Hiding any file or folder in Thunar

Usually, programs store their configuration files in a hidden folder that resides within the user’s $HOME. Such folders start with a dot (.), and are therefore regarded as hidden by the file manager. There are however, programs that do not follow this convention and instead create a regular folder in $HOME to store their settings and system files. Its location cannot be changed, which can be particularly annoying.

I searched a bit and found this discussion about Nautilus. However, the instructions work for Thunar, too!

Create a plain text file called .hidden in your $HOME. Open ~/.hidden with your favourite text editor and put the names of any files or folders that you do not want to be shown. Close all Thunar instances and these will not show anymore when you open the file manager! They are considered hidden from now on.

In my particular case, I wanted to hide the system folders of CLC Sequence Viewer and Cytoscape, as well as config files of AmplifX and PSPP. Therefore, my ~/.hidden contains the following:

CLC_Data
CytoscapeConfiguration
AmplifX 1.7 preferences
pspp.jnl
Desktop

Yes, I even hide the Desktop folder. Why do I need it there? It is already present in the left panel of Thunar under Places.

Finally my $HOME is uncluttered and tidy. Note that this will work for any other folder, too.