You can really clean up your Mac Desktop by hiding all the hard disk and drive icons that appear by default on it. This is a settings choice that makes it so when you connect a new drive to the Mac, it won’t show up on the desktop, but it will be visible from a Finder window and accessible from the Finder or any application.
Keep in mind you can also just create a folder on the desktop or elsewhere on your Mac and manually drag an drop icons and files into that folder, that removes them from the desktop and cleans things up a bit – but you can’t do that with drives and volumes. To hide things like a hard disk or USB drive, you’ll need to turn to the settings option.
Here’s how to adjust what icons are visible on the Mac desktop, you’ll want to do this from the Mac OS and Mac OS X Finder:
How to Hide or Remove Icons from Mac Desktop
Navigate to the Finder of Mac OS if you have not done so already, then do the following:
- Click on the “Finder” menu and select “Preferences”
- Click on the “General” tab
- Uncheck boxes next to hard disks, drives, ipods, etc to toggle those icons off or on on the Mac desktop
Changes take effect immediately and your hard disk will immediately disappear [Note this doesn’t really remove the icons in a deletion sense, it just hides them from being visually seen on the Desktop].
Any other icons you want cleared off the desktop you can simply just drag & drop them into another folder within your home directory, or elsewhere.
If you really want to have a clean and bare desktop, you can also choose to hide all desktop icons from ever appearing via the Mac OS command line by using a defaults command string. That defaults method basically disables the desktop, thereby preventing the icons from showing up at all, unlike the method described above, it applies to all icons rather than just selective choices of hard disks, drives, and network shares.
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Support Communities / Mac OS & System Software / macOS Big Sur
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I recently installed google drive for desktop from backup and sync. Now it shows as google drive folder and an ejectable drive on my sidebar. The old backup and sync simply created and synced a local folder. I removed it from favorite but reappears every time google drive opens. How do i prevent it from showing on the favorite permanently?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.4
Posted on Aug 23, 2021 11:01 AM
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In response to judysings
Hi Judy, thank you for your reply.
I understand how to remove or add items from the Sidebar. The problem is every time I reboot, Google drive forcefully places an ejectable folder in Finder Sidebar Favorite Section. As you can see in the screenshot above
Aug 24, 2021 11:40 PM
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In response to Jr88s
Hi there Jr88s,
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We understand you're wanting to permanently remove Google Drive from your Finder sidebar and we'd be happy to point you in the right direction. To change what shows in your Finder sidebar, you'll want to go up to your menu bar and select Finder > Preferences and from there you can select or deselect options to show in your sidebar. You can read more about this process and other ways to customize Finder at the link below.
Customize the Finder toolbars on Mac
Take care!
Aug 24, 2021 9:20 AM
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In response to judysings
Hi Judy, thank you for your reply.
I understand how to remove or add items from the Sidebar. The problem is every time I reboot, Google drive forcefully places an ejectable folder in Finder Sidebar Favorite Section. As you can see in the screenshot above
Aug 24, 2021 11:40 PM
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In response to Jr88s
Got it, Jr88s.
Since the app is reappearing in Finder every time you open the app itself, it is likely a feature or setting that is implemented by the Google Drive app. In this case, we would recommend reaching out to Google Support for assistance with disabling this, if possible.
Google Drive Help
Best regards.
Aug 25, 2021 7:14 AM
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In response to Jr88s
Hi Jr88s,
did you get that solved? I'm experiencing the same bug: after manually removing the Google Drive link in my sidebar's favorites [by dragging it out of the sidebar], it comes back after restarting my Mac. And I don't want that.
Best, David
Sep 9, 2021 6:49 AM
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In response to stesso
Apparently, OneDrive also has a similar glitch. judysings, please read more carefully.
Sep 11, 2021 8:19 PM
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User profile for user: Jr88s
Question: Q: Drive for desktop.. How to remove google virtual drive from sidebar permanently
Since the release of the graphical user interface [GUI] on the first Mac, the desktop has been playing a prominent role in our everyday computer interactions. After all, it’s the most convenient and visible spot for our files.
It’s likely that you save most of the content you download from the web on the desktop and if you ever need not to forget about something important you put it there too. There are even various get things done [GTD] wallpapers that turn your desktop into a task checklist!
