Important Tips for Old-School MacOS Users

macOS disable auto save.

Some programs will automatically save changes when closing files - Plan is to make a repository with a bunch of defaults which I use. For now it is a GitHub Gist.

Programs which seem to do this are listed below : 
   - Texttastic : https://www.textasticapp.com

More default settings now availble in a repository : 
https://github.com/henri/handy-settings-macOS/

---- CLI Details ----

Disable Auto Save : 
  
  - Check the status of "Ask to save changes when closing documents" General - System Preferences settings.
    defaults read .GlobalPreferences.plist | grep -i NSCloseAlwaysConfirmsChanges
  
  - Set "Ask to save changes when closing documents" to be ticked.
    defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist NSCloseAlwaysConfirmsChanges 1

Enable Keyboard Navigation Focus :
  
  - Check the status of  "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls" Keyboard - System Preferences settings.
    defaults read .GlobalPreferences.plist | grep -i AppleKeyboardUIMode
  
  - Set "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls" to be ticked.
    defaults write .GlobalPreferences.plist AppleKeyboardUIMode 2

Helpful Bonus Link : More Excellent Defaults Tips are availble from - Just Added These Two On The List
https://macos-defaults.com/finder/fxenableextensionchangewarning.html#set-to-true-default-value


---- GUI Details ----

To avoid saving files when you really do not want to complete the following steps within the System Preferences : 
  - Navigate to General => 
    Then tick the "Ask to save changes when closing documents" check box so that you will be 
    prompted to save or not save changes when closing files

This seems to be unticked by default on many modern versions of MacOS.

Next to be able to use the keyboard to not save changes, follow this step in the System Preferences : 
  - Navigate to Keyboard => Shortcuts => 
    Then, tick the "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls" check box, so you can quickly not save changes.
    
Notes : Finding the commands to set these or check if they have been set will require more digging. In the mean time, 
        This information is hopefully useful.
        

  
  

Pictures Showing Locations of these settings.

I will probably turn this into a repository at some point. Just leave comments to help out and I will at some point get around to making this more digestible. Hopefully, with some terminal commands that can set things up in a way which makes sense to people who are used to saving documents rather than having auto save.

There is now a repository with all kinds of default settings :
https://github.com/henri/macOS-handy-settings/