11

My screensaver pictures have quotes and sayings and the three or so seconds of transition between pictures that is built into the OS X Mavericks is far too short a duration to read the quotes and sayings. How can I slow the change rate to about 30 seconds per slide?

M K
  • 11,047
Nicky
  • 111

2 Answers2

9

Previous answer still works, and also for Yosemite/El Capitan/Sierra with the caveat that System Integrity Protection (SIP) now needs to be disabled first.

  1. Verify current slide duration:

    sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "print ':JustASlide:mainDuration'" /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Slideshows.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Content/EffectDescriptions.plist

The system default is 3.

  1. Reboot and hold Cmd+R to go into recovery. In the menu select Utilities > Terminal and disable SIP with the following command:

    csrutil disable

  2. Reboot again and set slide duration to the desired value in seconds:

    sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':JustASlide:mainDuration' 10" /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Slideshows.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Content/EffectDescriptions.plist

  3. Reboot one more time into recovery (Cmd+R) and reenable SIP for good measure

    csrutil enable

NOTE: As reported in comments, for more recent versions of OS X (Catalina and later) there may be additional steps required to get a writeable filesystem. Though I haven't tried them myself, this question might be a good place to start.

avigil
  • 191
  • 1
    From what I can tell, this solution no longer works in Catalina. Even with SIP disabled, the command to change the duration doesn’t actually change the setting. This can be immediately verified with the command from step 1, and I confirmed that the slideshow itself remains stuck with only 3 seconds between transitions. – daxmacrog Oct 17 '19 at 11:41
  • worked for me in macos Mojave 10.14.6 – Eric O Mar 28 '20 at 05:52
  • If you are in Catalina (and perhaps beyond) you need to remount the root volume in writable mode before changing the seconds in step 3:

    sudo mount -uw /

     – t1m0 Apr 06 '22 at 14:04
  • @t1m0 This fails with the error “mount: / failed with 66” in Monterey. There are answers for mounting the root filesystem with write permission at https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/395508/can-i-mount-the-root-system-filesystem-as-writable-in-big-sur which might get part of the way there but I’m unable to fathom how to apply them to setting screenshot duration. – Louie Louie Aug 14 '22 at 17:24
  • 1
    @HeckFinlay arg, I know! I just saw the same after upgrade. I did some quick research and it sounds like it’s locked down even more now and you need to make a snapshot, sign it, and boot from that? I gave up and started looking for a different screensaver. Found “artsaver”. I really wish apple would just make the duration configurable. It makes a huge difference. 3 seconds is so fast! – t1m0 Aug 16 '22 at 00:03
  • Thanks @t1mo, ArtSaver looks like it might be just what I need until and if Apple make the slide duration editable. I’ve added a new question similar to this one for Big Sur and later, just in case anybody can figure out a way to edit the duration. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/445227/is-there-a-way-to-adjust-the-speed-of-the-slideshow-screensavers-in-macos-big-su – Louie Louie Aug 17 '22 at 09:36
4

First check your current duration setting (usually it is set for 3 seconds)

Paste this in your Terminal (and provide password)

 sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "print ':JustASlide:mainDuration'" /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Slideshows.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Content/EffectDescriptions.plist

It will show you the current number in seconds, mine shows 3.

Next: paste following in to your Terminal to change it to let say 10 seconds (or any number you like).

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':JustASlide:mainDuration' 10" /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Slideshows.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Content/EffectDescriptions.plist

SOURCE: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130215183522445

Edit: This solution no longer works as of August 9, 2016. The time setting is readable, but is no longer settable by the terminal command.

fsb
  • 22,799
Ruskes
  • 48,129
  • Worked great, thanks. If you look at the preview it seems to not work - still switches photo every 3 seconds - but when activated, the screen saver takes your 10 second interval. Using Yoesmite. – fazy Jan 26 '16 at 13:13