How to hide desktop icons on Mac

Updated October 25, 2026

About to share your screen and your desktop is full of screenshots and files? Here's how to hide desktop icons on a Mac, and how to get a clean, quiet screen every time you present.

Hide desktop icons in System Settings

On macOS Sonoma and later, including macOS 26 Tahoe:

Open System Settings › Desktop & Dock.
In the Desktop & Stage Manager section, find Show Items.
Turn off On Desktop.

Your files are still there. They're just hidden, and you can still open them from the Desktop folder in Finder. Turn the option back on to see them again.

Hide desktop icons with Terminal

This works on older versions of macOS too. Open Terminal and paste:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false && killall Finder

To show them again:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true && killall Finder

Hide only drives and disks

If you only want to hide hard disks, external drives or connected servers, open Finder › Settings › General and turn off the items under Show these items on the desktop.

A clean screen for presentations

Hidden icons are only part of it. Before you present or share your screen:

Turn on Do Not Disturb in Control Center so messages don't pop up on screen.
Hide or quit chat, email and anything personal.
Hide the Dock with ⌥ ⌘ D.
Keep your Mac awake so the screen doesn't dim while you talk.

Then remember to undo all of it afterwards.

Present with a clean Mac in one click

MacModes' Presentation mode hides your desktop icons without changing your Finder settings, hides the apps you choose, can turn on Do Not Disturb and keep the screen awake. Switch back Home and everything returns as it was.

Try MacModes free for 7 days