Profiles in the main window

A profile holds rules that apply only while it is active, such as at home or the office. Rules outside every profile apply everywhere. The Profiles pane, under Lists in the sidebar, creates a profile, switches to it, and assigns networks. The same controls live in Settings › Profiles. Manage in Settings opens Settings. What a profile is, and how a switch is approved, is in Profiles.

The whole pane is disabled when this Mac is not allowed to edit rules. See Security and Locking settings.

Creating and renaming

New Profile in the toolbar (⌘N) opens a sheet. Its help is “Create a profile: rules that apply only while it is active (⌘N)”. An empty pane also offers New Profile…, under No profiles and the sentence “Profiles hold rules that apply only in one place, such as Home or Office. Rules outside every profile apply everywhere.”

The sheet is titled New Profile or Rename Profile. It repeats “A profile holds rules that apply only while it is active, such as at Home or the Office.” The name field’s prompt is Home. Create (or Rename) is disabled while the name is blank. While it saves, the button says “Saving…”. Cancel closes the sheet. A blank name that still reaches the check is answered “Enter a name.” A name already used, ignoring case, is answered “A profile named “(name)” already exists.” Any other refusal is shown under the field. If the profile could not be changed, an alert titled “Could not change the profile” shows the reason, or “The profile wasn’t saved.”

Rename… is in the row’s right-click menu.

Under the name, the row shows “1 rule” or “N rules”.

Activating

Each row that is not the active profile has Activate. The profile the filter is enforcing shows an Active badge and Use No Profile, which clears the profile. You can switch the same way from Firewall › Profile: No Profile, then each profile.

If you have asked for a profile and the filter has not confirmed it, the row keeps Activate and a badge:

• Not confirmed, while the configuration is not confirmed.
• Waiting for approval, while the change is waiting for approval.
• Saved; waiting for filter, otherwise.

While the switch runs, the button is replaced by a progress label. The right-click menu also has Activate when that profile is not the selected one.

A profile’s own mode

The Mode picker on each row sets what Outbound switches to when the profile comes on. The choices are Mode unchanged, then Learn mode, Ask mode, and Strict mode (the mode’s name plus the word mode). Its help is “The mode Outbound switches to when this profile comes on”. Leave it on Mode unchanged to keep the current mode. See Modes.

Deleting

Delete… in the row’s menu asks first. The title is “Delete the profile “(name)”?” The button is Delete Profile, with Cancel. With no rules of its own, the message is “It has no rules of its own. Edit › Undo brings it back.” With rules, it is “Its 1 rule will be deleted too. Edit › Undo brings them back.” or “Its N rules will be deleted too. Edit › Undo brings them back.” The banner is “Deleted the profile “(name)”.” when it has no rules, or “Deleted the profile “(name)” and its 1 rule.” or “Deleted the profile “(name)” and its N rules.” Undo puts the profile back with its rules and the networks that switched to it. While the delete runs, the row says “Deleting…”.

Searching

Once there are more than 8 profiles, or while a query is typed, the search prompt is “Search profiles”. No match says “No profile matches “(query)”.”

Networks

The Networks section at the bottom is the same controls as Settings › Profiles.

• Switch profiles automatically when the network changes: the master switch. Off, joining a network changes nothing.
• When joining a new network: Ask, Keep current profile, Use (profile) for each profile, or Use no profile. A choice that names a profile which has since been deleted is shown as Keep current profile.
• One row per known network: an editable name, Connected now or Last seen and a relative time, a profile picker (No Profile and Don’t switch included), and Remove. Undo puts the network back with its profile. The banner for a removal is “Removed “(name)”.”

Example data.

Once the list is longer than 8 networks, or while a query is typed, Filter networks appears. Every word must appear in the network’s name, its interface, or what joining it does. No match says “No network matches “(query)”.” The filter does not hide the switch or the “when joining” picker above it.

See Profiles for how a network is judged new, and what approval does when the switch would allow more.