Table of Contents
Where are configuration files stored in Mac OS?
This document describes where the configuration files are stored in Fotostation. All folder names refer to the English version of Mac OS X.
02. July 2025
Table of Contents
Where configuration files are stored
To simplify the document, we replace the following base folders with some abbreviated names:
PRIVATE_FOLDER
~/Library/Preferences/FotoWare
Configuration files
The base folders for the different configuration options are:
- When using a separate configuration for each user - PRIVATE_FOLDER/FotoStation/Configuration
- When logging on and loading a configuration from a server - PRIVATE_FOLDER/FotoStation/Server Configuration1
Localized configuration
Parts of the configuration (like web export and print templates, metadata editors/macros and templates) that are localized will now reside in the subfolder…\localized\<your language>.2 When you change the program language, Fotostation will access these folders directly in the language folder.
We have also decided to put more of the configuration in the localized folder. A side effect of this is that changes made in the localized configuration will not be visible in other languages when you change the language. For example, changing the layout or adding new metadata editors will not be available after changing the language. In this case, you should first export the components that have been changed and then import them after changing the language.
Metadata configuration
The Metadata Configuration (MDC) contains the namespace and field definitions used for Fotostation's metadata.
It is stored in ~/Library/Preferences/FotoWare/FotoStation/Configuration/Metadata/MetadataConfiguration.xml
Local file cache
The local file cache is now always stored per user, in the folder PRIVATE_FOLDER/FotoStation/Cache
Projects and jobs
When you install Fotostation on a ‘clean’ machine, Projects and Jobs will be located beneath the respective base folder.
Server configurations
When using the option ‘Log on and load configuration from a server’, when you log on, the server configuration will be copied to the local folder, PRIVATE_FOLDER\FotoStation\Server Configuration.
This configuration will be independent of language selection and will not contain the subfolder ‘Localized\<your language>.
The file that contains the “logon path”, locationData.xml, is always stored in ALLUSERS_FOLDER\FotoStation\
The consequence of this is that all users on the same machine will always use the same “logon path”. It is possible, however, to copy locationData.xml to PRIVATE_FOLDER\FotoStation\Configuration to personalize the “logon path”. This is can be useful when running Fotostation on a Citrix server.
Files checked out from Index Manager
Fotostation can check out files from the Index Manager server over the FWP protocol. The files can then be modified locally before being uploaded back onto the server.
The local repository for such checked-out files is:
~/Library/Application Support/FotoWare/FotoStation/Downloads
Footnotes
[1] Local copy of the configuration downloaded from the server.
[2] When using a server configuration, the ‘Localized/<your language>’ is skipped. See the section Server configurations for further details.