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getaaron/macos-messages-subject-field.md

Last active March 10, 2025 11:17
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Enable iMessage (Messages) Subject Field in macOS Big Sur through Sonoma
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macos-messages-subject-field.md

Want the Subject field (for bold iMessages) in macOS’ Messages app?

  1. Quit Messages
  2. Open Terminal
  3. Run defaults write com.apple.MobileSMS MMSShowSubject 1
  4. Start Messages

This worked for me on a fresh install of macOS 14.1.1 (23B81) (new Mac mini).

@2xsaiko
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2xsaiko commented Jun 23, 2024

Hmm, really? It worked for me. Though tbh I put it at the very bottom before the , but that shouldn't make a difference.

@jbburf
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jbburf commented Jun 25, 2024

Very weird @2xsaiko, could you post / DM me your plist so I can copy that in and see if that works?

@2xsaiko
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2xsaiko commented Jun 25, 2024

https://gist.github.com/2xsaiko/3604038825dc1118b81eda7c8f0ba1b3

@getaaron
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@jbburf @2xsaiko can either of you identify the different between your two plists? It might be helpful for others and I can update the instructions if needed.

@2xsaiko
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2xsaiko commented Jun 26, 2024

I mean that's really it, I just added it to the top level dict as I said. To the end that is, after I ran Messages again it rewrote the file and placed it somewhere in the middle, that's why it's no longer at the end in the paste.

It's probably safer to tell people to edit it with Xcode instead, there's no risk of messing up the file that way...

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