# Preferences

## Show Hide To Open Preferences:

Choose Artboard > Preferences… in the main menu.

The menu is tabbed for Editing, Performance, Options and Switches preferences.

## Show Hide To Change Editing Preferences:

1. Click the Editing tab.
2. Change one or more of the following settings:

- Automatically close paths – When drawing Irregular Polygons, Bezier Paths and Freehand Paths the paths will automatically "formally" close when you finish a path at its starting point. Uncheck this setting if you prefer paths not automatically close (default – unchecked).
- End points of closed-loop paths treated as a single point – Paths whose end points are coincident are treated as a single point when moving them or their control handles (default – checked).
- Return-key inserts a new line when editing text boxes – Default behavior is the Return-key goes to new line when editing text boxes. Click outside of text box ends text editing (default – checked). If unchecked, Return-key will end editing; use the key combination CMND-Shift to go to next line.
- Allow inline images in text boxes – Images can be dropped into text boxes from the Image Browser, becoming in-line with other text (default – unchecked).
- Display feedback window when dragging objects – Displays page coordinates or object dimensions as object is dragged or resized (default – checked).
- Snap to Graph Paper when Graph Paper is visible – When Graph Paper layer is visible, the snap to graph paper setting will be active; when Graph Paper layer is hidden, the snap setting will be deactivated (default – unchecked).
- Enable Style Sharing – When checked, multiple objects can share the same style. When the style is edited, the change applies across all objects in which the style is applied. Use "Reset" or "Clone" to create new styles when this setting is active. (default – unchecked).
- Styles are sharable by default – Makes shared style the default setting when creating new styles (default – unchecked).
- Freehand smoothness – Sets the smoothness of the Freehand Path tool to fine, smooth, or very smooth (smoothness is related to number of points) (default - Smooth).

## Show Hide To Change Options Preferences:

1. Click the Options tab.
2. Change one or more of the following settings:

- Show template chooser when launching application – Template chooser opens automatically on application launch (default – checked).
- Handles – Curve handles and rotation knobs can be displayed a normal or large size. Large size makes selecting object handles easier when zoomed out and on large format screens (default - Large).
- Option – scrollwheel zooms drawing – Allows magnification of the view to be changed using Option-key + scrollwheel (default – checked). Check to invert scrollwheel zoom direction changes sense of scrollwheel zooming.
- Auto-activate clicked layer – When checked, clicking objects automatically activates the layer they belong to.
- Each tool remember last style used with it – When switching between tools, the style will change to the last style used with the tool (default – unchecked).
- Style Dropper remembers last style used – Style dropper remembers last style it picked up (default – unchecked).
- Enable Autosaving and Versions – Enables Autosave and Versions support for Mac OS X "Lion" and higher. If unchecked, the classic document saving methodology is used (default – checked).

## Show Hide To Change Performance Preferences:

1. Click the Performance tab.
2. Change one or more of the following settings:

- Faster, lower quality drawing when zooming and scrolling – Enables automatic use of low-quality rendering during operations that require rapid redrawing, such as zooming and scrolling, to speed performance (default – unchecked).
- Anti-aliasing – Turning off anti-aliasing preference improves performance while editing large files (default – checked).
- Shadows – Turning off shadows at very high zoom improves performance while editing large files; note, the zoom scale can be set by the user (above 800%; default – checked).
- Ignore Gaussian Blur filters when importing SVG – Related to the software in which an SVG file was created, occasionally Gaussian Blur filters may not be efficiently imported. Turn off filters when working with such SVG files (default – unchecked).

## Show Hide To Change Advanced Preferences:

1. Click the Advanced tab.
2. Change one or more of the following settings:

- Reset All Alerts… does what you'd expect.
- Empty Image Browser Cache…
- Record up to __ undoable operations – Sets the number of undo operations available when using the Undo command (the default is 24).

## Show Hide To Reset Preferences:

1. Hold the Option-key down and choose Artboard > Reset Preferences… from the main menu.
2. When presented with the confirmation dialog, click 'Reset Preferences'.

HINT: This restores everything to its original state as if the application were a new installation. It cannot be undone, and should only be done if absolutely necessary.

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