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, five sections appear in the Preferences editor: General, Display, Workbenches, Addon Manager 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
This preferences section has 9 standard tabs: General, Document, Selection, Cache, Editor, Python console, Output window, Macro and Units. A 10th tab, Help, is added if the Help Addon is available. This addon can be installed via the Addon Manager.

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:



Cache
These preferences are related to the cache directory where FreeCAD stores temporary files.

On the Cache tab you can specify the following:



Editor
These preferences control the behavior of the Macro editor. This editor can be opened using the or  menu option.

The color and font settings are also used by the Python console.

On the Editor tab you can specify the following:



Python console
These preferences control the behavior of the Python console. This console can be opened using the menu option.

Note that the color and font settings for the console are defined on the Editor tab.

On the Python console tab you can specify the following:



Output window / Report view
Important note: this tab has been renamed from Output window to Report view.

These preferences control the behavior of the Report view. This panel can be opened using the menu option.

On the Output window 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:



Help
This tab is only available if the Help Addon has been installed.

On the Help tab you can specify the following:



Display
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: Available Workbenches.

Available 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.

The Available 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 section of the Preferences editor.

For a list of workbench related preferences see Workbench related preferences

The Available Workbenches tab has the same capabilities as the Workbenches tab of the customization tool. You can activate/deactivate and reorder the workbenches by drag&drop.



Addon Manager
This preferences section has a single tab: Addon manager options.

Addon manager options
These preferences control the behavior of the Addon manager.

On the Addon manager options tab you can specify the following:



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

Workbench related preferences
Preferences for the built-in workbenches are linked below. These links are also listed in Category:Preferences. Some workbenches have no preferences.


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


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

Scripting
FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

For a scripting example see Std DlgParameter.

Related

 * Parameter editor
 * Fine-tuning