Application preference and plist files

Does anyone know how to access application and plist files so that I can delete them. I have a 3rd party application (Popcorn) that I need to delete from my Macbook Pro. When using Tiger, it was as simple as doing a file-popcorn, and it would list all the file extensions. Leopard only lets you delete the application, leaving preferences and plist files hidden. I found this out after I deleted the popcorn application. My computer shows no files for Popcorn when I do a search, but after I reloaded the application, it fired right up and kept all my personal info etc. Anyone have a solution?

Hello Bad Kaaarma and welcome to discussions,
Hard Drive > Users > Home Folder > Library > Preferences.
Hope that helps some.
Regards
Ian

Similar Messages

Deleting Orphaned Preferences and Other Files

Under Classic there were a couple of apps that would seek out and list orphaned preferences and other files from applications that had been deleted from the computer. There are some UNINSTALLER apps for Leopard, but I can't seem to find any that will list orphaned files for deletion. What I want to do is get rid of orphaned files from apps that I probably hand-deleted some time ago.
Anyone know of a solution?

Uninstalling Software: The Basics
Most OS X applications are completely self-contained "packages" that can be uninstalled by simply dragging the application to the Trash. Applications may create preference files that are stored in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder. Although they do nothing once you delete the associated application, they do take up some disk space. If you want you can look for them in the above location and delete them, too.
Some applications may install an uninstaller program that can be used to remove the application. In some cases the uninstaller may be part of the application's installer, and is invoked by clicking on a Customize button that will appear during the install process.
Some applications may install components in the /Home/Library/Applications Support/ folder. You can also check there to see if the application has created a folder. You can also delete the folder that's in the Applications Support folder. Again, they don't do anything but take up disk space once the application is trashed.
Some applications may install a startupitem or a Log In item. Startupitems are usually installed in the /Library/StartupItems/ folder and less often in the /Home/Library/StartupItems/ folder. Log In Items are set in the Accounts preferences. Open System Preferences, click on the Accounts icon, then click on the LogIn Items tab. Locate the item in the list for the application you want to remove and click on the "-" button to delete it from the list.
If an application installs any other files the best way to track them down is to do a Finder search using the application name or the developer name as the search term. Unfortunately Spotlight will not look in certain folders by default. You can modify Spotlight's behavior or use a third-party search utility, Easy Find, instead. Download Easy Find at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Some applications install a receipt in the /Library/Receipts/ folder. Usually with the same name as the program or the developer. The item generally has a ".pkg" extension. Be sure you also delete this item as some programs use it to determine if it's already installed.
There are also several shareware utilities that can uninstall applications:
AppZapper
CleanApp
Yank
SuperPop
Uninstaller
Spring Cleaning
Look for them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
For more information visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on removing software.
If you have uninstaller software already installed then it should, typically, alert you to associated files that you may want to delete. But they will not work for applications you have deleted prior to installing the uninstaller software.

Discrepancy with cat and plist files

I'm finding some strange and unexplainable discrepancies with the cat command, and I'm hoping someone knows what's going on.
I've got two different .plist files that I'm trying to get the contents of using cat. It works perfectly with one, while the other outputs a bunch of weird characters rather than showing all the XML tags. The two files have exactly the same XML headers, are both UTF-8, etc. Why the difference with cat?
The files in question are:
/private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd.peruser.501/overrides.plist
~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.loginwindow.[UUID].plist
The former works fine, the latter does not.
Any ideas?

plists can be stored in binary format.
I believe 'plutil' can convert them from XML to binary (& back).
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/ man1/plutil.1.html
I can't recollect if plistbuddy is binary aware…
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/Manpages/ man8/PlistBuddy.8.html

Preference and spelling files location

I want to be able to transfer my spelling word additions and autocorrect changes from one computer to another.
Where are the files that hold this information?
Thank you.
Scott

The custom dictionary is stored as:
<startupVolume>:Users:<yourAccount>:Library:Spelling:en
The auto-correction array is stored in the applications preferences files.
Copying these files from a machine to an other one is not a good idea becaus they store informations dedicated to the hosting machine.
a simple seach with the complex keyword "autocorrect" would have give you this fresh link:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1975883&tstart=0
where I responded five hours ago
Re: Help Transferring Autocorrect File
Posted: 14 avr. 2009 17:29 in response to: David J. Peterson
Click to reply to this topic Reply email Email
Look at:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8210190
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 14 avril 2009 17:29:15)
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 14 avril 2009 22:46:29)

