Preferences Editor

Introduction
The preferences system of FreeCAD is located in the. On the Mac OS the menu option appears in the FreeCAD menu instead of the Edit menu (this is the default place for preferences on the Mac).

FreeCAD functionality is divided into different modules, each module being responsible for the working of a specific workbench. FreeCAD also uses a concept called "late loading", which means that components are loaded only when they are needed. This affects the preferences displayed in this window, and the order they are shown.

Without any module loaded, you will have access to two configuration sections, responsible for the general application settings and for the display settings. The third item in the preferences window, Workbenches, displays a list of all currently-available but unloaded Workbenches (that is, those you have not used yet in this FreeCAD session). Some of these workbenches provide additional preferences when loaded. Selecting a workbench from the displayed list and choosing Load workbench will load that workbench and make its preferences available in new groups in the Preferences Editor. Loading the workbench will also make any additional file formats supported by the workbench appear as new tabs in the preferences section.

Clicking the button in the lower left corner of any preferences display will set all of the FreeCAD preferences to their default values.

for more fine-tuned control of preferences see Parameter editor and Fine-tuning

General setting
This preferences section has 6 tabs: General, Document, Editor, Output window, Macro, and Units.

General
In the General tab you can specify the following:



Document
In the Document tab you can specify the following:



Selection
In 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.

In the Editor tab you can specify the following:



Output window
The output preferences affect the behavior of the Report view.

In the Output tab you can specify the following:



Macro
These options control certain aspects of running macros.

In the Macro tab you can specify the following:



Units
This tab configures how Units are shown.

In the Units tab you can specify the following:



Display settings
This preferences section has two general tabs, 3D View and Colors, and further tabs depending in the used workbenches.

3D View
This tab is always available, and controls certain characteristics of the 3D view.

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



Navigation
This tab is always available, and controls the behavior of the navigation tools.

In the Navigation tab you can specify the following:



Colors
This tab is always available.

In the Colors tab you can specify the following:



Part colors
This tab is only shown if you are in the Part or PartDesign Workbench or if you have been in these workbenches before.

In the Part colors tab you can specify the following:



Mesh view
This tab is only shown if you are in the Mesh Workbench or if you have been in this workbench before.

In the Mesh view tab you can specify the following:



Import-Export settings
The Import-Export settings affect how files are imported and exported to and from FreeCAD. They are described in the page Import Export Preferences.

Workbench loader
To conserve ressources, FreeCAD does not automatically load all available workbenches. This means that a workbench's preferences will not be available until it is loaded, either by using it, or by using the Workbench preferences tab.

The Workbench preferences tab displays a list of all installed workbenches that have not been loaded yet. To load a workbench and view and modify its preferences, select the workbench from the list and click the Load workbench button. The workbench will be loaded, and if it provides any preferences they will be added to the appropriate group in the preferences editor. Any additional file formats that workbench supports will be added to the Import/Export group of the preferences editor. Note that not all workbenches provide additional preferences.



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 (e.g. to use colors from the current theme).

Related

 * Parameter editor
 * Fine-tuning