# OpenDialog **URL:** \ **Category:** macOS\ **Created:** [August 27, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333 "2015-08-27T10:46:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/mark_oxley/32/913_2.png) [@Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Mark_Oxley)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/1 "2015-08-27T10:46:47Z")
Is there anyway to get the open dialog to access the system areas of the hard drive and also to display hidden files? By system areas, I mean /etc, /private, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Michel\_Bujardet](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/michel_bujardet/32/252_2.png) [@Michel\_Bujardet](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Michel_Bujardet)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:31pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/2 "2015-08-27T12:31:23Z")
There is surely a declare to do that. But even without, you have access to all a volume items, so you can roll your own. [http://documentation.xojo.com/index.php/volume](http://documentation.xojo.com/index.php/volume) to have access to the root of the disk, usually Volume(0) for Macintosh HD [http://documentation.xojo.com/index.php/FolderItem.Item](http://documentation.xojo.com/index.php/FolderItem.Item) FolderItem.Visible should tell you if the item is hidden or not. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/mark_oxley/32/913_2.png) [@Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Mark_Oxley)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/3 "2015-08-27T13:21:43Z")
hi Michel, thanks for the reply. I know I can get access to all folder items, I was just hoping to be able to set the open dialog to show hidden items (including system folders), in the same way that BBEdit and other apps do. I’ll have hunt through the declares. ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_Schneider](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/axel_schneider/32/465_2.png) [@Axel\_Schneider](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Axel_Schneider)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/4 "2015-08-27T15:38:07Z")
On older versions of OSX, it was possible to display hidden files in a Finder Dialog (Open, Save) using Command-Shift-Period. In Yosemite use ? + ? + . ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/mark_oxley/32/913_2.png) [@Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Mark_Oxley)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/5 "2015-08-27T15:39:58Z")
In hunting around for a solution I found that. btw: I thought ? + ? + . was Command+Shift+Period ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_Schneider](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/axel_schneider/32/465_2.png) [@Axel\_Schneider](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Axel_Schneider)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/6 "2015-08-27T15:43:55Z")
Command+Shift+Point ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_Schneider](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/axel_schneider/32/465_2.png) [@Axel\_Schneider](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Axel_Schneider)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/7 "2015-08-27T16:29:58Z")
[Example](https://xojo.io/86a81772b49e) with Timer and Applescript ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/mark_oxley/32/913_2.png) [@Mark\_Oxley](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Mark_Oxley)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/8 "2015-08-27T17:11:50Z")
That’s an awesome work around. I was looking into something like that myself, but my Applescript is not so good. I did find a solution in MacOSLib, but I’d rather not use such a large library in this project. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://forum.xojo.com/uploads/default/original/1X/455b4dcc0e61630e9f81940004ddffa49c432a46.png) [@system](https://forum.xojo.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/opendialog/26333/9 "2020-10-29T17:55:14Z")