PrefEdit - Browse and change multiple preferences
Mar 03, '03 10:28:00AM
Contributed by: robg
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At its simplest level, PrefEdit is a tool to edit preference files. But that's really understating its abilities. What it really does is let you explore preference files in an easy-to-understand manner. Using a multiple-column view that's quite similar to that of the Finder, PrefEdit scans your Preferences folder when you launch it, and shows all available prefs files in the leftmost column. When you select a prefs file, the second column displays all available keys in that file. Select a key, and the third column shows its value (or another drill-down level if that key has sub-keys). There's even a search engine to find keys across files. Once you've selected a key, you can set a new value for it, or (if you wish) delete the key entirely.
Even if you have the Dev Tools installed, you may find PrefEdit an easier way to navigate and edit preferences files, and it's definitely easier than using TextEdit or BBEdit (at least, in my opinion). As with anything that can modify a preferences file, you have the ability to really mess up the application you're modifying (backup backup backup!), so be careful with it if you're not used to looking at preference files.
Although PrefEdit was last updated in December of 2001, it seems to run just fine on 10.2.4, and provides a unique and useful interface to the somewhat mundane task of editing preference files.
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