Preferences Editor

Introduction
To start the Preferences editor select the option from the menu. On the Mac OS the option appears in the  menu instead (this is the default place for preferences on the Mac).

FreeCAD uses a workbench concept, where each workbench is responsible for specific tasks and functions. A workbench can have its own preferences. These will only appear in the Preferences editor if the workbench has been loaded in the current FreeCAD session. See Workbenches below for more information.

If no workbench is loaded, four sections appear in the Preferences editor: General, Display, Workbenches, and Import-Export. Any workbenches that have been loaded, and have their own preferences, will appear below these.

Please note that pressing the button in the lower left corner of the Preferences dialog will reset all FreeCAD preferences to their default values.

Some advanced preferences can only be changed in the Parameter editor. The Fine-tuning page lists some of them.

General settings
This preferences section has 7 tabs: General, Document, Selection, Editor, Output window, Macro, and Units.

General
On the General tab you can specify the following:



Document
On the Document tab you can specify the following:



Selection
On the Selection tab you can specify the following:



Editor
The editor preferences settings affect the behavior of the macro editor. This editor can be opened using the menu.

The color and font settings also affect the Python console. This console is shown using the menu.

On the Editor tab you can specify the following:



Output window
The output preferences affect the behavior of the Report view. This panel is shown using the menu.

On the Output tab you can specify the following:



Macro
On the Macro tab you can specify the following:



Units
On the Units tab you can specify the following:



Display settings
This preferences section has three standard tabs: 3D View, Navigation and Colors. A fourth tab, Mesh view, is added if the Mesh Workbench has been loaded.

3D View
On the 3D View tab you can specify the following:



Navigation
On the Navigation tab you can specify the following:



Colors
On the Colors tab you can specify the following:



Mesh view
This tab is only available if the Mesh Workbench has been loaded.

On the Mesh view tab you can specify the following:



Workbenches
This preferences section has a single tab: Unloaded Workbenches.

Unloaded Workbenches
To preserve resources, FreeCAD does not automatically load all available workbenches. And only if a workbench has been loaded will its preferences, if any, appear in the Preferences editor.

In FreeCAD version 0.19, the Unloaded Workbenches tab displays a list of installed workbenches that have not yet been loaded. To load one or more workbenches select them in the list and then press the button.

In FreeCAD version 0.20, the Unloaded Workbenches tab displays a list of all installed workbenches. To load a workbench press its button. If you check a workbench's checkbox it will autoload when FreeCAD starts up. Loading more workbenches will make the startup slower, but switching between workbenches that have already been loaded is faster.

If a newly loaded workbench has dedicated preference they will appear in a new section in the Preferences editor. Some workbenches add support for additional import and export formats. If there are any related preferences they will appear on one or more new tabs in the Import-Export settings section of the Preferences editor.

For a list of workbench preferences see Workbench preferences



Import-Export settings
The Import-Export settings affect how files are imported and exported. They are described on the Import Export Preferences page.

Workbench preferences
Preferences for the more common workbenches are linked below. Some workbenches have no preferences. Other optional workbenches may not be listed. These links are also listed in Category:Preferences


 * Arch Preferences
 * Draft Preferences
 * Drawing Preferences
 * FEM Preferences
 * Image Preferences (none)
 * Inspection Preferences (none)
 * Mesh Design Preferences (none)
 * OpenSCAD Preferences


 * Part Preferences: the Part workbench also uses the PartDesign Preferences
 * PartDesign Preferences
 * Path Preferences
 * Plot Preferences (none)
 * Points Preferences (none)
 * Raytracing Preferences
 * Reverse Engineering Preferences (none)
 * Robot Preferences (none)
 * Sketcher Preferences
 * Spreadsheet Preferences (none)
 * Start Preferences
 * Surface Preferences (none)
 * TechDraw Preferences
 * Test Framework Preferences (none)
 * Web Preferences (none)

External workbenches

 * A2plus Preferences
 * Ship Preferences (none)

Scripting
Preferences can be accessed from Python scripts using their corresponding path in the Parameter Editor. For example, the preference appears in  and has type. It can therefore be accessed in Python using the following code:

Finding which parameter is used to store which option from the Preferences editor can require searching a bit, but the Parameter Editor offers a search facility, which should help.

It is likely a bad idea to modify the preferences of other parts of FreeCAD unless doing so at the user's request. The setter can however be used to set parameters for your own workbench, and the getter can be used to obey existing parameters.

Related

 * Parameter editor
 * Fine-tuning