Setup Document Preferences and save file to a certain location

I am wanting to have a javascript button on my toolbar that will setup the following document properties....
Embed page thumbnails
Navigation tab: Pages Panel and Page
Page Layout: Single Page
Magnification: Fit Page
Then save the file in the following format
file.name(substring 0, 4) + "_PUB"
Save the file to the following location on my computer
T:\ Checking \ _PUB\
Would appreciate some one helping me out with this!
Thanks in advance!
Windows 7 64 bit....
Acrobat 8 Pro
Acrobat 10 Pro

OK so thank you for the direction guys! Here is what I ended up with.....
In the following folder location:
C:\Users\wolfecj\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\8.0\JavaScripts
I saved a file named:
PUB and SIS file save.js
Here is the code in that file:
function savePUBAndSIS() {
app.beginPriv();
if(this.documentFileName.substring(8, 9) != "_"){
this.saveAs("T:/Authors/Corey Wolfe/" + this.documentFileName.substring(0, 11) +'_PUB.pdf');
this.saveAs("T:/Authors/Corey Wolfe/" + this.documentFileName.substring(0, 11) +'_SIS.pdf');
else{
console.println("T:/Authors/Corey Wolfe/" + this.documentFileName.substring(0, 8) +'-00_PUB.pdf');
console.println("T:/Authors/Corey Wolfe/" + this.documentFileName.substring(0, 8) +'-00_SIS.pdf');
app.endPriv();
Then in the following folder location:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\Javascripts
I saved a file named:
trustedSave.js
Here is the code in that file:
app.addMenuItem( {
cName: "trustedSave",
cUser: "Save PUB and SIS", cParent: "Tools",
cExec: "savePUBAndSIS();", nPos: 0
Now to execute my trusted function I go to the Tools menu and click on Save PUB and SIS
Now I just need to figure out how to save my PUB file as a standard quality and my SIS file as a optimized for web view!
Hope this helps someone out!

How I can reinstall OSX 10.8 with applications only? i.e No system preferences and library files from time machine

Hi there,
I would like to clean install mac os x, but I want to keep all my applications (such as photos and music from itunes etc) from a time machine backup. I am having some issues with my widgets and sleep mode, of which I have searched high and low for answers. My only resolve now is the re-install mac os, but Im afraid 4 years of use have resulted in a mess in terms of prefrence lists and everything. Is it possible to exclude the library from time machine and then reinstall mac os, with a new library, but keeping all my apps, so that in effect, it runs like new, but with all my apps?
Any help is much appreciated.

You can exclude the Library if you don't transfer your user files, so copy your user files manually to another external disk if you don't want to lose them. You can keep your applications without any problem
To restore the Time Machine backup, follow these steps:
1. Press Command and R keys while your Mac is starting, and open Disk Utility.
2. Select Macintosh HD on the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk.
3. Close Disk Utility, select the option to restore a Time Machine backup and follow the steps. When it asks you for what you want to restore, select only your applications. After restoring the backup, copy your user files back to the hard drive

Build an application installer and include files referenced in the code

I want to make an application installer of my project, and I need to include a picture that I'm using in the code.
This picture is used both in the vision assistant and in a low level color pattern match.
What I need is some way to reference this picture in my code, so that when I create the installer and the project is installed on another computer, this file will always get referenced.
Can someone please tell me how to do this?
Thanks in advance!

Your installer should be putting everything in the data folder you need. So it should be fine.
There are only two ways to tell somebody thanks: Kudos and Marked Solutions
Unofficial Forum Rules and Guidelines

Acrobat XI Pro shows that it has downloaded in the CC dropdown but I don't have a folder in my Applications folder and PDF files open to an old version of Reader.

I can't figure out how to open Acrobat XI Pro. It shows that it's downloaded in the CC dropdown but I can't find it anywhere on my machine. I've tried re-downloading it but nothing seems to happen. I've uninstalled all my old Acrobat versions thinking that would solve it but it didn't.

AdamSJarrett please see Install and update apps - https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/install-apps.html for information on how to install Adobe Acrobat XI Professional. In addition I would recommend reviewing Launch CC apps after install - https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/launch-creative-cloud-apps.html.

