Tasks and Solutions

Modifying a preference setting or property list

You can use PrefEdit to modify the raw preference settings of any application which is compliant with the software design guidelines of macOS. You can also use PrefEdit to edit property list files (plists). Perform the following steps to access and change a setting:

1. It is recommended to ensure that the application whose preference settings you are going to access is currently not running. This way that application cannot accidentally overwrite your changes when it happens to save its preferences after you have modified them.
2. In PrefEdit, locate the window Preference Domains. If it is not displayed, you can open it using the menu item Window > Show Preference Domains, or by pressing ⌘ + 1.
3. Find the preferences domain you are going to change in the table. If you don’t know the correct domain name, drag the application whose settings you like to change into the field Find domain for application or enter its name into the search field. PrefEdit will automatically search for the correct domain name.
4. Double-click the line with the correct domain name in the table. One or more windows with all current settings will open.
5. Locate the setting you like to change in the table. You can change its type and value. It is also possible to add or remove items, using the respective buttons.

To see the effect of your changes, you’ll have to launch (or re-launch) the affected application. You can use the button Launch at the top of the document window to do that.

To open a property list file which is not being used to store preference settings it is sufficient to double-click it in the Finder.

Further Information: Editing preference settings or property lists