QSettings on OS X 10.9 - unable to locate/clear it

Question

I have a Qt (4.8.5) based application running on OS X 10.9. The app uses QSettings class specifying app name and company. Plist file is created by QSetttings under:

~/Library/Preferences/com.company_name.app_name.plist

The app works pretty fine in terms of saving/restoring preferences. Then I quit the app, delete *.plist file, run the app again and voila - it restored its preferences! Based on what what file? Hot to delete it?

I was unable to find the answer in the Qt doc for QSettings class.

Are you sure it restores its preferences or it actually resets to the **default** values? — vahancho, Nov 02 '13 at 15:59
The [source code](https://qt.gitorious.org/qt/qt/source/8f84a6e549b90286afb2e4af378ea8b271babcd5:) is where you *will* find the answer :) — Kuba hasn't forgotten Monica, Nov 02 '13 at 17:27
Yes I'm sure it doesn't reset to defaults. The link to source code is great but I think it's also somehow related to app sandboxing in Mac. — Thomas, Nov 02 '13 at 18:54
See also [this SO thread](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19303958) about the same problem. — normanius, Jan 31 '18 at 23:03

GeekUser · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-29T22:18:40.037

18

In 10.9 (and higher) .plist files are being cached. So once you have deleted a .plist file, the cache must be refreshed. Either log out or execute the following command in Terminal:

killall -u yourusername cfprefsd

edited Jan 29 '16 at 22:18

answered Nov 09 '13 at 22:48

GeekUser

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On 10.11, logging out doesn't seem to work, but the command does. Thanks! – vpicaver Mar 24 '16 at 21:15

QSettings on OS X 10.9 - unable to locate/clear it

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