Changing the system’s default settings for html files (safe)
February 6, 2008 2:42 amApple, Leopard, Mac, Tips, how-to
With Leopard 10.5.1, Apple’s developers changed the default status of html files downloaded from the internet from ’safe’ to ‘Unsafe’.
While this may make sense from a security standpoint, for somebody like me that processes hundreds of html files downloaded every day, it’s a big annoyance.
I filed a bug with Apple, asking for a workaround. I was hoping that they would implement a preference somehow to enable me to either override the default settings or allow me to specify trusted servers.
Tonight, three months later, I received an answer and the workaround that I was looking for.
I turned out that you could have a user specific file to override the system’s default settings. The file is not there normally, so you would need to create it. It is:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.DownloadAssessment.plist
The contents of the file need to be:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>LSRiskCategorySafe</key> <dict> <key>LSRiskCategoryContentTypes</key> <array> <string>public.html</string> </array> </dict> </dict> </plist>
Hopefully that helps somebody else with this type of problem.
If you need to change the settings of other file types, here are the system-declared file types:
System-Declared Uniform Type Identifiers
For each type you add another <string></string> item to the above array.
For example, for jpeg2000 files you add:
<string>public.jpeg-2000</string>
Right below the other <string> line.
For more info on how this works and other variations, you can go to this page:
April 15th, 2008 at 8:39 am
[...] second is by Lazeez (Changing the system’s default settings for html files (safe)) is my preferred solution. Basically you need to create a file called [...]
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
THANK YOU! These stupid security alerts drive me nuts. I wish there was an easy way to shut it off completely. If you know anything about computers you shouldn’t need it.
November 11th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
These are there as a result of two stupid decisions by apple, copied from Microsoft:
1. open “safe” files after downloading.
2. hide file extensions for known file types
Instead of backing off these bad ideas, Apple implemented a copy of the tool Microsoft uses to train people to answer “YES” to “badguy.com wants to install a virus on your computer. Is this OK? (Install) (Panic)”. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Apple.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I also added this line so I can zip php files I just downloaded with CleanArchiver:
public.php-script
thank you so much, its a savior for me !
January 5th, 2009 at 11:52 am
sorry it should read:
public.php-scriptFebruary 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Thanks very much for posting this and making it easy to find with a Google search.
March 20th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Well, crap, Safari seems to be ignoring DownloadAssesment.plist.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:58 am
This didn’t work for me, I’m trying to add torrents to the safe list. both links are dead so i can’t find the file type stuff :/
osx 10.5.6
April 16th, 2009 at 7:29 am
[...] av informationen i artikeln är hämtad från den här artikeln och den här på macosxhints. Även My Macinations har en artikel. Rekommendera artikeln till [...]
June 6th, 2009 at 3:19 am
doesn’t work for me either!