6.12   Esoteric Preferences

You can set esoteric EagleFiler preferences by clicking the links on this page. Unlike with regular settings, you must generally quit and re-launch EagleFiler in order for an esoteric preference to take effect.

AlwaysShowNewRecordSheet

When you create a new record, EagleFiler normally shows the sheet to enter the filename only if the File column is hidden. You can also set it so that filename entry is always via the sheet rather than the records list.

AutomaticallyBackupMetadata

EagleFiler automatically backs up your libraries’ metadata (and, at the same time, copies tags to the Spotlight comments, if you’ve asked it to do that), but you can turn this feature off for a slight speed increase.

CalculateFolderSizes

This controls whether EagleFiler calculates folder sizes to display them in the records list. Turning off this feature will increase EagleFiler’s responsiveness.

CaptureNotSupportedJustBeep

Normally if you press the capture key in an application that EagleFiler doesn’t know how to capture from, it presents an error alert that explains the situation. You can also set it to just beep if you understand how capturing works and prefer a less intrusive notification when you accidentally press the key.

CaseSensitiveTagCompletion

Normally, tag auto-completion is case-insensitive so that you see as many matching tags as possible. You can also set it to be case-sensitive so that it is easier to type new tag names that are similar to existing tags but with differing case.

ClearSearchWhenChangingSources

Normally EagleFiler clears the search so that clicking on a different folder takes EagleFiler out of search mode and shows you all the records. You can also set EagleFiler to preserve your search query (like in OmniFocus) when you view different sources, so that you can easily search different folders without retyping the query.

CommandOToOpenRecord

Normally EagleFiler uses the keyboard shortcut Command-Shift-O for Open With External Viewer. You can also set it to use Command-O (swapping the shortcut with Open Library…).

DarkTextBackgroundInDarkMode

Normally EagleFiler will use adaptive color mapping (like TextEdit) when displaying rich text documents and notes so that you automatically see light text on a dark background when your Mac is running in Dark Mode. You can turn off this behavior if you need to precisely edit the colors in your documents or notes so that WYSIWYG.

DefaultMessageEncoding

When a message doesn’t specify which text encoding it uses, EagleFiler has to guess. An incorrect guess may cause the message to display using strange accents or garbage characters. By default EagleFiler guesses MacRoman, but you can change it to guess ISO Latin 1 or UTF-8 instead.

DefaultWebEncoding

When a Web page or HTML file doesn’t specify which text encoding it uses, EagleFiler has to guess. An incorrect guess may cause the page to display using strange accents or garbage characters. By default EagleFiler guesses ISO-8859-1, but you can change it to guess Macintosh or UTF-8 instead.

DisableNotificationCenter

EagleFiler normally posts to Notification Center when it finishes importing a batch of files. You can control in Notification Center when and how the notifications are displayed, or disable this feature entirely if you don’t want your filenames to be stored in the Notification Center database.

DisplayImagesWithQuickLook

To prevent leakage of sensitive image data, you can tell EagleFiler not use Quick Look to display images, or go back to the default behavior of using Quick Look to display SVG images.

DisplayPDFsWithQuickLook

There are some bugs in macOS 10.12’s PDF view. You can tell EagleFiler to instead use the Quick Look view (which is unaffected by some of the bugs but has other limitations) to display PDF files, or go back to the default behavior of using PDFView.

EnableJavaScript

Normally, EagleFiler will use JavaScript to help display HTML files and Web archives. However, you can also disable JavaScript, which may make the pages less distracting to view. EagleFiler always enables JavaScript when importing Web pages (e.g. to make sure all the content is saved into a Web archive or PDF) except for sites where JavaScript is known to cause problems, and unless you have changed the EnableJavaScriptForWebTool esoteric preference below.

EnableJavaScriptForMail

Normally, EagleFiler will use JavaScript to help display HTML e-mail messages. However, you can also disable JavaScript, which can work around some crashing bugs in macOS.

EnableJavaScriptForWebTool

Normally, EagleFiler will use JavaScript when importing a URL because many Web pages use JavaScript to load or help display content. However, you can also disable JavaScript if you are worried about JavaScript security bugs on older versions of macOS.

EnableWebPlugIns

Normally, EagleFiler will show content from Web plug-ins (such as Flash) when displaying an HTML file or Web archive. However, you can also disable plug-ins if you don’t want to see this content.

ErrorsOpenForDuplicates

Normally, EagleFiler will open the Errors window when a file has been skipped during an import because it’s a duplicate. However, you can also set EagleFiler to log the error without opening the window, for example if you expect there to be duplicates and don’t care to see them.

