You can hide files or folders in Windows 11. By hiding files or folders you can ensure that fellow users on your computer you can no longer see or open these files.
Some files or folders may contain sensitive information, such as financial data or passwords. Hiding these types of files or folders reduces the risk of someone accidentally seeing or accessing them.
It also helps to hide files if you don't want them to be deleted. This can happen accidentally, but also on purpose. For example, Windows 11 does this by default for certain system files that are essential for the functioning of the operating system.
In some cases you may want to temporarily hide files, for example if you are giving a presentation and you want to prevent the audience from seeing certain files. Whatever the reason, this is how it works.
Hide files or folders in Windows 11
To hide a file or folder, right-click on it. Then click on “properties” in the menu.
To hide a file or folder, change the attribute to “hidden”. Click “Apply” and “OK”.
You have now hidden the file or folder. You will no longer see it in the Windows Explorer. You can optionally give the file or folder certain advanced features by clicking on the “Advanced” button.
For example, you can exclude the file or folder from archiving by unchecking the “File can be archived” option. For example, an example of archiving is a Windows 11 backup.
If you don't want files to appear in Windows Search (indexing) then you can exclude folders of exclude files from indexing.
Show hidden files
You can always show hidden files by clicking on the “show” button in Explorer. Then click “show” again and enable the “hidden items” option. You will still see all hidden files.
Keep in mind that hiding files is a possible solution, but it is also simple to show these files again. A better option is still to encrypt files.
I hope to have informed you with this. Thank you for reading!
Read more: Hide a program from Start menu or Installed apps.