Command line and power tools

Working with plists

Updated 2026-07-31 · 4 min read

Half of macOS configuration lives in plists. Two tools make them readable and safely editable.

Reading

Most plists are binary. plutil -p pretty-prints either format:

plutil -p ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist | head -40

For preference domains, defaults is the higher-level view:

defaults read com.apple.finder | less
defaults read com.apple.finder ShowPathbar

Converting

plutil -convert xml1 file.plist      # binary → readable XML
plutil -convert binary1 file.plist   # back
plutil -lint file.plist              # syntax check

Convert a copy when you just want to read — some tools quietly prefer the original format.

Editing preferences: use defaults, not a text editor

Running apps cache their preferences and write them back on quit — hand-edits to the file get overwritten, which is the classic mystery of the change that would not stick.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots
killall SystemUIServer

Quit the app first (or restart the relevant process after), and the change survives.

Deleting a key or domain

defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay
defaults delete com.example.app        # whole domain — the app's factory reset

Deleting an app's domain is the standard "reset this app's settings" move when it misbehaves.

Finding which plist holds a setting

Change the setting in the UI, then look for freshly written files:

find ~/Library/Preferences -mmin -2

The just-modified plist is your answer — the generic technique for locating any preference.

Common questions

Why do my plist edits keep reverting?

The app had them cached and wrote back on quit. Quit the app first and use defaults write, not a text editor.

How do I reset one app's preferences completely?

defaults delete <bundle-id> removes the domain; the app recreates defaults on next launch.