ExcludeIndexesFromBackup

EagleFiler’s index files are normally included in Time Machine backups. This way, you can immediately search your library after restoring it from backup. To save space on the backup device and speed up your backups, you can set EagleFiler to exclude the indexes from backups. The downside to this is that, as with Spotlight, you’ll have to wait for the files to be re-indexed after restoring.

FindPanelDiacriticInsensitive

EagleFiler’s Find panel normally works like TextEdit’s. Searching for “e” does not find “é”. You can also make EagleFiler’s Find panel diacritic-insensitive so that “e” matches “é”, “ü” matches “u”, etc., as always happens with EagleFiler’s library search and Spotlight. This feature does not work in Web or PDF views.

FixOwnershipWhenVerifying

With this option enabled, when you use the Verify command EagleFiler will set all the files to be owned by the current user. With this option disabled (the default), EagleFiler will not change any file ownership except when necessary because you are editing a file.

FixPermissionsWhenVerifying

With this option enabled, when you use the Verify command EagleFiler will set all the files to have standard permissions. With this option disabled (the default), EagleFiler will not change any file permissions except when necessary because you are editing a file.

FolderMailboxTitleSeparateFromFilename

Normally EagleFiler will keep the titles of folders and mailboxes in sync with their filenames. You can also set it to allow the titles to be distinct from the filenames. This is potentially useful if you need to manage a folder structure using fixed filenames but you want to have longer, more descriptive titles in EagleFiler.

HighlightSearchMatches

Normally EagleFiler will highlight in the record viewer the words that match your search query. Disabling this feature will provide a speed increase.

ImportLoneMessageAsMailbox

Normally EagleFiler will import a single e-mail message as a .eml file. This makes it easier to view the message directly in the records list; multiple .eml files can later be merged into a mailbox if desired. You can also set EagleFiler to import a lone message as a mailbox file containing a single message. This makes it easier to merge it with existing mailboxes.

ImportSpotlightKeywords

EagleFiler normally ignores Spotlight keywords when importing files to avoid cluttering your tags list with irrelevant or incorrect entries. You can also set EagleFiler to import Spotlight keywords as tags if you generally like the keywords that are assigned to your files.

ImportTextAsWebArchive

When importing the selected text from a Web view (via drag and drop, the Service menu, or the Import Clipboard command), EagleFiler normally uses the Web archive format, as this preserves all of the original information. You can instead set it to import in RTF(D) format for easier editing. Some Web browsers don’t suppor the Safari Web archive format, and so EagleFiler will always use RTF, regardless of this setting.

ImportTitleFromFileContents

When importing a file, EagleFiler normally reads the file’s own metadata to find its title (e.g. one that was specified when creating a PDF or Word file) and sets the title in EagleFiler accordingly. You can also set EagleFiler to ignore the file’s own title, e.g. if you frequently download files with meaningless titles and would prefer to have EagleFiler show the filename.

MarkNewRecordsAsUnread

Normally EagleFiler will mark newly imported records as unread, but you can also tell it to leave them untagged. This does not affect the Capture With Options window, since that always suggests the tags from the previous capture.

MaxEditableTextFileSizeInMB

Normally EagleFiler will display the entire contents of a text file, even if it’s many megabytes. This can take a long time. You can speed it up by setting EagleFiler to only show the first 10 MB of a text file.

MediaStyle

If a Web page includes multiple stylesheets, you can choose whether EagleFiler displays it using the print stylesheet or the default stylesheet.

MediaStylePDF

If a Web page includes multiple stylesheets, you can choose whether EagleFiler creates a PDF using the print stylesheet or the default (screen) stylesheet.

MJTUpdaterDeleteDiskImage

Normally, the Software Update… feature will clean up after itself after downloading a new version. You can also set it to leave the disk image file in your Downloads folder.

MJTWindowToolbarStyleUnified

Normally on macOS 11 and later, EagleFiler uses the new unified window style where the window’s title and toolbar buttons are shown side-by-side. You can also switch to the old expanded style where the title is above the toolbar, which leaves room for more toolbar buttons extending to the left edge of the window.

OldApplicationIcon

If you prefer, you can use the old application icon from EagleFiler 1.0 through 1.4 rather than the new icon from EagleFiler 1.9. This setting only applies to the icon in the Dock while EagleFiler is running.

OldApplicationIcon1.5

If you prefer, you can use the old application icon from EagleFiler 1.4 through 1.8 rather than the new icon from EagleFiler 1.9. This setting only applies to the icon in the Dock while EagleFiler is running.

OpenEagleFilerURLsInNewWindow

Normally EagleFiler opens x-eaglefiler URLs in a an existing browser window. You can also set it to create a new browser window.

PDFWebBackgrounds

When you import a Web page in PDF format, EagleFiler usually preserves the background so that the page looks like it does in the browser. You can also set EagleFiler to use a blank page background. This is especially useful in combination with setting the MediaStylePDF to print.

