Hundreds of app preferences are hidden away in ~/Library/Preferences and elsewhere. What do they contain, how do they work, and how can they crash an app before it’s even running fully?
property list
From GML in 1969 came SGML, then in 1998 XML 1.0 was released. This was used to set out property lists in Mac OS X, and more recently have been stored in binary format.
What is that text-encoded data embedded in so many Property Lists? Most are Bookmarks, and here’s how to decode them.
How to get the most out of System Settings, third-party alternatives, and what to do if you still can’t find the setting you need to change.
Introduction to property lists, used in many places as well as the mainstay of preference files. How to change them safely without risk of conflicts.
Why changing a property list in Preferences may not change that setting, and how you may not be able to throw the file away.
Four popular and straightforward ways to set your Mac to run an app or other software when it starts up. Includes AppleScript code.
How to set your Mac to run scripts, apps and other software automatically, and at regular intervals, using launchd and a property list.
They’re XML, structured into dictionaries and arrays containing key-value pairs. Preference plists are managed, and need special treatment.
When you write a comment to an article here, or edit a Property List, you’re editing XML. Two or three characters won’t work properly.
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