New Settings You Can Customize In macOS Sonoma

There are a few new System Settings and app settings you should know about in macOS Sonoma.

Comments: 14 Responses to “New Settings You Can Customize In macOS Sonoma”

    Sheldon
    1 year ago

    Thanks bunches

    Mike
    1 year ago

    One item that you discussed was to increase the font size - specifically in System Settings/Accessibility/Display/Text Size/Mail ... I set my to Arial size 10 - so when I compose an e mail it automatically defaults to 10 - which is what I want. Unfortunately I have difficulties seeing size 10 on my screen (MacBook Pro) - is there any way that I can increase the magnification of the letters (say to 14) and keeping the actual compose font size to 10. Without degrading the screen resolution?

    1 year ago

    Mike: If you can't see size 10, then why are you composing emails in that size?

    Chris Phillips
    1 year ago

    Thanks for the update Gary. I listened to it all and in my dotage (87) shall never be able to remember any of it. I'll try though !

    Gerry
    1 year ago

    A setting that has been removed in Sonoma is the switch for Auto Save. I turned off Auto Save a couple of years ago and now I want to turn it back on, but can't. There must be a parameter I can control with the DEFAULTS command in Terminal. Does anyone know what it is?

    1 year ago

    Gerry: Do you mean "Ask to keep changes when closing documents?" That's in System Settings, Desktop & Dock.

    Gerry
    1 year ago

    Thanks Gary. Yes, that's the setting I was looking for.

    Don Cadwallader
    1 year ago

    Regarding the deleting of dynamic wallpapers and desktops, after I turned these off, and as a matter fact after shutting down my iMac entirely, I noticed a big improvement in my TV streaming services’ speed and video quality. I had not realized what a bandwidth hog my new Sonoma OS had caused!

    Paul
    1 year ago

    Regarding the display of Widgets: I would like them to be restricted to Desktop 1. Is that possible? If not, do you think that is a good addition to propose?

    1 year ago

    Paul: No, you can't do that. There is only ONE "Desktop." When you create a new Desktop Space in Mission Control, you are seeing the same one Desktop on that Space as well. The only difference is the app windows. The one-and-only Desktop itself is shown on all Desktop Spaces. So to change this macOS would need to have multiple Desktops. Seems like a good idea but then you'd have to manage everything: what is available on which Desktop. So it would make some people happy and confuse the heck out of others. Consider what would happen if you set up Desktop 1 like you want, then Desktop 2 like you want, then delete Desktop 1? Or should there be a whole system of saving Desktops? It gets complex very fast.

    Kerrie
    12 months ago

    Thanks for all this information, Gary! I just tried Stage Manager in Sonoma with the open apps on the side of the screen. At first it was OK as I could still see the apps. Only problem is that when I tried to plug in & open an external drive, it doesn't show on the desktop, and I can't easily move files from iCloud Drive into the external folders, as iC vanished. Too messy a process for me. I like clear drag n drop without much effort. Also, the browser vanished! I think I'll go Zen on this one.

    12 months ago

    Kerrie: Instead of putting the drive icon on the Desktop, just drag and drop into the drive in the Finder sidebar.

    Deborah
    3 months ago

    These darn (beautiful) Sonoma video screensavers take up a HUGE amount of storage (40 GB!). One problem: THEY CAN'T BE DELTED! I've tried all the solutions by digging into the system library. Every time I delete them there, they re-download! Even changing to the basic "flurry" screensaver ad restarting they will come back. I resampled them down to 720p and replaced them with the same names and they seem to work but low quality. Why doesn't Apple allow them to be removed completely?! Insane!

    3 months ago

    Deborah: Try this. First, make sure you switch away from the wallpaper you want to delete. If you are currently using it, then it would download again right away. So switch to another one. Then quit System Settings. Then delete the wallpaper in the Library, it sounds like you know where those are (/Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/). Now you need to go to Activity Monitor and search for the "wallpaper" processes. Quit all of those. They will restart instantly, but that should refresh the status in System Settings. See if that works.
    Also, I believe that there's no need to do this normally. I think if you are low on space, then wallpapers you aren't using will automatically offload to make room. They are considered "purgeable" in other words.

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