Change default alarm sound in iCal

That is interesting. iCal in Lion certainly does use the com.apple.iCal.plist file. If you moved your data last month, was it just the calendars or more account information? It may be that you have some sort of file permissions conflict and the data is being written to another location.

I moved my iTunes and iPhoto libraries, and imported my address book and iCal data only, albeit manually in all cases as my several attempts to use Migration Assistant for this purpose resulted in nothing but a torrent of profanity. I did have issues with permissions on the iCal archive I exported from my old machine, which prevented me from accessing the file via Home Sharing, but once I resolved that I was able to transfer the archive and import it successfully, so I would presume that no permissions issues exist - I'm no expert on this subject, though!

I also do not have the subject file and would dearly like to know how to make the changes discussed. Hope someone can help.

festar

It's not there in Lion. I don't have it, either. There's no Library folder at all in my Users/<USERNAME> folder.

And while we're on the subject... does it seem patently ridiculous to anyone else to have to edit a preferences file, which can screw up your program if it gets messed with, to change a default sound? That just me?

Okay.

Hi ldschwalbe,

If you are not confident editing plist files you should not. The ~/Library folder is hidden in Lion for exactly the reason you state.

See: Macworld | 18 ways to view the ~/Library folder in Lion

In my opinion the Terminal method I show here is marginally less "screw up" prone and you don't need to find the ~/Library folder.

John M

Oh, thanks for the link! It worked!

I'm fairly confident muddling around in the back end, but a lot of people aren't. I just think it's crazy to require this kind of back-end futzing in order to change a default sound, or to change the default time span of an appointment. If you wanted to make iCal automatically schedule your car maintenance or something, fine, go spelunking. But to change a default sound? That's just insane.

Ther terminal command works in Lion. Thanks.

Disregard previous email, as I tried it again, and it worked. Thanks so much. Cheers, L

This has been resolved but just in case anyone else is wondering: The secret lies in the iCal preference setting for default alerts.

If the box "Add a default alert to all new timed events and invitations" in iCal (Preferences, tab "General", at the bottom) is ticked, then the line "Default alerts" exists in com.apple.iCal.plist and hence it can be edited - i.e. changed to whichever sound you prefer as described above. I too would recommend using Terminal if you wish to do this.

If however the aforementioned box is unticked, then the setting cannot be altered. Manually adding an alert to an event will therefore result in the iCal standard sound ("Basso"). I haven't yet figured out a way to change this too, i.e. using a particular sound whenever an alert is added to an event, be it manually or by default.

--- 10.7

Thanks, John M. I'm not a programmer and was very nervous about going into my internal Mac files. Glad I scrolled down and found your simple directions. Very unlike Apple to make it so difficult to change a personal preference default.

....as much as I was tempted to install C'Mon Y'All, Wow or Aooga which you can download....

The procedure below worked very easily and flawlessly for me. The Terminal commands procedure was not working for me.

0.5) Turn off Calendar

1) Go to the folder with the sounds are located (HD>Systems>Library>Sounds). I simply searchd for the file name using Spotlight (magnifying glass in your upper right corner)

2) Command-C (or File>Copy) the sound you prefer as your default. I chose "Ping" as my favorite

3) Paste the file you just copied with Command-V (or File>Paste Item)

4) When it pastes it assigns a new name to the copied file

5) Rename "Basso". As you see above, I changed it to "Basso Original"

6) Rename the copied file to "Basso"

7) Turn Calendar on

The menu still shows "Basso", but the sound you hear is the file you chose to copy, in my case "Ping"

BONUS

You can add other files to your Sounds folder. And, as long as you name any of them Basso, that new sound will become your default. Or you can keep the original file names and select them manually.

As much as I was tempted to install C'Mon Y'All, Wow or Aooga which you can download from here (link) on my wife's computer, she chose the Doorbell

Thanks. Unfortunately it's not working. I may have to restart the computer. It seems to me rather sad that Apple makes it so difficult for someone to choose a different option than the default.

Has anyone figured out the bug in Calendar:

"Calendar can't accept the event ------- on the Exchange server.

The account "---" currently can't be modified. to discard your changes and continue using the version of your calendar that's on the server, click Revert to Server."

It keeps popping up no matter which choice I make. Bloody annoying. Neither of these problems occurred in SL or L. Lion had other bugs, though, which apparently ML had resolved.

😀 very clever Matt. It doesn't solve the problem at all and yet it solves it perfectly...

Still did not manage to change that default basso sound. Nothing works for me... Any help would be appreciated. MAC OS 10.8.3

".., a torrent of profanity." You're funny.