OS X System Preferences URL Scheme

Question

I’m trying to open the Notifications preference pane (in OS X SystemPreferences.app) via a link. The prefix x-apple.systempreferences:// works so far for opening th

Answer 1

You can open a preference pane via the URL scheme using the preference pane's bundle identifier:

x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.notifications

If you need to reference an anchor via this scheme you can do so using a query parameter:

x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preferences.sharing?Services_ScreenSharing

Note that this scheme is new in 10.10. Use AppleScript or the file open method if support for previous releases is required.

Update: Apple has restricted use of the URL scheme in 10.11. As of this release only preference panes with NSPrefPaneAllowsXAppleSystemPreferencesURLScheme set in their Info.plist can be opened via the URL scheme.