User Preferences

Documentation Configuration & Installation
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:book: This guide explains the preferences available at the user-level that can be customized by all users with adequate permission.

User Preferences lets each user tailor the interface, behavior, and data-entry experience without affecting other users. Settings are grouped by feature areas for quick navigation.

If you are looking to set default User Preferences for all users within a specific collection, discipline, or institution, see the following guide:

Get Started

To begin customizing preferences, you can simply click on your :usercircle_: Username in the navigation menu and select :gear_: User Preferences from the User Tools menu.

User Preferences highlighted in User Tools
User Preferences highlighted in User Tools656Ă—448 49.1 KB

From here, you can configure any preferences you would like. All changes will apply only to your user account in the current logged-in collection.

User Preferences
User Preferences1646Ă—940 102 KB

Where are these stored?

User Preferences are stored in App Resources under an individual user (as a UserPreferences app resource). Each set of user preferences is per-collection, meaning that a user must set these preferences in every collection they have access to individually.

You can copy the UserPreferences app resource from under an individual user to any other. This is applied on top of any default user preferences, meaning any changes made by a user will override those defined in the defaults.

User Preferences Resource
User Preferences Resource1927Ă—671 102 KB

Any changes made using the App Resources editor will be applied just as they would be when editing from the :gear_: User Preferences page directly.

User Preferences

General

User Interface

  • Language: Choose interface language (reload required).
  • Theme: Light, Dark, or follow System.
  • Sidebar Theme: Light/Dark when applicable.
  • Reduce Motion / Transparency / Adjust Contrast: Honor accessibility preferences.
  • Font Size: Scale text size (set on blur).
  • Scale Interface: Uniformly scale UI elements.
  • Font Family: Pick a UI font. You can specify any font that is on your computer, even if it is not in the list. A comma-separated list of fonts is also supported, where each subsequent font will be used if the previous one is not available.
  • Custom Tooltips: Enable enhanced tooltips.

Appearance

  • Background / Dark Background: Set base background colors (light/dark modes).
  • Accent Colors 1–5: Define brand/accent palette.
  • Rounded Corners: Toggle rounded UI corners.

Buttons (Light/Dark)

  • Save / Danger / Warning / Info / Success / Secondary / Secondary Light Colors: Customize button colors.

Application

  • Allow Dismissing Errors: Allow users to dismiss errors.

Dialogs

  • Update Page Title: Show the record name in the browser tab.
  • Translucent / Blur Background: Control dialog backdrop styling.
  • Show Icon: Display dialog icon.
  • Close on Esc / Outside Click: Enable common close gestures.
  • Remember Position / Size: Persist dialog layout.

Behavior

  • Alt/Option-click Suppresses New Tab: Override link-open behavior with modifier.
  • Unsaved Indicator: Show unsaved state badge.

Home Page

  • Add Search Bar: Show search on the welcome screen.
  • Content Mode: Choose default, custom, or other modes (with link to docs).
  • Source: Holds custom content source (managed within the mode control).

Navigation Menu

  • Position: Choose where to display the navigation menu (left, top, right, bottom).
  • Items: Configure visible/hidden navigation menu items.
  • Custom Logo / Collapsed Logo: Add a custom logo to display in the navigation menu.

Interactions

General

  • Shown Tables: Internal list controlling visible tables (hidden).

Create Interactions

  • Table Identifier (Collection Object / Preparation): Pick identifier fields.
  • Use Space / Comma / New Line as Delimiter: Auto/don’t use/detect delimiters.
  • Custom Delimiters: Provide custom separator characters.

Forms

General

  • Shown Tables: Internal visibility list (hidden).

Behavior

  • Text Area Auto-Grow: Expand text areas as you type.
  • Update Page Title: Whether to update the title of the page to match dialog’s header.
  • Include table name in the browser page title: Append the table you are viewing a form for to the title of your browser tab.
  • Focus First Field: Auto-focus first field.
  • Form Header Format: Full (icon+name), Name, or Icon.
  • Make form dialogs gray out the background: Gray out the background whenever a dialog is opened.
  • Open as Read-only: Show records in read-only forms by default.

Definition

  • Flexible Column Width / Subgrid Width: Allow columns to auto-fit.

UI

  • Font Size / Font Family: Form-specific typography.
  • Max Form Width: Cap form width.
  • Show Subview Borders: Outline subviews.
  • Limit Max Field Width: Prevent overly wide inputs.
  • Specify Network Badge: Show/hide badge.
  • Accessible Date/Month Pickers: Enable accessible pickers.
  • Right-align Number Fields: Align numeric entries.

Field Backgrounds

  • Default / Disabled / Invalid / Required: Light-mode field backgrounds.
  • Dark Default / Dark Disabled / Dark Invalid / Dark Required: Dark-mode backgrounds.

