In the examples below, the preferences are modified using the defaults command in the Terminal application. However, the information should be sufficient to configure Particulars with MDM or another deployment tool. (Not all configuration changes take effect immediately.)
Particulars has a special mode named 'Lab Mode' that disables end-user interaction with the application. In Lab Mode, Particulars must be configured using Managed Preferences or another deployment tool.
Lab Mode eases the deployment of Particulars in a computer lab or other mass deployment. It changes the following about Particulars' behavior:
These changes combine to make the user interface of Particulars inaccessible.
Administrators enabling labMode with Managed Preferences are also encouraged to set showOnDesktop and showMenuBarExtra to a preferred value.
The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars labMode -bool true
Since all user interface elements are disabled in labMode, how to quit Particulars is not immediately obvious. To quit Particulars while in labMode, open the Terminal application and enter:
killall Particulars
On macOS Ventura and later, macOS presents a Login items added notification when Particulars enables Launch at Login. Additionally, macOS Ventura allows users to remove Login Items in System Settings. This behavior can be suppressed by an MDM. The following information can be used in a MDM Service Management Managed Login Items payload.
| Team Identifier | 2Z25XDNP2X |
|---|---|
| Particulars Bundle Identifier | net.glencode.Particulars |
| Particulars Launcher Bundle Identifier | net.glencode.ParticularsHelperApp |
When a Mac with Particulars enabled to launch at login is upgraded from macOS Monterey or earlier to macOS Ventura or later, Particulars migrates from launching Particulars Launcher to launching Particulars.
The default mode of Particulars is to present system information on the desktop. This can be disabled, usually in favor of showing Particulars in the menu bar.
The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars showOnDesktop -bool false
Adds an item to the macOS menu bar that allows quick access to system information. Secondary-clicking on the menu bar item shows a menu with settings, copying, and other functions.
The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false. (As mentioned above, enabling labMode disables secondary-clicking on the menu bar item.)
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars showMenuBarExtra -bool true
The standard Detail Levels can be configured as follows. The value is an integer.
| Level | Number |
|---|---|
| Hardware | 253 |
| Status | 2045 |
| Network | 4093 |
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars detailLevel -int 2045
Sets the display (or monitor) on which Particulars will show desktop system information. If the display is later unavailable, Particulars will default back to the primary display.
The value is an integer, taking 2 for the 2nd display, for example.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars preferredDisplay -int 2
Sets the relative position of desktop system information.
The value is an integer following the layout below.
| 0 - Top Left | 1 - Top Center | 2 - Top Right |
| 3 - Middle Left | 4 - Middle Center | 5 - Middle Right |
| 6 - Bottom Left | 7 - Bottom Center | 8 - Bottom Right |
Values not documented in the table above are ignored and the default (Top Left) is used.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars desktopPosition -int 6
Sets the theme of desktop system information. Each theme has a corresponding number. If using a custom theme see the section below.
| Theme | Number |
|---|---|
| Classic | 0 |
| System (Default) | 1 |
| Mono | 2 |
| Custom | 255 |
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars textTheme -int 1
Particulars has 3 options for the shade of the desktop system information. The value is an integer and the options are as follows:
| Shade | Number |
|---|---|
| Automatic | 0 |
| Light text (default) | 1 |
| Dark text | 2 |
Values not documented in the table above are ignored and the default is used.
The Automatic setting scans the current desktop picture to determine what setting to use. If battery life or performance is a concern, use 1 or 2.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars lightDarkText -int 2
Sets the preferred text size for the desktop system information in points. The default is 18. Values between 12 and 24 are typical. (Value may be scaled down to fit.)
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars textSize -int 24
Determines whether the desktop system information has a drop shadow behind it. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars dropShadow -bool true
When using a custom theme, fonts and colors for labels and values are stored in binary formats in the above named preferences. These binary formats makes them difficult to set with the defaults commands. They can be extracted from the preferences file and copied to other computers.
Sets the letter case of the labels. Each case option has a corresponding number.
| Case | Number |
|---|---|
| Unaltered | 0 |
| lower (Default) | 1 |
| UPPER | 2 |
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars labelCase -int 0
Sets the appearance of the menu bar widget. The value is an integer based on the following table:
| Appearance | Number |
|---|---|
| System appearance (Default) | 0 |
| Vibrant Light | 1 |
| Vibrant Dark | 2 |
| Light | 3 |
| Dark | 4 |
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars menuBarWidgetAppearance -int 4
Sets the preferred text size in the menu bar widget in points. The default is 12. Values below 9 and above 24 are ignored. (Value may be scaled down to fit.)
