Choose which files appear

Control which entries Phials presents and how their names are displayed. These app-wide choices change the Explorer presentation only; they do not hide, rename, or move anything on disk.

Change the common visibility choices

Open Settings → Files → Visibility, then choose any of these options:

• Show Hidden Files includes files and folders whose names begin with a dot, unless an always-hidden pattern also matches them.
• Show Parent Directory adds the .. entry for navigating to the current folder’s parent. It is not shown at a filesystem root or in views where a parent entry does not apply.
• Show File Extensions includes the final extension in displayed filenames. Turning it off leaves folders and dotfiles unchanged and does not rename the file.
• Folders First keeps folders ahead of files while preserving the active sort inside each set. Turn it off to sort files and folders together.

You can also reach these four choices from General options in an Explorer tab. They still apply across Phials, not only to that tab or folder.

Always hide matching names or paths

Use Always hide (globs) for entries you do not want Phials to show even when Show Hidden Files is on:

1. Enter one glob pattern per line.
2. Use a name-only pattern such as .DS_Store, *.tmp, or node_modules to match an entry’s filename.
3. Include / or \ when the pattern should match a complete path instead.

Standard glob wildcards apply: * matches within one path segment, ? matches one character, and ** can span folders. Matching is case-insensitive for Windows-style paths and case-sensitive for other paths. Phials trims blank lines, ignores duplicate entries, and skips invalid patterns.

Always-hidden patterns take precedence over Show Hidden Files. Choose Reset to default to restore the patterns shipped with Phials; this replaces your custom list.

If an expected item is missing, first turn on Show Hidden Files, then review Always hide (globs). A matching always-hidden rule must be removed or narrowed before the item can appear.

For live view, sorting, and property-presentation choices, see Configure a file view.