Introduction

What is PropEdit?

PropEdit is

• a viewer and editor for macOS property list files (“plists”),
• a viewer and editor for strict JSON files (JavaScript Object Notation).

Property list files (plist) are among the technical tools used by macOS to store user settings in the background. This file type is also used in macOS for many other purposes beyond building the preferences database. You can use PropEdit to view and edit all files that conform to Apple’s plist standard.

From the world of web programming comes another file type, suitable for simple storage of structured data such as lists and property lists, known as the JSON format. JSON has been widely used in macOS over the past few years, particularly when it comes to web apps or applications that work cross-platform or have a cross-platform history. For example, the macOS components for machine learning, artificial intelligence, or Animojis use internal descriptions based on the JSON standard. JSON was originally created as a standardized format for simple data exchange in conjunction with the JavaScript and ECMAscript programming languages.

PropEdit is aimed to both software developers and end-users who want easy access to plist and JSON files.

PropEdit is a simplified version of our programs PrefEdit and PrefEdit App, which are among the oldest applications for working with property lists on the macOS platform (formerly Mac OS X and OS X). PropEdit has been optimized for the restrictions of the App Store. Unlike PrefEdit, PropEdit does not support direct work with the macOS “preferences” system, since Apple no longer allows this in the App Store as of June 2012. Instead, PropEdit adds support for the JSON format next to plists.

Features in detail

PropEdit has the following key features:

• You can change any entry in a property list file. Property names, entry types and values can be edited freely. Entries can be removed, added, or sorted. The program handles nested entries of any depths correctly.
• The application has full undo and redo capabilities with an unlimited number of steps.
• PropEdit fully supports the “Versions” feature of the operating system. If you modify settings with PropEdit, you will be able to restore them to previous states.
• It is possible to search for any entry in a property list file, either by value or property key of the entry.
• PropEdit can open and write XML-based, as well as binary property list files. Users can freely convert data between the two formats. It is additionally possible to read property list files in the OpenStep format, used by macOS’s predecessor NeXT OPENSTEP for Mach.
• PropEdit can open and save lists in JSON format. When writing, you can choose to create files that are either easily readable or very compact. For more details on which variants of JSON are supported, please see the chapter on JSON.
• If technically possible, plist and JSON files can be converted back and forth in both directions.

System Requirements

To use PropEdit, you’ll need an Apple computer which has one of the following operating systems installed:

• macOS 13.0 or later