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars menuBarWidgetTextSize -int 14
When enabled in the detail level, Particulars displays information about the primary active network interface. This setting expands that to include information about all active network interfaces. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars allNetworkInterfaces -bool true
In the default network information, Particulars shows the DHCP server address and the length of the DHCP lease. This setting adds the remaining lease time. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars dhcpLeaseRemaining -bool true
By default, MAC (Media Access Control) addresses are formatted with colon separators and in lowercase. Use this setting to select another MAC address format.
| Number | Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Plain | lowercase, no separators | 0123456789ab |
| 1 | Unix (default) | lowercase, colon separated | 01:23:45:67:89:ab |
| 2 | Cisco | lowercase, dot separated | 0123.4567.89ab |
| 3 | Windows/IEEE | uppercase, dash separated | 01-23-45-67-89-AB |
The value is an integer. Values not documented in the table above are ignored and the default is used.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars macAddressFormat -int 2
By default, all network information is displayed. It is possible to construct a custom set of network information. To create a custom network detail level, take the numeric value of each particular piece of information in the table below and sum them.
| Interface name | 1 |
| MAC address | 4 |
| SSID | 8 |
| IPv4 addresses | 16 |
| DHCPv4 server and lease | 32 |
| IPv6 addresses | 64 |
| Router | 256 |
| DNS servers | 512 |
| DNS search domains | 1024 |
| Public IP address | 2048 |
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars networkDetailLevel -int 2933
When enabled, Particulars will post system notifications when it detects a change in the primary IPv4 address or the public IP address. Notifications are also governed by settings in the Notifications pane of System Settings. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars networkNotifications -bool true
This setting displays subnet masks in the short CIDR (Classless Inter-domain Routing) notation. For example, 255.255.254.0 will show as /23. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars subnetMaskCIDRNotation -bool true
Adds a count of CPU cores to the CPU particular. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false. Changing this setting requires a restart of the application to take effect.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars coreCount -bool true
In addition to the pre-defined detail levels, it possible to construct a custom detail level. To create a custom detail level, take the numeric value of each particular piece of information in the table below and sum them.
| Computer name | 1 |
| Model identifier | 2 |
| Model name | 4 |
| Serial number | 8 |
| CPU/SoC | 16 |
| RAM | 32 |
| GPU | 64 |
| Operating system | 128 |
| Current user | 256 |
| Uptime | 512 |
| Disk free space | 1024 |
| Network | 2048 |
| Darwin version | 16384 |
| Model number | 32768 |
| Part number | 65536 |
For example, to only display Model name, Serial number, CPU, RAM, GPU and Operating system, the total is 252 (4+8+16+32+64+128).
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars detailLevel -int 252
Free/available disk space can be displayed in multiple ways. The value of the option is an integer.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars diskFreeSpace -int 1
By default, Particulars only shows disk space for the boot disk. Enable this setting to show disk space for other disks. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars diskFreeSpaceNonBootVolumes -bool true
On first run, Particulars displays a welcome window that describes how it runs on the desktop and then hides all other apps and opens the settings window. To skip this first run experience, enable this setting. (As mentioned above, enabling labMode implies this setting.)
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars firstRunDone -bool true
Header text or footer text is displayed in a separate paragraph above or below all particulars. Any leading or trailing whitespace is removed.
If set using defaults these preferences support line breaks with the use of \n in the string.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars headerText "This Mac is property of Burger Bell"
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars headerText "Text on line 1\nText on line 2"
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars footerText "For technical support call ext 1701"
If set using Managed Preferences with a property list file, multi-line strings must be formatted in-line with line breaks and no leading whitespace on subsequent lines:
<?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>footerText</key> <string>Text on line 1 Text on line 2</string> </dict> </plist>
Enabling this setting removes Particulars from the macOS Dock. Changing this setting while Particulars is running will automatically restart Particulars and open the Settings window. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false. (As mentioned above, enabling labMode implies this setting.)
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars hideDockIcon -bool true
When Particulars is running with the Dock icon shown, it will be hidden along with all other apps when one selects Hide Others from another application's menu. This preference keeps Particulars visible. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars ignoreHiding -bool true
This setting adds the operating system version's marketing name (e.g., Big Sur, Catalina, etc) to the Operating System particular. The value is boolean, meaning it will take true or false.
defaults write net.glencode.Particulars operatingSystemVersionName -bool true