VisualPlate preferences are default settings that primarily affect the behavior of new projects. These are not project-specific settings, which are found in the Project Manager. The preference settings can be adjusted through Home | Preferences. Some settings do not take effect until a new project is created or until the program is restarted. Use the Restore All Defaults button to restore the VisualPlate preference settings to their original state. While most of the preference settings are self-explanatory, a few are documented below. Preference settings are saved on your machine in the IES folder: C:\Users\<your.login>\AppData\Local\IES\Customer.

Project

The project preferences affect new projects, and do not affect the current project. For current projects, use the settings in Project Manager.

• History Files - Set how many once-per-day backup files VisualPlate should keep. Files are located in Home | Custom Data in the History Projects folder.
• Next Inspector Field On Enter - In the Modify tab, 'Enter' can simply accept changes or also advance like a 'Tab' to the next row.

Data

Set the default name prefixes for line stiffeners, line supports, and areas. These settings apply to the first objects created in a new project or immediately after restarting VisualPlate.

Fonts

Change the character size and styles used to display text in graphic views and reports.

Reports

• Member Results Offsets - Input the number of interpolated result locations along the member in some results tables (2-201).
• Customer Logo - Specify the location of a logo to use for the reports. If left blank, AppData\Local\IES\Customer\ReportLogo.jpg will be tried.
• Logo Alignment - Select the alignment of the logo in the header.
• Maximum Page Count - Input the number of pages allowed in a report before a warning and truncation occurs.
• Header Height - Set the height of the header in the report.
• Justification, Text Data - Specify the justification of the text data in the report tables.
• Justification, Physical Data - Specify the justification of the physical data in the report tables.

Graphics

• Graphic Sizes - Change how large objects are drawn in graphic views.
• Rotate, Pan, & Zoom - Control how much or how fast the view changes with mouse-wheel or arrow keys.
• Default Snap Points - Set the default number of evenly spaced internal points that can be snapped to.
• Print Resolution -  Set the DPI (dots per inch) precision to be used when displaying graphics views on the printer or when placing graphics information on the clipboard.

Colors

Change the colors of objects in Graphic Views and Reports. Every visible object type shown in graphic views have a default color (e.g. line stiffeners are blue by default).