A cluttered desktop is the enemy of a good presentation. You plug in your Mac, open your slides, and there they are — a chaotic scatter of screenshots, downloaded files, and oddly named folders, all on display for your audience. Rather than tidying everything up, you can make every desktop icon vanish with a single click, and bring them all back just as fast when you are done.
There are two good ways to do it: a free menu-bar app, or a Shortcuts script you build yourself. Both take less than five minutes to set up.
Option 1: Hide icons with the free HiddenMe app
The simplest approach is HiddenMe, a free utility that lives in your Mac’s menu bar. One click hides every icon on your desktop; another click brings them all back. Your files stay exactly where they were — they are just invisible.
- Open the Mac App Store, search for “HiddenMe,” and install it. It is free.
- Launch HiddenMe. A small circle icon appears in the menu bar at the top of your screen.
- Click the HiddenMe icon. Every icon on your desktop disappears instantly.
- Click it again when your presentation is over, and all your icons return.
You can also set a keyboard shortcut in HiddenMe’s preferences if you would rather not reach for the menu bar. And if you are getting ready for a video call, you might also want to enable face lighting on your Mac so you look your best on camera.
Option 2: Build a Shortcuts toggle
If you would rather not install anything, the built-in Shortcuts app can do the same job with a small script. Apple’s Mac support pages document how Shortcuts can automate system tasks like this one.
- Open the Shortcuts app on your Mac.
- Go to Shortcuts → Settings and make sure “Allow Running Scripts” is turned on. Without this, the script step will not run.
- Create a new shortcut and add the “Run AppleScript” action.
- Paste in a short script that flips the Finder’s desktop-icon setting and then relaunches Finder.
- Name the shortcut “Toggle Desktop Icons” and pin it to the menu bar from the shortcut’s details panel.
- From now on, clicking the Shortcuts icon in the menu bar gives you one-click access to the toggle.
The first run may ask for permission to control Finder — approve it, and the toggle will work silently from then on. MacRumors has covered similar menu-bar automation tricks if you want to build a whole toolkit of them.
If it still doesn’t work
If icons refuse to hide, first check that you are running a reasonably recent version of macOS — very old releases handle the Finder setting differently. For the Shortcuts method, double-check that “Allow Running Scripts” is actually enabled; it is the most common reason the script fails silently. If Finder does not restart cleanly, relaunch it manually by Option-right-clicking the Finder icon in the Dock and choosing Relaunch.
Frequently asked questions
Does hiding desktop icons delete my files?
No. Hiding icons only changes whether Finder draws them on the desktop. Every file stays in your Desktop folder, untouched. You can verify this by opening the Desktop folder in Finder while the icons are hidden — everything is still there.
Will this also hide icons while screen sharing?
Yes — that is the whole point. Screen sharing captures whatever is on your display, so hidden icons stay invisible to viewers too. For extra privacy during calls, you can also mute Mail notifications for specific contacts so no embarrassing message previews pop up mid-presentation.
Conclusion
A messy desktop does not have to derail your presentations. Whether you pick the one-click HiddenMe app or build your own Shortcuts toggle, you can go from chaos to a clean screen in seconds — and one more click brings everything back. If you liked this trick, learn how to quickly open the list of installed apps in macOS 26, another small time-saver for busy Mac users. 9to5Mac regularly covers more handy macOS utilities like these.
