository before sharing it, to see which file names a stray .DS_Store gives away;
• testing a website that serves /.DS_Store, which can reveal files and folders that aren’t linked anywhere;
• curious what Finder has been keeping about a folder.

How to use it

Choose a .DS_Store file, or drop it on the page. In a Mac’s file dialog, press ⌘⇧. (Command-Shift-full stop) to show hidden files so you can pick it.

Names it records lists every file and folder name, ready to copy. The table shows each record: the name it’s about (a full stop is the folder itself), what the record is, with its four-letter code, and its value in words, such as icon positions, sizes, dates, comments, view styles and window settings. For an item in the Trash, the Put Back records say where it came from.

Example

Make a folder with a file in it, open it in Finder in icon view, drag the file’s icon to a new place, then close the window. Choose the folder’s .DS_Store here.

The file is listed under Names it records, and the table shows an Icon position (Iloc) record for it giving its x and y position in pixels, alongside records for the folder’s own window and view settings.

Good to know

Finder doesn’t record every file, only ones it has had a reason to (a position, a comment, a list view it measured), so the list isn’t a full listing of the folder. Records Finder adds in newer versions of macOS may show as Unknown, with their raw bytes. To stop Finder writing these files on network drives, run defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true.