How-To: locate plist files used for specific settings

Periodically, a problem may occur with a given system setting, or some application, and the common remedy of removing a seemingly obvious preferences "plist" file may not reset the setting. In OS X, plist files are simply ways of storing editable application settings, and they can be preference files or numerous other files that are spread throughout the system. There is no easy way to find which plist file is responsible for holding a certain setting, or is involved with a given application.

First open a Finder window and type ".plist" in the search box. The system will begin a spotlight search at this point, but will by default show you all references of ".plist" in the contents of files. At this point you need to modify the search to include system files by name:

1. Select "This Mac" and "File Name" for the search criteria.
2. Click the " " button at the right of the window to add more search criteria.
3. In the first menu (labeled "Kind" by default), go to the "Other..." option.
4. In the search attributes, search for and select "System Files", and click OK.
5. With "System Files" selected, select "Include" in the second menu.

The search should now expand and display all ".plist" files. With the search active, click the "Last Opened" column name to sort by that column in descending order.

Now keep the Finder search window open and toggle the desired setting for a given application or system setting. In the Finder search window, you should see the plist file for that setting appear at the top of the list. Toggling the setting should confirm this by updating the "Last Opened" time. Sometimes more than one plist file is accessed for a given setting, and you should be able to see all involved plists updated in the search.

From here you can open them with the Property List Editor or a text editor to see the structure and how the settings are stored.

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