PlayCaptureSound

When you press the capture key, EagleFiler can either play a sound or be silent.

PrefersRichText

Normally when you create a new file via the EagleFiler: Import service, Import From Clipboard, drag and drop, or New Record ‣ From Clipboard EagleFiler creates an RTF or RTFD file. You can instead set it to create plain text files.

RecordsListHasAlternatingBackground

This controls whether EagleFiler uses a solid white background or blue-and-white alternating row background colors in the records list.

RecordsListShowToolTips

This controls whether EagleFiler shows tooltips or not when you hover over an item in the records list.

RecordsListLabelPreferTitle

Normally, EagleFiler indicates a record’s label by showing a colored circle in the File column. You can also set it to use the Title column instead.

RecordsListLabelUnderlineStyle

Normally, EagleFiler indicates a record’s label by showing a colored circle in the File or Title column (like Finder does). You can also set it to additionally underline the filename and title, to make the color stand out more.

RespectImageDPI

When displaying images and rich text files, EagleFiler normally uses the resolution specified in each image file. Some images have an incorrect resolution setting (e.g. set to 300 DPI but intended to be 72 DPI), which can make them appear very small on screen. Therefore, EagleFiler lets you override the image’s resolution to display all the pixels. This can “fix” the display for incorrect image files, however it will make legitimately high-resolution images appear much too large. The best solution is to fix the resolution in the image files themselves.

RevealInLibraryNewWindow

Normally the Reveal in Library button in the Errors window selects the record in an existing window, which can be a lot faster if you’re going through lots of “Missing File” errors. You can also set it to open a new window, so that you don’t lose your place.

RevealRecordInParent

Normally when you open an x-eaglefiler link, EagleFiler shows the record in the Records source, to avoid disrupting your current view. You can also set it to select the record’s containing folder, which shows the direct context of the record but may cause multiple levels of folders to be expanded in the source list.

ScanForNewFilesOnOpen

EagleFiler normally scans for new files when the library is opened. You can turn this off so that it only scans for new files when you use the menu command.

SendsWholeSearchString

Normally EagleFiler updates the search results as you type. If you are a slow typer, it may do this after each letter, causing the search to take a long time. You can instead set EagleFiler to only do the search once, when you press Return.

ShowImagesInMessages

Normally EagleFiler will show images in HTML e-mails, but you can also tell it to not load them if you’re concerned about Web bugs.

SourcesRowSizeStyle

Normally EagleFiler will set the sources icon and font sizes based on the Sidebar icon size pop-up menu in the General tab of System Settings. You can also override it to always be small, medium, or large.

TagCommentPrefix

If a record is tagged unread and flagged EagleFiler will normally set the Spotlight comments to &flagged &unread. This allows for integration with other applications that follow this convention, and it lets you use Spotlight to search for files with particular tags. You can set it to use no prefix so that it instead sets the comments to flagged unread or set the prefix to “&” to go back to the default.

TextInspectorBar

Normally EagleFiler shows the text editing toolbar as needed. You can also set it to never show. This is the default on macOS 10.12.0–10.12.1 in order to work around a crashing bug.

TextInspectorBarStayOpen

Normally EagleFiler shows and hides the text editing toolbar as needed. You can also set it to stay visible if you prefer not to see the window resize when you view different types of records.

UseOpenMetaRecentsForCompletion

EagleFiler can use a global list of recently used tags to use for auto-completion. By default, however, only tags in the current library are offered as suggested completions.

WordXRecordDisplayUsingQuickLook

EagleFiler normally uses the system text engine to display .docx files, as this lets you select text and use the Find panel. You can also tell EagleFiler to use Quick Look in the record viewer, which may provide a more realistic preview for documents with complex formatting. (Quick Look is always available in a separate window, via the Quick Look menu command.)

Experimental Options

PlainTextForegroundColor/PlainTextBackgroundColor

You can change the colors EagleFiler uses to display plain text files. For example, to get green text on a black background you could enter these commands into Terminal:

defaults write com.c-command.EagleFiler PlainTextForegroundColor -array 0 .4 .1 1
defaults write com.c-command.EagleFiler PlainTextBackgroundColor -array 0 0 0 1

The colors are specified as RGBA values. To return to the default colors:

defaults delete com.c-command.EagleFiler PlainTextForegroundColor
defaults delete com.c-command.EagleFiler PlainTextBackgroundColor

NewPlainTextExtension

This lets you change the extension of new plain text files that EagleFiler creates on your behalf. For example, you could change it from the default txt to md to create Markdown files:

defaults write com.c-command.EagleFiler NewPlainTextExtension md