Appearance (Form Palette)

  • Foreground / Background: Form foreground/background.
  • Dark Foreground / Dark Background: Dark-mode equivalents.

Auto-complete

  • Search Algorithm: Starts-with / Contains (case-sensitive/insensitive).
  • Highlight Match: Emphasize matching text.
  • Auto-grow Autocomplete: Expand dropdown width.

Query Combo Box

  • Search Algorithm: Starts-with / Contains.
  • Tree Search Algorithm: Starts-with / Contains.
  • Always Use Query Builder: Prefer advanced picker.

Record Set

  • Record to Open: Open first or last record by default.

Form Table

  • Max Height: Table viewport height.

Preferences (hidden, form-driven)

Internal controls for carry-forward, print-on-save, cloning/add toggles, autogenerated forms, auto-numbering, and carry-forward visibility flags.

Choose Collection

  • Always Prompt: Ask for collection on launch.
  • Sort Order: Field to sort collection list (asc/desc).

Attachments

  • Auto-play Media: Play media on open.
  • Preview Mode: Full vs. Thumbnail.
  • Show Controls: Media controls visibility.
  • Collapse Form by Default: Start attachments collapsed.

Tree Editor

Behavior

  • Auto-scroll: Follow selection.
  • Case-sensitive Search: Toggle case sensitivity.
  • Sort By Field: Name, Full Name, Rank, Node Number.
  • Search Field: Name vs. Full Name.
  • Search Algorithm: Starts-with vs. Contains.

Per-Tree Appearance

(Geography, Taxon, Storage, Geologic Time Period, LithoStrat, Tectonic Unit)

  • Tree Accent Color: Primary color.
  • Synonym Color: Synonym highlight color.
  • Rank Threshold: Minimum rank to display (reload).

For Taxon

  • Display Author: Show author in taxon tree.

Query Builder

General

  • No Restrictions Mode: Allow querying data from any field in any table.
  • Show tables without “Read” access: Show all tables for querying, even if the user does not have read access.

Behavior

  • Sticky Scrolling: Keep headers visible.
  • Export File Delimiter: CSV delimiter selection.
  • Export CSV UTF-8 BOM: Adds a BOM (Byte Order Mark) to exported CSV files to ensure that the file is correctly recognized and displayed by various programs (Excel, OpenRefine, etc.), preventing issues with special characters and formatting.
  • Display Basic View: Default view mode.
  • Show Comparison Operators for String: Allows the following filters to apply to text fields: Greater Than, Less Than, Greater Than or Equal to, and Less Than or Equal to.

Appearance

  • Condense Query Results: Compact rows.
  • Show Line Number: Display row numbers.

Record Merging

Behavior

  • Auto-populate: Auto populate the merged record with values from duplicates when opening the merging dialog.

Agent

  • Automatically create Agent Variant records: When merging agents, automatically create Agent Variant records based on the variations of first name/last name.

Reports

  • Clear Query Filters: Clears all query filters when running a Report from a Form.
  • Show query filters when running a Report from a Form: Pull parameters from current form.

WorkBench

General

  • Live Validation: Enable live validation that can run row-by-row without entering a full validation state. This is an experimental feature and is not a substitute for regular validation.

Spreadsheet

  • Number of blank rows at the end: Extra rows kept ready.
  • Navigate to the other side when reaching the edge row/column: Choose if you want to navigate horizontally/vertically when moving between cells using your keyboard.
  • Tab/Enter Move Direction: Move by column or row.
  • Enter Begins Editing: Start editing on Enter.
  • Filter Pick Lists: None, case-sensitive, or insensitive.
  • Export File Delimiter: Choose the delimiter used when exporting a data set from WorkBench.

Data Mapper

  • Show new Data Set warning: Show an informational message when creating a new Data Set.
  • No Restrictions Mode: Allows uploading data to any field in any table. WARNING: enabling this may lead to data loss or database corruption. Please make sure you know what you are doing.
  • Show tables without “Create” access: Include tables without create access in the list of base tables.

App Resources

Appearance

  • Localize the names of recognized app resources: Show localized resource labels.

Behavior

  • Line Wrap: Wrap long lines.
  • Indent Size / With Tab: Control indentation style.
  • Split Long XML: Split large XML for readability.

GeoMap

  • Double-click Zoom / Scroll-wheel Zoom / Mouse Drags / Pan Inertia: Map navigation behavior.
  • Close Popup on Click / Animate Transitions: Popup and animation behavior.

Batch Edit

Query

  • Limit: Max records per batch edit (default is 5000).

Editor

  • Enable Relationships: Allow relationship editing.
  • Show Rollback: Display rollback option.