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kd
21 Mar 2015
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Mac OSX Tweaks

1 min read (20 words)

Table of contents

Update: I've decided to maintain a repo here instead.

General UI

Terminal window
# Disable Dashboard
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -bool true
# Don’t show Dashboard as a Space
defaults write com.apple.dock dashboard-in-overlay -bool true
# disable automatic spell checking
defaults write -g NSAllowContinuousSpellChecking -bool false
# don't treat period or colon as part of words
# en_US_POSIX corresponds to the "United States (Computer)" setting that was shown in System Preferences in 10.8 and earlier
defaults write -g AppleTextBreakLocale en_US_POSIX
# Disable the sound effects on boot
sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=" "

Disks

Terminal window
# Disks: disable Time Machine prompts
defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool true
# Disks: disable local Time Machine backups
hash tmutil &> /dev/null && sudo tmutil disablelocal
# Disks: disable disk image verification
# defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify -bool true
# defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify-locked -bool true
# defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify-remote -bool true
# don't save .DS_Store files on network volumes
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true
# Expand save panel by default
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool true
# Don’t automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use
defaults write com.apple.dock mru-spaces -bool false

Keyboard

Terminal window
# Set a blazingly fast keyboard repeat rate
defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0

Finder

Terminal window
# Disable automatic termination of inactive apps
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDisableAutomaticTermination -bool true
# Finder: disable window animations and Get Info animations
defaults write com.apple.finder DisableAllAnimations -bool true
# Finder: show all filename extensions
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true
# Disable the warning when changing a file extension
defaults write com.apple.finder FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning -bool false
# Save to disk (not to iCloud) by default
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false
# Finder: disable window and Get Info animations
defaults write com.apple.finder DisableAllAnimations -bool true
# Finder: show the ~/Library folder (in OS X Lion)
chflags nohidden ~/Library
# Finder: empty Trash securely by default
defaults write com.apple.finder EmptyTrashSecurely -bool true

Dock & hot corners

Terminal window
# Autohide the Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool true
# Magnify Dock icons on hover
defaults write com.apple.dock magnification -bool false

Panels

Terminal window
# Panels: expand save panel by default
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool true
# Panels: expand print panel by default
defaults write NSGlobalDomain PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -bool true
# Panels: disable the “Are you sure you want to open this application?” dialog
defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool false
# Panels: enable full keyboard access for all controls (e.g. enable Tab in modal dialogs)
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode -int 3

Screen

Terminal window
# Screen: save screenshots to the desktop
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location -string "$HOME/Desktop"
# Screen: disable shadow in screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true

Misc

Terminal window
# Misc: only use UTF-8 in Terminal.app
defaults write com.apple.terminal StringEncodings -array 4
# Misc: disable Dictionary results
defaults write com.apple.spotlight DictionaryLookupEnabled -bool false
# Misc: disable auto-correct
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled -bool false

Citation

@online{krishnamurthy2015macosxtweaks,
  author = {Dheepak Krishnamurthy},
  title = {Mac OSX Tweaks},
  year = {2015},
  date = {2015-03-21},
  url = {https://kdheepak.com/blog/mac-osx-tweaks/},
  langid = {en},
}

For attribution, please cite this work as:

Dheepak Krishnamurthy, "Mac OSX Tweaks", March 21, 2015 https://kdheepak.com/blog/mac-osx-tweaks/


Mac OSX productivity apps
Geektool and Desktop Widgets in OSX