How do I convince Xcode 11.5 to show me my README.md in the Project Navigator?

Question

I have a project in Xcode 11 that I'm storing in a remote repo on github.com with a copy checked out locally (as one does with github). And as typical in github repos, my repo has a README.md file at the top level of the project.

When I pull that repo down to my Mac to work on the project in Xcode, I see all the files from the repo. However, in the Xcode Project Navigator, there's no README.md (which is a bit of a WTF from my perspective, but a lot of what Xcode does gives me that reaction). Am I doing something wrong? What should I be doing to be able to see that README.md file in Xcode?

A thing I can do successfully is ⌘O open the file, but that just feels a bit obtuse when the file is right there for the showing.

Answer 1

However, in the Xcode Project Navigator, there's no README.md (which is a bit of a WTF from my perspective, but a lot of what Xcode does gives me that reaction). Am I doing something wrong?

It sounds like you probably never added the README.md file to your project. The files in a given directory aren't just automatically displayed in the project; if you create the file in Xcode, it'll be part of the project, but files created outside Xcode need to be added if you want to see them as part of the project.

There are a few ways to go about adding a file. You can:

• drag the file from the Finder into the File Navigator in your project window
• control-click in the File Navigator and choose Add Files to "YourProject"
• choose Add Files to "YourProject" from the File Menu

A thing I can do successfully is ⌘O open the file, but that just feels a bit obtuse when the file is right there for the showing.

Don't think of the File Navigator in your project as some sort of extension of the Finder... Files and folders in the File Navigator often mimic the directory structure you see in Finder, but they're not the same thing.