The problem, however, is that the desktop tends to get cluttered fairly quickly and no one has the time to constantly clean it up. So what do you do when you need your Mac to look presentable?
Why Hide Desktop Icons Mac Is Displaying?
Sometimes you need to remove icon from desktop Mac temporarily. You might be about to give a presentation or you might simply want to take a screenshot without any distractions. In both cases, moving icons into other folders would unnecessarily take too much time. Especially once you know how to hide icons on Mac with ease.
Here are a few options to remove icon from desktop Mac.
How to hide all desktop icons with one click
If you don’t tend to present that often and the default Mac screenshot is enough for your needs, you might just want a straightforward button to click for all the desktop icons to disappear.
One Switch is exactly the solution you need. This lightweight app stays in your menu bar and brings all the most popular but hard to find features right up to your fingertips. You can click to hide icons, connect to your favorite Bluetooth device, turn on Dark Mode, keep your Mac awake indefinitely, and much more — One Switch accomplishes it all seamlessly.
Another handy tool to hide your macOS desktop icons is Almighty. The app lives in your menu bar, and all you have to do to hide or show your desktop items is click the app icon in your menu bar and find the respective menu option:
In the screenshot, the setting is set to show desktop icons. In order to hide them, just toggle the setting off. Since this setting is off by default, you’ll likely need to toggle it on and back to off to get your desktop icons to actually hide after you use this tool on your first install of Almighty.
And while we are on the topic — Almighty is actually a powerful Mac configurator that helps you adjust much more than just the way your desktop looks. The app has handy switchers for a number of Mac features. From clearing out your clipboard contents to scheduling a shutdown, Almighty really is as mighty as the name might suggest. So you might start using it to remove icons from desktop and end up configuring dozens more Mac settings with it!
How to hide desktop icons Mac Terminal
You probably know that Terminal is one of the most powerful apps on your Mac. In fact, you can control any aspect of your Mac via Terminal commands. For many, though, Terminal could seem confusing and unapproachable, so it’s better to learn it one command at a time.
To hide your Mac desktop icons, for example:
- Launch Terminal from Applications ➙ Utilities
- Type defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop false
- Press Enter
- Now restart Finder by typing killall Finder and hitting Enter once again
The icons are gone! Now you can do whatever is on your mind and once you want the icons to return, simply type defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true and then killall Finder again.
Hide with a period
Now that you know how to get rid of icons on your Mac desktop, you can also use Terminal to hide them in Finder. Here is a simple set of commands that stops your files from showing up automatically in Finder:
- Launch Terminal from Applications > Utilities.
- Go to the folder where your file is located by typing in Terminal the cd command followed by the path to it, e.g. cd Downloads. Hit Enter.
- Type mv [name of your file] .[name of your file], e.g. mv file .file. Remember to include the file extension. Hit Enter. To reverse the change, type in mv .[name of your file] [name of your file].
This will work for your items in Finder, but also for desktop. So if you are wondering how to hide folders or files on Mac desktop, this way can be one of your go-to solutions for individual icons.
As for how to remove icons from desktop Mac in bulk, you’ll need a more efficient solution — like one of the tools we are recommending a little later in this guide.
And if you want to know how to hide apps on Mac desktop, rejoice as this method works for apps as well, just add .app at the end of your app name.
Set the hidden flag
One more way to manually hide your files or folders on a Mac is with the hidden flag.
- Launch Terminal from Applications > Utilities.
- Type in chflags hidden . [Yes, that’s a space at the end, remember to include it or the command won’t work.]
- Drag and drop the item you want to hide into Terminal, which results in the exact file or folder path appearing in your command line. Hit Enter. To undo, type in chflags nohidden [filepath]. [Omit the square brackets.]
This will help you hide and unhide files, folders, and apps.
Change the visibility attribute to invisible
Another way to hide an icon on your Mac is by changing its visibility attribute with the help of Terminal commands.
- Launch Terminal from Applications > Utilities.
- Type in setfile -a V [also a space at the end], then drag and drop your item onto Terminal to get the full file path. Hit Enter.
Note that setfile command requires developer tools, so if you haven’t used them on your Mac yet, the download can take a while.
