When did Preferences become Settings?

[Steve Bishop]

I thought I was losing my mind when I could not find Preferences under the Accordance tab. It turns out it is now called Settings. Who knew?

 

[Misulejoha]

It must be a Mac thing.  I'm on Windows 11 and it shows Preferences under the drop down menu.

 

 

[Steve Bishop]

In Windows Preferences has always been under Edit but in Mac it has always been under Accordance. It just wasn't called Settings. It's the name change that threw me.

[Lawrence]

It sounds like it's matching the Mac name shift from preferences to settings.

 

https://www.macworld.com/article/803390/macos-ventura-system-preferences-settings.html

Edited January 4, 2023 by Lawrence

[darrylmy]

I must say, this seems quite strange to me. Every app on Mac uses "Preferences…" (note also that the ellipsis is typed with option-; rather than three periods). The Macworld article that Lawrence points to even notes that "Mac app settings are still called Preferences and they are still located within each app’s Preferences menu." It is only the 'System Preferences' name that has changed to 'System Settings' in Ventura. This seems like another bug.

 

On a side note, I think it strange as well that 'Preferences' is used on Windows because I think that traditionally Windows uses the name 'Settings' instead (with the gear icon), but I could be wrong about that.

[A. Smith]

its macOS wide.

 

[A. Smith]

2 hours ago, darrylmy said:

I must say, this seems quite strange to me. Every app on Mac uses "Preferences…" (note also that the ellipsis is typed with option-; rather than three periods). The Macworld article that Lawrence points to even notes that "Mac app settings are still called Preferences and they are still located within each app’s Preferences menu." It is only the 'System Preferences' name that has changed to 'System Settings' in Ventura. This seems like another bug.

 

On a side note, I think it strange as well that 'Preferences' is used on Windows because I think that traditionally Windows uses the name 'Settings' instead (with the gear icon), but I could be wrong about that.

 

What version macOS are you using? In 13 its system wide called settings. This is apple and third party apps. 

[A. Smith]

Just now, A. Smith said:

 

What version macOS are you using? In 13 its system wide called settings. This is apple and third party apps. 

 

Ok. Logos is apparently the lone holdout on my machine that still says preferences rather than settings. And that's logos 10, btw. 

[darrylmy]

1 hour ago, A. Smith said:

 

What version macOS are you using? In 13 its system wide called settings. This is apple and third party apps. 

 

Thanks for pointing that out. I stand corrected. I'm still on Monterey and was relying on the article from Macworld which stated, "Mac app settings are still called Preferences." Must have changed since.

[Steve Bishop]

4 hours ago, A. Smith said:

 

What version macOS are you using? In 13 its system wide called settings. This is apple and third party apps. 

Ah, that explains it. I only recently installed 13, as in 3 weeks ago, and seldom access Preferences in other apps. so didn't notice it until I wanted to change something in Accordance.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Yeah, it changed in Ventura. It threw me for a loop in all of Apple’s apps as well. I was looking for Preferences and thought for a moment all of Apple’s apps were “broken” until I found the new “settings” menu item.