Questions tagged [plist]
A structured text file containing XML formatted properties. It also can be encoded as a binary-format file.
354 questions
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My automated "click" Applescript has just stopped working
Right up until a week ago, my simple Applescript that had to simply click on a specific coordinate on screen just stopped working.
Here is the Applescript:
tell application "System Events"
...
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How to change a system startup daemon into a user launch agent
I'm using The Pritunl VPN software for one of my Mac's user accounts. The software installer creates a system LaunchDaemon found under /Library/LaunchDaemons called com.pritunl.service.plist
...
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How do I tell MacOS to open TextEdit app at certain X and Y coordinates using a plist variable?
I've been looking at plist variables while trying to set the position and size of a window when the editor is launched. But I'm failing to guess or find the name of plist key for this.
I was following ...
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How to add version to an Automator service workflow
I have a workflow which is installed as a Service. It is used to call code in my AppleScript applet. The Service has one action: a "Run AppleScript" action. I update the Service quite often ...
CommunityBot
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Run locate.updatedb nightly, not weekly?
man locate.updatedb says that the database for locate is updated weekly.
That is confirmed by /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist, which has
<key>Weekday</key>
<integer&...
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What is com.apple.dasd.swapkills.plist?
com.apple.dasd.swapkills.plist
Anyone know what this is? I've recently had police delete footage off my phone, am taking them to court. Can't get the videos back as I accidentally overwrote them when ...
CommunityBot
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Fix Microsoft Outlook Main Window Position
On a multiple display system, Microsoft Outlook always opens on the currently active display.
The previous position of Outlook is ignored.
The NSWindow Frame MainWindow value in the plist always gets ...
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macOS 14.6.1 : Mouse behaviors - Logitech wired and Magic Mouse controlled by the same settings
I have been useing a wired Logitech USB mouse for a couple years and all of a sudden it decided to slow way down. Thinking this was a preferences issue. Settings > Mouse, cranked the speed up to ...
CommunityBot
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Is it possible to set the click force higher than system settings allows?
Is it possible to edit whatever plist contains magic trackpad preferences (MacBook Pro 2023) on Ventura to increase the force required for regular click beyond what the "slider" in system ...
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Launchctl load -w generate Service cannot load in requested session
I ran the following command:
launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/...plist
The plist file has the following values:
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>...
CommunityBot
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Are there command line tools to delete hidden login iterms from backgrounditems.btm?
I am running MacOS Big Sur. I installed some apps downloaded online. I found out many apps were started automatically at startup.
I figured out they were started from the file backgrounditems.btm ...
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Reset Rosetta Flag for Desktop App
A little bit of background: If you make an app with no compiled Arm64 binaries in the Content/MacOS folder, MacOS erroneously identifies it as an Intel based app. After launching the app, MacOS will ...
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Custom macOS application bundle requires Rosetta even through it shouldn't
Since there is currently no DrJava application bundle for macOS, I thought I could be the one to make it because I want to use it anyway. From just searching on the internet I made the following ...
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How to make ' and < map to the right keys (force change from ANSI to ISO)?
My separate keyboard (a Das Keyboard 4 Ultimate with ISO layout) has, to my chagrin, a different and erroneous keyboard mapping than the MacBook's built-in (also ISO).
The biggest annoyance is the ...
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Unable to pick settings in us.zoom.config.plist
I want to configure Zoom’s setting by pushing the plist file to the device from MDM.
After pushing the customized us.zoom.config.plist to my macOS device through MDM, I am able to find the plist file ...
CommunityBot
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Launchctl plist with StartCalendarInterval not executing
I have a plist which runs a script and if I launch it using StartInterval it runs the script but if I use StartCalendarInterval it doesn't run the script.
Further details are:
The plist is below and ...
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Plistbuddy should not convert date format
in the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist the date format of the last backup date is in the format yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ (i.e. 2022-10-31T08:43:45Z)
However, when I read this date with ...
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LaunchDeamon file doesn't work [duplicate]
I have a .plist file in the LaunchDeamons directory. It's supposed to run a .sh file (which works) which creates a backup of a directory onto an external drive every day at 00:00. I have tried putting ...
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Is there any way to prevent a non-admin user from executing "launchctl unload" on macOS?
I started using a well-known program for self-control on MacOS called Cold Turkey. This program is very powerful, but it's not enough since I can open a Terminal as a non-admin user and execute the ...
CommunityBot
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no sound in plist on mac
I'm not able in my plist of sync to make a beep when finished.
this my code of plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD ...
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How to disable Smart Copy/Paste everywhere and/or in an individual app with Terminal? [duplicate]
Does anyone know how I can disable Smart Copy/Paste globally (or within an individual app's settings) using Terminal?
I know I can do this in the GUI for apps that support it (e.g. Safari, TextEdit) ...
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Why failing to unload com.apple.sharingd.plist with launchctl nor with sudo nor with root?
[MacOS Monterey 12.7]
sharingd looks related with a weird window flash popup on desktop right after booting. As I researched, this daemon has to do with services that I don't need (AirDrop, Handoff, ...
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How to Prevent Uninstalling Chrome Extension on macOS
There is an extension that I want to make harder to delete or disable on Chrome, how can I go about doing this? I have tried to edit the ExtensionInstallForcelist policy using:
defaults write com....
CommunityBot
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How to make this script successfully trigger at a certain time?
I'm not an AppleScript coder or a technical person by any means but I have done some research and came across a solution for my problem statement.
My problem statement
How to make a mouse click ...
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427
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Hidden unlisted Voice Control commands
Based on the answer of this question, we can see that the Voice Control feature of MacOS (and probably the one in iOS too) offers unlisted built-in voice commands. For example, the "Control Click&...
