Recover proxy bypass list from System Preferences I’ve been using Freedom to block access to the internet. I had a list of sites to bypass within the Proxy tab of System Preferences, effectively whitelisting the sites I need for work.



I installed Charles to determine and whitelist the hosts/domains Evernote Mac was using, allowing the app to sync. In the process, it deleted my rather long and painstakingly gathered whitelist, rendering Freedom useless.

Is there a way to recover that list, and if so, where might I find that file?
This information is stored in

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist


Under the NetworkServices dictionary are each service in the Network preference pane. Look through the list until you find the service with the matching UserDefinedName such as Wi-Fi, then open Proxies and see the ExceptionsList array.



You can recover an older version of this file from your backups such as Time Machine, or from an APFS snapshot.