Useful macOS defaults: Reminders

2021-05-03 17:00

com.apple.reminders has very few hidden settings. Like Notes, Reminders keeps most of its data and settings synced through iCloud.

After changing these, quit and reopen Reminders.

Default list

Set which list new reminders go into when you do not pick one yourself. This is easier to set through Reminders, then Settings, then Default List, but you can read the current value:

defaults read com.apple.reminders

defaults write com.apple.reminders RemindersDebugMenu -bool true

This adds a Debug menu with tools for checking sync status and the local database.

Show completed reminders

By default, Reminders hides completed items after a while. You can control this through the app's View menu, but there is no reliable defaults key that overrides it for all lists.

Using Reminders from the command line

While not a defaults setting, you can create reminders from Terminal using AppleScript:

osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to make new reminder in default list with properties {name:"Buy milk", due date:date "2025-01-15 09:00:00"}'

Or a simple reminder with no due date:

osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to make new reminder in default list with properties {name:"Buy milk"}'

Notes

Reminders is tightly tied to iCloud. Most of what the app does is managed through iCloud sync rather than local defaults. The settings you can change through defaults write are limited. For most configuration, use Reminders, then Settings.

defaults read com.apple.reminders

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