What's a .plist file

Hi,
What's the meaning of a .plist extension?
I was looking for information using google, but I couldn't find it.
Where can I find something to read it?
Thanks,
Oleguer

Oleguer
Plist (Property List) files contain instructions for recording and executing tasks associated with the the application or function that owns them. They can and do become corrupted. If you look in the ~Library/Preferences Folder you can usually guess what application or function the .plist serves by analyzing the file name.
Proper identification of the appropriate .plist is not always so obvious, but for example com.apple.iCal.plist is the preference file for iCal. When an application malfunctions, removing the associated .plist file from the preferences folder to the Desktop is often the best first troubleshooting step.
If you have a problem with an application, Quit the application, find the associated plist file in the Preferences Folder, and move it to the Desktop as a first step in your troubleshooting procedure. Then log out/in or restart and re-evaluate the performance of the application.
A new default .plist file is automatically created in your Preferences Folder after you remove the recalcitrant .plist and initiate the log out/in restart sequence. You can expect default application behavior and you will have to reset some preferences. If the application or function returns to normal after removing the .plist file, it will prove that the original file was corrupt, and you can now safely trash the .plist file which you placed on the Desktop.
If the application or function is unsatisfactory, the original copy of the plist file which was placed on the Desktop can be safely returned to the preferences folder. Just allow the system to replace the newer plist.
If you are having problems with any aspect of OS X, experiment with deleting the appropriate .plist file. Plist corruption is common and .plist file deletion often cures many problems. Too many users try intricate solutions first and end up complicating their problem.
;~)

Com.apple.alf.plist file keeps changing group membership

Hey All, I've read several discussions about this issue. The com.apple.alf.plist file keeps changing group membership from admin to wheel. Disk Utility repair changes the group membership to admin but it will change back to wheel during normal use of the computer, it seems that accessing systempreferences.app and security preferences will change the group to wheel.
I don't really want to get into a discussion about the wheel account, unless necessary, but since this is a very important system settings file I'd like it to work correctly. I have noticed several issues with the firewall not responding as expected such as turning off by itself, and app settings changing or disappearing from the security preference pane. So, I have deleted the plist file and restarted as recommended on other discussions but the issue always returns during normal use. I think it might be the application owning the plist file causing the issue, but I am not sure which one owns the plist file. I assume it would be systempreference.app since I think it is a firewall plist file. The permissions for systempreferences.app is strange also;
- everyone - custom
- system    - read/write
- wheel      - read/write
- everyone -read
This may be the culprit but I tried to make a minor change, so as not to mess up the operating system, and disk utility repair permissions just puts it back the way it was.   Any ideas about this would be very appreciated.
Note: I have done a complete system reinstall and the issue still returns.

OK, Since I haven't gotten any responses about this it must be a complicated issue. Just as a quick check could some of you good people out there look at the "Get Info" window for the systempreferences.app and see if your permissions look like mine? I'm still having trouble with the firewall settings not acting as expected such as apps and processes that I have approved/denid connection access not showing up in the firewall pane of system preferences and having to reapprove each startup. Thank you in advance for any help on this.

How to recover plist files from a deleted user home directory .dmg file

Our company is starting to have our mac users authenticate against active Directory, One of the requirement is that the local mac user account short name can not be the same as the active directory account so it is necessary to remove the local users account, we do this by removing the local and turning the home directory into a .dmg file, after the user logs in with their active directory account, we mount the .dmg file and move the files over to the new home directory, However the system does not transfer over the pervious system setting such as Dock settings Desktop background setting, and plist files how do we get these setting moved also.

there is nothing else to transfer. the problem is probably related to the fact that you are using AD. I'm not familiar with it so can not comment further.

Application Preferences Help

I was under the impression that if you don't have a document open you can make changes to application preferences and they will remain intact from then on. There are two preferences that I can't get to stick: 1) color of ruler guides. And 2) the kerning default in Units & Increments. Is it possible to adjust these permanently?

If you change preferences without some document open, you create preferences for your indesign and they will go to every new document you create. But if you open a document created by someone else, you will have his/her preferences when you work with that particular document.

How do you find out what application is generating a plist file in your preference folder?

