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Change default alarm sound in iCal

The default alarm sound in iCal appears to be Basso. How can I change the default sound to Glass, so I don't have to make the change with every new appointment I enter?

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 19, 2010 7:17 PM

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55 replies

May 17, 2017 8:13 AM in response to Don H.

I struggled with this for days. For me, the problem was that I REALLY didn't want to change the sound for all alerts because Basso is fine for basic system alerts. I just wanted to change it for the Calendar alerts and not for everything. Apparently some things that used to work, do not work on Sierra, but this did.


  • Find a new aiff file (here are some examples http://tdwhs.nwasco.k12.or.us/staff/lewing/resources/sound_effects.htm)
  • Download the file and rename it to something like Alarm.aiff (multiple words may work, I didn't try)
  • Open the terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)
  • Copy the file to ~/Library/Sounds using something like the line below (assuming you download the aiff file into your Downloads Directory)

cp ~/Downloads/Alarm.aiff ~/Library/Sounds

  • Quit iCal.
  • Copy the line below into the Terminal window and press return (Match the last parameter "Alarm" to the name of the file you copied above)

defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default alarm sound' 'Alarm'

Open iCal, new default alarms should now use that sound.
This worked for me and now I have a different alarm sound Only for iCal. If I could change the location of the notification alerts to the middle of the screen (again, for iCal only), I would be even happier.

Feb 18, 2011 4:41 AM in response to Gerosa

"To change the default alarm sound, quit iCal, and double-click the com.apple.iCal.plist file in user Preferences. Click arrow next to Root and select Root. Click New Child button. Enter item "Default alarm sound" as a string and then type the name of the sound file under value. Save preference file."

I can confirm this works. Found it here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=271605

Mar 16, 2011 3:32 PM in response to mlq

What worked for me is opening the com.apple.iCal.plist file in BBEdit (which recognized amd preserved the XML format. I found the following text:

<key>Default alarm sound</key>
<string>Basso</string>

and changed it to:

<key>Default alarm sound</key>
<string>Reminder</string>

"Reminder" is the name of the aiff sound file (which I "borrowed" from Outlook 2011 because I love the sound) which I had placed in my ~/Library/Sounds folder. You enter the name of the file without the file suffix. It just works!

Jun 8, 2011 7:05 PM in response to John Maisey

Thanks.... But ugh.... How do I make the file appear legible? The way VNDL42 did a few posts up. His com.apple.iCal.plist file looks like a user-friendly menu of options. Mine looks like what I cut/pasted below. Garbledy gook. (By the way, is that normal, or has my file been corrupted or something like that?) Is this because he opened it in "BBEdit"? If so, how do I do that? I don't know what BBEdit is and with right-clicking the option didn't seem to come up.

?

Thanks.


!"#$%&'()*+,-./01234567:;<CDE22HHJK2PQRSTU2i2klH2opHrJs2Hvwx_ qNSWindow Frame 2228038A-D18F-4B97-ADE6-2E177C9817A9/local_916DED51-8E32-49CF-A07E-00E5F28C646F /-/20110619T120000Z_ bNSWindow Frame 2228038A-D18F-4B97-

Jun 9, 2011 2:10 AM in response to danfromcambridge

See here for BBEdit, however you don't need to be editing the plist file using an advanced text editor to do this.


The terminal has a defaults command that allows to to do this without messing around your preference files with a text editor (to my mind a sure recipe for disaster if you don't know what you are doing).


  • Quit iCal.
  • Open the terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)
  • Copy the line below (changing the word Tink to the name of the sound you want) into the Terminal window and press return

defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default alarm sound' 'Tink'

Open iCal, new default alarms should now use that sound.


Best wishes

John M

Change default alarm sound in iCal

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