For example, if you want to change the font size for the TextEdit application, you would open the file in a text editor or Xcode and find the key related to font size, change the value, save the PLIST file, then exit the editing application. You can also edit an application’s PLIST file manually, but it can be very tricky depending on how a particular application writes data to a PLIST file. Before you make any changes, make a backup copy of the original PLIST file that you can revert to in case something goes wrong. If you make a mistake, it could cause the app to crash and no longer work properly. Africa Studio / Shutterstock Warning: It’s dangerous to manually edit PLIST files unless you know exactly what you’re doing. If you make any changes to the preferences within the app-such as changing the font size-those changes are saved back to the PLIST file.
When you open the TextEdit application, it reads the file and loads the preferences. For example, the file contains the preferences for the TextEdit application (located in ~/Library/Containers//Data/Library/Preferences/ ). On a Mac, PLIST files are often used to store application preferences in the ~/Library/Preferences/ folder or within an application’s package, but sometimes in other locations as well. This allows you to store data in a hierarchical format. Arrays and dictionaries can contain other key-value pairs and arrays. The third pair has a key of “Children” and a value of an array of strings. The second pair has a key of “Age” and a value of 43 (an integer). The first pair has a key of “Name” and a value of “Newt Masterson”. In this example, the file contains three key-value pairs. Here is a simple example of a PLIST file:
However, the data is actually organized into a format that is easy for computers to read. When you open a PLIST file in a text editor, it looks like a jumble of data. The keys are always strings, and the values can be strings, numbers, arrays, dictionaries, or dates. The Property List format contains a series of key-value pairs encoded in XML. They are typically stored in the ~/Library/Preferences/ folder on a Mac, but also can be stored anywhere on the filesystem. PLIST files can be created and edited with a text editor, such as TextEdit. Ordinary users who download an iPhone app never see or have to directly interact with this file, but developers must create one to make their app work.
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