Table of Contents
Where are configuration files stored on 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.
09. September 2026
Table of Contents
Where configuration files are stored
To simplify the examples in this article, the following abbreviated folder names are used:
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 (such as 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.
Additional configuration components are stored in language-specific folders. As a result, changes made while using one language are not available when you switch to another language.
For example, custom layouts and metadata editors created in English will not automatically be available in German. To make them available in another language, export the components before changing the language and import them again afterwards.
Metadata configuration
The Metadata Configuration (MDC) file contains the namespace and field definitions used by Fotostation metadata editors.
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
On a new installation of Fotostation, Projects and Jobs are stored within the corresponding configuration folder.
Server configurations
When you use the Log on and load configuration from a server option, 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 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. For more information, see the Server Configurations section.