macOS 10.13 High Sierra wiki

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###macOS 10.13 High Sierra wiki
I'm starting this topic as a forum wiki post, so that anyone can contribute, can edit this main post.
To edit this post, just click on the wiki edit icon in the upper right corner.

If you install the beta of High Sierra and find any problems with Keyboard Maestro, report them to Stairways or post on the forum. Actually, that is true for all problems with Keyboard Maestro, but especially anything new in High Sierra betas - don't wait until it is released.

updated 2017-11-29 12:43 GMT-0600

Please feel free to add to and correct this post, keeping the style that has been used. If you prefer, you can reply and comment below.

<b>Summary of Changes</b>

macOS High Sierra introduces new core technologies that improve the most important functions of your Mac, providing a large boost in performance. From re-architecting how it stores your data using APFS, to improving how you watch videos to unleashing the full power of the graphics processors, it aims to make your Mac more reliable, capable, and responsive, while laying the foundation for future innovations in the worlds of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality).

For more info, see macOS High Sierra - Apple Press Release.

(click on the Section Title to expand)

<b>New Apple File System (APFS) Boosts Performance, Adds Security</b>
  • One of the main tenets of High Sierra, APFS will be the new default file system
  • Bringing an advanced 64-bit architecture and a responsive design
  • Greatly reduce the time it takes to do common tasks, copy files & folders.
  • Brings some heavy-duty security, including built‑in encryption, crash‑safe protections, and simplified data backup on the go.

For more info, see Mac users, meet APFS: macOS's new file system -- zdnet.com.
<b>Photos App -- New & Improved Features</b>

A slew of new features await us in the new OS, including:

  • Awesome New Built-In Editing Tools
  • Better Organization
  • Looped Live Photos
  • New Memories Categories
  • More Accurate People Identification
  • Cross-Device Syncing For Albums
  • Adds Support for external editors with edits saved back to the Photos library
<b>Speedier, smarter Safari</b>
  • Safari is now the world’s fastest desktop browser (according to Apple)
  • JavaScript performance is 80 percent faster than Chrome
  • Can Automatically Use Reader To Open Articles In A Clean, Uncluttered Format
  • Autoplay Blocking Stops Media With Audio From Automatically Playing In The Browser.
  • Intelligent Tracking Prevention Uses Machine Learning To Identify And Remove Advertiser's Tracking Data
<b>Video and Graphics Improvements</b>

Dramatic improvements have been made to video and graphics technologies that pave the way for future innovation on the Mac.

  • HEVC -- Support For High-Efficiency Video Coding
  • Metal 2 -- An Update Apple’s Advanced Graphics Technology That Powers Everything From Machine Learning To Virtual Reality Content Creation.
<b>Additional App Refinements</b>
  • Mail Search
    • Gets Faster And Easier With Top Hits
    • Puts The Most Relevant Results At The Top Of A User’s Message List.
  • Siri
    • Now Responds With A Natural And More Expressive Voice
    • When Using Apple Music, It Learns Music Preferences, Creates Custom Playlists And Answers Music Trivia.
  • Notes Adds Simple Tables
    • Type & Edit In Cells
    • Move Rows And Columns
  • Spotlight Provides Flight Status Information, such as:
    • Departure And Arrival Times
    • Delays
    • Gates
    • Terminals
    • Map Of The Flight Path.
  • iCloud File Sharing
    • Share Any File Stored In iCloud Drive
    • Collaborate With Other People

[Apple Releases macOS High Sierra] (https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/25/apple-releases-macos-high-sierra/) on 2017-09-25.

Caution❗️ Credible Sources are Recommending to Wait for 10.13.1 or 10.13.2 Before You Upgrade

  • See below posts for details.

ALERT! macOS High Sierra security vulnerability discovered

Posted on 2017-11-29. Click on above link for details.

more to come . . .

The intent of this list is to provide the most significant, compelling changes that are likely to be of general interest. It is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all changes.

