# Appearance, Colours, and Fonts Preferences

## Appearance

Enable Theming
If selected, themes are enabled or disabled. A restart will be required for this change to take effect.

Theme
Choose the theme to use for Archi. A restart will be required for this change to fully take effect.

If the theme is set to "Automatically select Light/Dark" the theme will be set according to the current operating system theme of light or dark when starting Archi. Some system dark themes are not supported and so this setting might not work. If this is the case, select another theme to suit the host system theme.

Use round tabs
Whether to use round or square tabs.

Show Status Bar
Show or hide the status bar. A restart will be required for this change to take effect.

Use larger (Mac native) row heights
When this is selected, all table and tree row heights are larger to match the UI in macOS 11 and later. A restart will be required for this change to take effect.

## Colours

Choose the default colours to use for elements, connections, folders and some theme colours.

Element and connection colours will be displayed when a fill or line colour is set to "Default" in the Properties window for a diagram element or connection. The default colours can be set differently for each installation of Archi so, for example, one user can have a completely different set of default fill colours than another user. The colours will not be saved in the .archimate model file unless the option to "Save the default fill colour for a new concept in the .archimate file" is ticked.

Folder colours are global for the application and are not saved in the model.

Theme colours for backgrounds can be set for each theme as set in the Appearance preference. These are for the application and are not saved in the model.

Derive element line colours from fill colours
If this is checked a newly created diagram object's line colour is derived from its fill colour. The setting for each object can be changed in the object's properties tab.

Save the default fill colour for elements in the model file
If this is checked an element's default colour is saved in the model file and will then be "fixed" in the file. This ensures that if the file is shared with another user they will see these colours.

Edit
Edit the selected colour(s).

Reset
Reset the selected colour(s) to default value.

Import Scheme
Import a colour scheme that has previously been exported.

Export Scheme
Export a colour scheme to share with other users.

## Fonts

Scale fonts for diagram objects and connections on Mac
This option is only available on Mac. When this is selected, fonts used in diagram (View) objects and connections are adjusted to match the native DPI (dots per inch) on Mac. This ensures fonts appear to be the same size when sharing a model between Mac, Windows and Linux.

For example, you might work on an Archi model on Windows and set the font height for an object to 10. However, when opening the model on Mac the font will appear too small because Mac uses 72 DPI while Windows uses 96 DPI. Conversely, you might set the font height on Mac but it appears too big on Windows. This setting adjusts for this difference so that font heights appear the same on all platforms.

Note - Selecting this option automatically switches the default font from "Lucida Grande 12" to "Lucida Grande 9" and vice-verca to compensate for the new scaling. After changing this option, you may want to manually set a different default font by clicking the "Edit..." button.

Set fonts for these items
Set the default font for elements and connections in diagrams (Views) and fonts for various user interface controls. Clicking the "Default" button sets the default font for the selected items. The "Edit" button will allow you to set the font for the selected items.