Unhide files when discarding

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I recently discarded a hidden file (.env.backup) and later realized I needed it. I expected it to be in the trash, but when I looked in Finder, it was not shown. After a little panic and digging, I realized it was still in the trash, but just not visible. I was able to go into the terminal and recover it.

Describe the solution you’d like

I would like Github Desktop to rename hidden files when moving them to the trash, so they are not hidden. On a Unix system this would be as simple as removing the leading .. I’m not sure what the procedure would be for Windows.

One drawback would be if you “recovered” the file from your trash you would need to remember to rename it and make it hidden again for your application to behave properly.

Another drawback could be naming collisions, although I believe the trash will rename files that are named the same as an existing file in the trash.

Describe alternatives you’ve considered

Alternative could be to add documentation, so it is apparent to people how to recover hidden files.

Teachability, Documentation, Adoption, Migration Strategy

The UI / behavior of Github Desktop would not change from an end user perspective. We would simply update the scripts to rename hidden files prior to discarding them.

[shiftkey]

@vintagesucks cool, I just went to the classic way as I know that’s where the setting is hiding for all Windows going back to at least Win7.

[iAmWillShepherd]

Thanks for taking the time to open an issue! 🙇

I don’t think this is something we’d want to do mainly for the following reasons:

1. One drawback would be if you “recovered” the file from your trash you would need to remember to rename it and make it hidden again for your application to behave properly.

2. The OS provides a way around this by giving you the option to show hidden files.

Now, there may be some edge case I’ve not thought about. If so, please share and we can work together to come up with a solution that does not require users to remember to re-rename things.