I have had two similar warnings come up in Drive Genius 3, a program that I use to manage my drives. The warnings occur during a daily verification of preferences on my main drive, a 256GB SSD.
They state:
"The preference file at '/Users/me/Library/Preferences/com.analogsolutions.Football.plist' may be corrupted."
"The preference file at '/Users/me/Library/Preferences/org.machinedevelop.National.plist' may be corrupted."
Per Drive Genius' advisement, "Corrupted files can cause appplication crashes and should be moved to the Trash." I delete the files, however they are regenerated each day.
Q: How do you figure out what application is generating a preference file? And is there a way to tell if this is a OS generated preference file?
I have searched online and cannot find any information about either Analog Solutions or Machine Develop nor am I able to discern what these particular .plist files are for...
Q: Are these two .plist files truly potentially harmful?
Thanks for the Help!
iMac
model iMac12,2
3.4 GHz Intel Core i7
8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Hi Everyone, sorry for the late response. I have been monitoring my Preferences Folder; every moment I am on my computer trying to catch what application/process generates these files. I was hoping to try your suggestions, but oddly enough the offensive .plist files have not returned since the last time I deleted them about a week ago.... strange...
In any case, I have responded to some of your suggestions and questions that I have information on:
X423424X wrote: Ok, can you double click the .plist file? If so it should attempt to launch the Property List Editor (in your Utilities folder). That way you can look at stuff in the plist. Maybe (hopefully) there's something in there that can shed some light on who is creating it. If Property List Editor cannot open the file (some apps create files that have the .plist extension but don't actually create the proper XML format -- probably what ProSoft was alluding to) then try opening it with a text editor.
The .plist file when opened in text editor contains a string of (what to me seems to be) an arbitrary list of numbers.
Linc Davis wrote: Those files have been given obfuscated names so you won't know what created them. They must contain encrypted registration data for some third-party commercial software that you use.
Yes, seems likely...
Linc Davis wrote: It should be fairly easy to find out what application is creating them, if you really care. Move the files to the Desktop, then log out. Log back in while holding the shift key as you click the "Log In" button. That will prevent your login items from loading, among other things. Open your account preferences and launch the login items one at a time by double-clicking them in the list. After each one, check to see whether the files have been recreated.
Ran through login, one by one, no luck in identifying the application(s).
X423424X wrote: Another thought, lock the plists on the hope that whatever is using them will "choke" and complain about it (no guarantee that will work but worth a try).
Thanks, the lock idea is the one I will try next if they ever reappear...
X423424X wrote: Also, I don't recall if I asked this but if those plists are deleted while logged in will they be recreated during that same login session. Or do they only appear after you deleted them and then and then logged out and back in? Or do you have to reboot to recreate them?
Unfortunately I do not know for certain. Though from all my login/startup/reboot tests I believe that they are not directly linked to starting up the machine or loging in either.
I'm not really certain why the .plist have not returned. I haven't uninstalled any programs, though I did run a couple updates for some widgets within the last week; however that was about 3 days after I deleted the last set of .plist files and usually they reappered everyday. In any case, given that they have not been regenerated I guess my problem is solved per se, at least I am no longer getting that annoying warning everyday. Still, it's a bit of a mystery
Thanks again for all the help!

Transferring user preferences and configuration by importing plist files

At my job, we use iMac desktops. These are simple imaged workstations on a local area network, on which we login using a unique LAN user and password. I am particular about the configuration of my workstation and do a lot of configuring in System Preferences, as well as having my own bookmarks and whatnot. We do not have dedicated desks; I often find myself sitting at a desk I haven't sat at previously, and must reconfigure settings, import bookmarks from an HTML, etc.
I've noticed that I can easily export and import my keyboard text shortcuts between desktops by highlighting everything under System Preferences >Keyboard > Text and dragging it to the desktop, creating a keyboard plist file, and dragging this file into the same pane on a yet-to-be-configured desktop to easily import them. This saves the trouble of having to reenter them every time I'm at a new workstation.
My questions are these:
—Are other personal preferences as easily transferable using plist files? Specifically my Dock preferences/layout, settings like Hot Corners, wired Apple Mouse configuration, Launchpad layout, etc.
—If so, which plist's would be required?
—Would I have to use Terminal?
—Is there an easier way to accomplish this without plist's?
Being able to copy and paste plist's into my user library to auto-configure my preferences and setup on new desktops would save me a lot of time when sitting at a new desk.
Thanks!

If the specialist did a full backup, all you have to do is run Migration Assistant, which is in Applications / Utilities, and it'll basically put the machine back the way it was. If all he did was save some data files, that stuff is gone.

Preview keeps crashing and there's no preference plist file for Preview in Library. What should I do?

Everytime I tried to open Preview, it displayed a dialogue saying: "Mac OS X needs to repair your Library to run applications. Type your password to allow this." However, as I typed my password and clicked Repair button, Preview keeps crashing. I tried to look for its plist file in the Library but I did not see any. Please help me.

Back up all data. Don't continue unless you're sure you can restore from a backup, even if you're unable to log in.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click the following line to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1 or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Boot into Recovery. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

Application preference and plist files

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