How to edit binary plist?

Have you ever tried to edit application preference (.plist) files? Those files are usually found in Preferences folder in your home directory. If you have a little knowledge about how the XML plist is constructed (and knows what options you like to change), it might be easier to edit the file directly than typing defaults terminal command.

Some of you may have already noticed that you cannot open those plist files by your favorite text editor any more since you upgraded to Tiger. That is because Tiger got a little concern about the disk space and performance, and converted them to binary format.

But, don't worry about it. AppleTrans has a built-in filter for the plist files. When you import a plist file, the filer will convert it to XML format, which you must be familiar with. And when you save the file as "Original Format", it will convert the file back to binary.

In this blog, we will explore the basics of creating a custom filter for AppleTrans sometime soon.