We stand with Ukraine to help keep people safe. Join us
All Apps
Best AppsReviewsComparisonsHow-To
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

Pref Setter for Mac

Edit preference files, access hidden settings.

Free
In English
Version 2.0
4.1
Based on 12 user rates

Pref Setter overview

Pref Setter is an application used to edit plist (Property LIST) files, geared towards viewing / editing Mac OS X's preference files. Very useful for setting those "hidden" preference settings that aren't available directly in an application. While the emphasis is on editing preferences, Pref Setter is a general plist editor.

Pref Setter makes accessing your preferences easy with the "Open Domain Quickly" window, listing your preference files and those in the /Library/Preferences domain.

Preferences are also easily searchable, with the Find panel that will search all your preference files for a term, or search individual plist files for a term with the search bar in the document windows.

Pref Setter also has comprehensive copy & paste / drag & drop support. You can paste / drag an XML string (in property list format) onto a document window to create or change a value. And now, you can paste / drag a "defaults write...." string into Pref Setter and have it take care of writing that for you. No need to take a trip to the terminal!

What’s new in version 2.0

Version 2.0:

 New Features:

  • Pref Setter now uses the authorization frameworks to enable editing of system level plist files.
  • New tool bar item and menu items in the contextual menus for the "Open Domain Quickly" window and Find panel which will allow you to launch or quit the application a property list belongs to.
  • Data items are now editable, in a separate hex editor window.
  • If a value is too long to be shown entirely while editing, a separate window will now open to allow easier editing.
  • You can now use regular expressions when searching.
  • Added the Sparkle framework, for automatic updates.

 Changed Features:

  • Changed display of dates to show a formatted date string rather than the raw date.
  • If you copy/drag an item from a non-writable file, the "defaults write…" string generated will now have sudo written before it.
  • Can now display dictionaries and arrays in a preference document in bold.
  • "Open Domain Quickly" window now shows icons.
  • Font for the items in the "Open Domain Quickly" window is now separately set from the document font.
  • You can now change a class to a Data type (though you can't change a Data type to another class).
  • Updated Preference pane.
  • Updated Find panel.
  • Updated Get Info window.
  • Updated Help documentation.
  • Pref Setter now requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later

 Bug Fixes:

  • Leopard compatibility fixes.
  • Fixed a bug where pasting or dragging a "defaults write…" string with a boolean type would always default to true.
  • Fixed a bug where pasting or dragging a "defaults write…" string of either the -array-add or -dict-add type would replace the entire array or dictionary with the new value rather than adding the new value.
  • Fixed a bug that could lead to a crash when changing the class to a Boolean, Integer, Float, or Date class.
  • "Open Domain Quickly" window no longer allows you to delete the preferences of a running application, which could lead to that application crashing.

Pref Setter for Mac

Free
In English
Version 2.0

What users say about Pref Setter

Try our new feature and write a detailed review about Pref Setter

Write your thoughts in our old-fashioned comment

MacUpdate Comment Policy. We strongly recommend leaving comments, however comments with abusive words, bullying, personal attacks of any type will be moderated.
4.1

(15 Reviews of Pref Setter)

  • Comments

  • User Ratings

galeotto
galeotto
Nov 21 2020
2.0
1.0
Nov 21 2020
1.0
Version: 2.0
buggy hanging piece of shit!
SMcCandlish
SMcCandlish
Nov 14 2015
2.0
3.0
Nov 14 2015
3.0
Version: 2.0
Works as advertised, but it's painfully slow. Every operation results in the "beachball" wait cursor for 10-30 seconds, even simply coming back into the app after being in the finder. There are a dozen other utilities that do what this one does (some free, too), so I'm jumping ship.
octane-power
octane-power
Oct 4 2015
2.0
1.0
Oct 4 2015
1.0
Version: 2.0
Useless. It just spins the beachball. That's all it does. I just have to force quit it every time I tried to use it.
Tempel
Tempel
Jan 8 2014
2.0
0.0
Jan 8 2014
0.0
Version: 2.0
This tool doesn't see the current prefs of an application in 10.8 and later right while or after the application is running, as OS X caches the prefs for a while before it updates the plist file. If this causes trouble for you, check out "Prefs Editor", which doesn't edit ordinary plist files like this tool, but instead talks to the OS X's prefs system directly, thereby always being in sync with an apps prefs file
Mextex
Mextex
Nov 26 2012
2.0
5.0
Nov 26 2012
5.0
Version: 2.0
Works with 10.8.2 Mountain Lion. Makes it a lot easier to find, identify and edit plist files. And it 's free. Perfect.
galeotto
galeotto
Nov 21 2020
1.0
Nov 21 2020
1.0
Version: null
SMcCandlish
SMcCandlish
Nov 14 2015
3.0
Nov 14 2015
3.0
Version: null
octane-power
octane-power
Oct 4 2015
1.0
Oct 4 2015
1.0
Version: null
RunTime
RunTime
Oct 22 2013
4.5
Oct 22 2013
4.5
Version: null
Widber
Widber
Apr 2 2013
5.0
Apr 2 2013
5.0
Version: null
Mextex
Mextex
Nov 26 2012
5.0
Nov 26 2012
5.0
Version: null
DOCa-Cola
DOCa-Cola
Apr 13 2012
5.0
Apr 13 2012
5.0
Version: null
glinner
glinner
Oct 3 2011
5.0
Oct 3 2011
5.0
Version: null
anonymous-wallaby-5682
Apr 8 2011
5.0
Version: null
Weaselboy
Weaselboy
Jan 29 2011
4.5
Jan 29 2011
4.5
Version: null
Tomashastings
Tomashastings
Oct 20 2007
5.0
Oct 20 2007
5.0
Version: null
Guest
Guest
Nov 22 2005
5.0
Nov 22 2005
5.0
Version: null