1 Like
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The following script doesn't work in High Sierra, build 17A362a. It seems to stop after it creates the e-mail but will not position the cursor or type the keystroke CMD-V (paste.) I also tried to define the signature field in the Mail part but it doesn't work. I've since reset it to None in order to troubleshoot the problem I described above.

image.png1266Ă—1448 106 KB

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I was able to finally get this script working. The problem seems to come from running it while the KM Editor was in the forefront. As soon as I closed the Editor and put an action to bring Mail to the forefront at the beginning of the macro, everything fell into place.

I'm not sure whether KM is designed to work that way or whether High Sierra is the problem. Either way, I feel more confident about using KM for future projects and better understand how it works.

image.png1792Ă—2438 388 KB

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I just got an email from ergonis software:

Compatibility of KeyCue and other Ergonis Software products with macOS High Sierra

We are glad to tell you that all our products are fully compatible with macOS High Sierra, but you must consider the minimum version requirements to avoid compatibility problems.

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Apple Releases macOS High Sierra

Monday September 25, 2017 9:58 am PDT by Juli Clover @ macrumors.com

Apple today released the newest version of its operating system for Macs, macOS High Sierra, to the public. macOS High Sierra is a free download that's available today for everyone who has a compatible Mac.

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Take Control Books on High Sierra

Some of you guys could probably write these books, but maybe some would like some help. I’ve bought many Take Control books and have found all of them excellent reads, and very helpful.

Here’s the current offering:

Buying 3 seems like a very good deal at about $9/book.

Disclaimer: I have no association with Take Control, other than being a customer.

I don’t own any of these books because I don’t plan on upgrading to High Sierra for at least 6 months. I’m still running macOS 10.11.6. But I really like what I see in HS. My concern is the early bugs, and lack of full compatibility with my critical apps.

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Path Finder Now Compatible with High Sierra

I just received notice that:

Path Finder 7.6 is now available!

Changes:
File copying defaults to file cloning available only on APFS formatted disks.
Fixed various crashes, exceptions and incompatibilities when running on macOS 10.13 (High Sierra).
Other minor fixes and improvements.

I did install the update, but I'm not running HS, so I can't test.

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2 posts were split to a new topic: Finder Crashes in High Sierra after KM Macro with Keypress

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High Sierra AppleScriptObjC (ASObjC) Bugs by @ShaneStanley

The latest version of macOS, High Sierra (10.13), has been released, and there are a series of bugs to look out for. Several involve AppleScriptObjC, so if you don’t use it — or any libraries or applications built with it — you will not be affected. If you do, there are coding workarounds.

  1. enum NSNotFound. This is most commonly used when getting the index of an object in an array: a result of NSNotFound means what its name implies. In 10.13.0, NSNotFound is returning the wrong value.
  • Code that returns the frames of things like views, which in Objective-C are normally returned as type known as a struct. The specific struct is NSRect. Because AppleScript does not support the concept of structs, they are bridged to records. But in 10.13.0, NSRects are bridged to lists instead.
  • Methods that take multiple parameters with a trailing nil, or missing value in AppleScript. These are methods like arrayWithObjects: and dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:. I suspect these are rarely used — there are simpler alternatives — but in 10.13.0 they are no longer supported. The best solution is likely to be to use the alternative methods, such as arrayWithArray: — the way support for all instances has been removed suggests this might be a deliberate decision.

Click on the above link for details and fixes.

Many, or even most, of the members of this forum probably don't write much ASObjC, but you may use ASObjC scripts written by @ccstone, and to a lesser extent, by myself. I am not aware of any of these scripts (posted in this forum) that are broken under High Sierra, but then I haven't tested any of them.

If you are running High Sierra and encounter failed or strange script results, please post a reply here, with a link to the topic where the script is posted.

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Since many people use Keyboard Maestro to add or customize keyboard shortcuts for menu commands, David Sparks notes a High Sierra-based change for the Print to PDF command. Previously, in a Print dialog was a Print to PDF option, and in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts, a keyboard shortcut could be created for this menu item.

In the past, the command was displayed as

Print to PDF…

but in High Sierra it’s now just Print to PDF (without the ellipsis). This means a shortcut in System Preferences or in any reference to the command anywhere needs to have the ellipsis removed (the …).

