Macos – Reset Mac OS X Yosemite settings to default

macososx-yosemite

I just did a clean install of Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) in my Macbook Air. Before installing 10.10, I erased the whole SSD and installed 10.10 from the web using Recovery Tools. And after the installation I signed in with my Apple ID. To my surprise, all the previous system settings from 10.9.4 are synced with 10.10 as well.

Is there a way to get back all the default system settings?

Best Answer

Resetting the preferences of a single application is described in the article
How to reset an App’s Preferences :

Sometimes you may want to reset all settings of an app. This is often helpful when an app behaves strangely or crashes on start.

You can delete an apps settings using the command line. On OS X you access the command line using the Terminal app. Terminal is preinstalled on every Mac and can be found in /Applications/Utilities/ or using Spotlight:

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In Terminal enter the following command:

defaults delete <application ID>

The application ID is in the form com.company.app. For example to delete the settings of Wokabulary enter:

defaults delete com.mrFridge.Wokabulary

to delete the Tincta settings enter:

defaults delete com.mrFridge.Tincta

Remember that this command will reset all your settings and you will need to re-adjust the applications settings.

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