To undo, use setfile -a v command.
How to hide desktop icons for presentations
Most of the time, when you need to remove desktop icons quickly, it’s because you have to present something on your Mac. But it’s not only icons you have to worry about — you can get easily distracted by push notifications and active apps.
PliimPRO is a unique presentation solution to rule over any distractions. This utility lives in your menu bar and, with just one click, hides your desktop icons, disables notifications, removes active apps, mutes speakers, and even changes your wallpaper to something more neutral. So once you go into a presentation mode using a simple toggle in PliimPRO, you can be certain that there would be no surprises ahead.
How to remove icon from desktop Mac Finder
If you’d rather not get into the weeds with Terminal and want a simpler solution for hiding desktop icons, you can also use Finder preferences. Note that this will not hide all the icons, but just those that associate with external devices and tend to appear automatically: hard disks, external disks, CDs, DVDs, iPods, and connected servers.
Here’s how to hide icons with Finder:
- While on your desktop, go to the menu bar and choose Finder ➙ Preferences [⌘ + ,]
- Switch to the General tab
- Uncheck all the items
Now your desktop should look much cleaner. But is there a quicker way to remove icon from desktop Macs?
How to remove icons to take a screenshot
The second most popular use case for hiding your desktop icons is taking a screenshot — when you’re trying to show something specific on your Mac, no one needs to know what kind of files are gathering dust on your wallpaper. You could, of course, manually move your files and then use a screen-grabbing tool, but why not combine all in one?
CleanShot X is one of the most powerful tools out there for taking screenshots and recording your Mac screen. Capture a given area, an app window, or all of your screen. This utility can even take a long scrolling picture of a website or be put on a timer. Finally, it can record your screen at any time and automatically upload the results to the cloud. Even more impressive is that all this functionality fits neatly into a single menu bar icon. And to hide desktop icons, just select Hide Desktop Icons at any time!
Hide your information in System Folders
Now, this one is a little weird, but you can actually hide files in system folders.
- Open Finder > Go.
- Press Option key to reveal hidden Library menu option in your dropdown and click on it.
- Once in Library, just create a new folder for your items and save them there.
Bonus: How to clean up your Mac desktop
As we all know, figuring out how to hide icons on Mac doesn’t actually solve the problem of having a cluttered desktop. Sooner or later, the number of icons will become unmanageable and force us to clean it all up. But what are some faster ways to do so?
The most basic way of organizing your desktop is by using Stacks — a feature that goes back as far as Mac OS X Leopard. Stacks essentially groups your desktop icons either by kind, data added, date modified, tags, etc. And if another file would match your grouping later on, it will be automatically added to the stack, helping keep everything clean.
To use Stacks, simply right-click anywhere on your desktop and select Use Stacks. To undo, repeat the action.
If you find Stacks a bit limited in its functionality, there are more advanced apps out there to help keep you organized.
Spotless takes the idea for Stacks further by letting you sort your files via rules. For example, you can create a rule to place all your PNG files with the word “screenshot” in them into their own folder. Now every time you drag and drop a selection of files onto the app’s pop-up drawer in the Menu bar, your files get organized and placed into their designated folder. You can also schedule tidying up tasks, automating your desktop management.
But what if you could not only organize icons but also your thoughts at the same time?
Unclutter is a brilliant utility that acts as a temporary storage for your files, clipboard data, and any random notes you need to remember. As you activate Unclutter from your menu bar, it slides down from the top of your desktop and offers you to hide any files you want or jot down a note for later reference. It can even sync your files across multiple Macs via Dropbox, including anything you’ve copied to your clipboard!
As you can see, there’s no shortage of ways to keep your desktop clean, which also means there’s no excuse not to! If you present often, arm yourself with PliimPRO; if you take screenshots, get CleanShot X; for one-click icon hiding, download One Switch. And if that isn’t enough, automate your desktop with Spotless and always keep your files handy with Unclutter.
Best of all, PliimPRO, CleanShot X, One Switch, Spotless, and Unclutter are all available to you for free during a seven-day trial of Setapp, a platform with more than 200 outstanding Mac apps for every use case you can imagine. Try them all today at no cost and make your Mac routines truly unstoppable.