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This is yet another good reason to manage all of your hotkeys/shortcuts in KM instead of Mac SP.
In the KM Select or Show a Menu Item action (KM Wiki), you can easily allow different menu item names:

The Select Menu action allow you to specify multiple options separated by a vertical bar (eg Show|Hide) to allow for toggling or varying menus. They will also ignore the difference between three dots (...) and an ellipsis (…) so you do not have to worry which one the menu uses.

Alternatively, you can start the name with an ^ and use a regular expression to match the menu.

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I'm seeing a lot of that. You might be interested to know that even Shane Stanley is waiting until at least the .1 version of High Sierra is released, and he, by his own statement, is known for being an early adopter of macOS upgrades.

There are a lot of High Sierra complaints on the AppleScript Users List.

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macOS 10.13 High Sierra: The Ars Technica review

Another reviewer recommending to wait to .1 or .2 update.

I think the vast majority of people who decide to upgrade on day one will be essentially fine. But if it’s at all possible for you, you should wait for version 10.13.1 or 10.13.2 to update to High Sierra.

Aside from the fact that you’ll keep getting security (and Safari) updates in Sierra, I make this recommendation for three reasons:

  • The number of user-facing improvements is small. The Photos app gets the biggest overhaul, and it’s a good one, but otherwise you’re not missing very much.
  • Some things just aren’t done. APFS won’t work on Fusion Drives. External graphics support is usable but not finished. iMessage on iCloud isn’t here yet. The new Metal-powered windowserver is still intermittently buggy.
  • Even with fully finished, bug-free features, Apple has been clear that these are foundational updates. Meaning: cool, user-visible stuff will be built on top of them in future releases, but that stuff isn’t here yet.
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Hmm.

10.13 has instant-solved two serious and very annoying issues for me. Both issues had been persisting across all 10.12, from .01 to the last revision. One of them probably since 10.11.

So, for me, 10.13 was like Christmas.

Of course, your milage may vary. If you don’t suffer any problems with 10.12, then this might be a reason to not update to 10.13.

But don’t forget the security issues that are being fixed in 10.13 but not in previous systems.

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I'm glad the upgrade has worked well for you Tom. Would you mind sharing the issues that it solved for you?[quote="Tom, post:14, topic:7194"]
But don't forget the security issues that are being fixed in 10.13 but not in previous systems.
[/quote]

Actually, it appears that Apple continues to issue security updates for prior macOS's for quite some time. They issued this release in May 2017:
Security Update 2017-002 El Capitan, and Security Update 2017-002 Yosemite

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One was a lag in the Finder that occurred (apparently) randomly, accompanied by something that appeared like a memory leak to me. Finder windows took 20s or so to become frontmost when clicked, and Finder was consuming a two-figure amount of memory at those occasions. I think it was related to the iCloud sync, because most of the time it was OK after killing cloudd. (But I might as well be wrong, since some months ago I said Dropbox was the culprit. Anyway, it is gone now.)

The second one was a continuous auto-destruction of the pbs preferences (the pbs.plist file). This is the file where all your shortcuts for the Services are stored. (System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services).
Each time I changed a shortcut everything has been reset to the defaults. You imagine the annoyance!?
I worked around it by tracking any changes to that file by Hazel, so I could restore it. Furthermore some shell commands like /System/Library/CoreServices/pbs -flush en seemed to be useful, before touching any shortcut.

As said, both gone with 10.13.

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I was referring to the last "supplemental" update that covered a key chain vulnerability present not only in HS but also in Sierra and Capitan. It was first only released to HS (not to previous systems), but it seems in the meantime it has been released also to the legacy systems.

Not sure though if it really has been released to all systems.

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I haven't seen that in El Capitan, but then I have very limited use of iCloud, and I was using TotalFinder, but now have switched to Path Finder (which I really like).

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I was referring to iCloud Documents sync, which wasn't available with El Capitan. (Only since Sierra.)

But as said: It depends on how well your current system is working for you. Sierra was not working well for me (not even at 10.12.6), High Sierra was a God-sent.

For other people it may be the contrary.

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See above.