CommunityBot
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Can't disable Macbook Pro M1 Trackpad Force click by editing .GlobalPreferences.plist
I'm learning how to make a dotfiles backup/restore system for my Macbook Pro M1 (on Monterey 12.7). I was trying to run some:
defaults write
commands to see how it will affect the OS. Some of the ...
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Zabbix agent daemon does not pickup a PID
(I've searched similar cases and could not find any)
I've installed Zabbix agent daemon for MacOS. I'm running it on Catalina.
The daemon ran just fine on installation, however after a while it ...
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How to prevent "Background items added" notification when running shell script with launch agent
I created a custom .plist file to run a simple startup.sh script when I log into my user, and added it to my /Library/LaunchAgents directory. Everything works as intended, however, every time my ...
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199
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How to Disable IconservicesAgent? I Don't use the GUI
IconservicesAgent is using 80-90% of my CPU, causing my macbook air 2018 to overheat just by turning it on.
I don't need this as I hardly use the GUI, I'm on the terminal 95% of the time, don't even ...
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My launchd scripts are not run after boot but after login
I want to start a shell script when a MacOS (14.2.1) machine boots. But the scripts is executed only when I log in, not directly after the system has started.
I wrote a plist definition like this:
>...
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427
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How can I troubleshoot when the locate database isn't built on macOS?
I”m struggling to have a locate database built on my Mac to index all files under /opt.
$ locate locate
WARNING: The locate database (/var/db/locate.database) does not exist.
To create the database, ...
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How to change the url of a Chrome app shortcut?
I have 2 Google accounts (personal/work). If I go to the Google Calendar site, on the work account, in Chrome, I can go to ... / More tools / Create shortcut..., which will create a Google Calendar....
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airport -s -x returns truncated output
I am the author of wifi-wand, a Ruby command line utility that can be used as a simple way to manage the Mac's WiFi (https://github.com/keithrbennett/wifiwand) without having to learn all the ...
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Cannot remove spotlight item from menu bar with `defaults`
When unchecking "Show in Menu Bar" in System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > Spotlight, it removes the NSStatusItem Visible Item-0 from com.apple.Spotlight.plist. When enabling the ...
CommunityBot
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3
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launchd hitting every modified file every 30 seconds
I am on MacOs 10.12.5. I am trying to do high volume I/O but some task managed by launchd hits every modified disk block every 30 seconds. When this happens my high volume I/O has to compete causing a ...
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How do I delete a saved wifi network, when unable to use the Network panel/GUI in System pref?
I need to delete a saved public wifi network, which my computer keeps trying to connect to when I'm at home, but I can't open my Network preferences and do it trough the GUI, due to an error in my ...
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How to export Text replacements from the Keyboard System Preference from shell?
There are a few users here that use the same replacement text between several machines. We'd like to be able to sync up the replacement table between the systems.
Right now the manual way of doing ...
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launchd: Confusion on semantics of bootstrap and bootout etc. after reading manual pages
I've read the following manual pages on launchd: launchctl, launchd, and launchd.plist.
However, nothing is really said in these manual pages regarding what the launchctl boostrap and launchctl ...
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Set environment variable for the whole GUI session (Aka without using `~/.zshenv`)
(EDIT OF 06/02/2023 : Previous title was
Variables set using launchctl setenv aren't part of environment in Mac OS 12 )
I'm a daily Linux user and decided to try Mac recently.
I have a Macbook pro 13&...
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MacOS: How can I unlock a system plist file to edit? [trying to get rid of a stray Netskope VPN entry]
I'm trying to get rid of a stray Netskope Client (NSClient1) VPN entry that wouldn't go away. I found its traces only in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist - this is the system's ...
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Where does Pages store its list of recently opened documents?
I'm currently creating a raycast extension for quickly opening recently opened Pages documents.
Now, I have to find a way to access the documents and their pathnames. I
tried following this answer and ...
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2
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MacOS system properties reference (mentioned in .plist files)
Is there a reference of MacOS system properties that we can change through Intune policies? For example, minimum Password length requirement, password lifetime, etc.
I wonder what other system ...
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How to refresh plist
If I make a change to a plist file, how can I subsequently force a refresh so that it is reflected? Do I need to logout and log back in, or can I run a command?
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TextInputSwitcher gets killed frequently
I have been using Ctrl + Space to switch input methods recently.
Sometimes, I need to press Ctrl + Space twice to trigger the switch.
I found that this process: TextInputSwitcher is responsible for ...
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launchctl agent not starting jobs that involve external volumes [duplicate]
I am new to lanuchctl. On my Mac running macos-ventura, I have created several plists that all load fine but will not run (neither by launchctl start nor by specifying RunAtLoad in the plist.
(Thanks ...
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Finding out property list (plist) attributes and/or processes
Apple’s own web page indicates how to Edit property lists in Terminal on Mac. However is there a way to guess/find out an attribute or a process that I would like to modify but I don’t know the ...
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Help troubleshooting pbcopy.plist: Trying to copy contents to clipboard
I'm trying to add a command to copy content to MacBook Pro M1 Max Ventura 13.4 clipboard from a remote server. To test it on localhost, I setup the plist file like so:
launchctl load /Users/jerba/...
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Finding the mountpoint of an device in shell scripts
Looking for a correct and simple way to find a mountpoint in a shell script.
This working as expected
tmp=$(mktemp /tmp/my.XXXXXX)
mpoint=$(diskutil info -plist disk1s1 >"$tmp" ; /usr/...
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What went wrong with my launchd plist?
I set up a launchd plist to run a shell script every morning at 8 AM
(see Is there an easy way to automatically schedule a move of files matching a certain pattern from a user directory to a USB drive?...
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