# General Preferences

### Files

Automatically open Views in a Model when opening from file
When opening a Model from a file, choose whether to automatically open all the Views in the model.

Automatically create a backup file (*.bak) when saving
If this is selected, whenever an .archimate file is saved, a backup copy with file extension .bak will be created first.

Size of recently opened file list
Set the cached sized of the recently opened file list in the "File->Open Recent" menu. Can be set from 3 - 15.

### Model Tree

Display unused concepts in italics
When this is selected, any elements or relations that are not used in Views are displayed in an Italic font.

Update search result as you type
When this is selected, search results in the Model Tree are updated as you type (default). If not selected the search result will update when the Return key is pressed.

Always warn when deleting objects
When this is selected a warning is always displayed when objects are deleted in the Model Tree. If unselected, a warning is only displayed when deleting objects if the objects are used in Views.

Show Specializations in "New" menu
When this is selected any specialized elements in the current model will be shown in the "New" right-click menu of the Model Tree.

Initial number of child elements displayed
Set the initial number of child elements that are displayed in the Model Tree. If the number of elements exceeds the given limit, you need to click on the "Show next n items from remaining n" node to show more elements. This can improve performance if a folder contains many thousands of child elements. A reasonable limit might be 1000. Set to 0 for no limit (the default).

### Label Expressions

Use for View names in Analysis table
When this is selected, the "Used in Views" in the "Analysis "section uses a label determined by an ancestor folder's label expression (if set).

### Other

Add a note to a Relation's documentation field when changing type
When this is selected, if a connected relation type is changed to Association as a result of changing an Element's type, a note will be added to the Relation's documentation field.

Export images at double scale
When this is selected, images are exported and copied to the clipboard at twice their normal size. This is set on by default for Windows operating systems where display scaling is greater than 100%, and on Mac Retina devices. This is so that the exported image quality is not compromised since it is not possible to set a higher DPI in the image. This setting is usually not needed on Linux displays.

If the resulting image needs to be at its logical size you could edit it in an image editor and set the DPI to double its value. For example, on Mac change the DPI from to 72 to 144.

### Internal Web Browser

Use MS Edge (Windows only)
When this is selected, the internal browser used by Archi for the Help system, Hints tab and Report preview is Microsoft's Edge. On Windows 10, the WebView2 Runtime distribution has to be installed first. This is the "Evergreen Standalone Installer" for x64. More information and download is available here. Archi will need to be restarted if this setting is changed.

Enable JavaScript in Hints
When this is selected, JavaScript is enabled in the internal web browser used for the Hints window.

Allow External Hosts in Hints
When this is selected, non-local web locations are allowed in the internal web browser used for the Hints window.

### Animation

Animate Views
Sets whether animation is used in diagram Views for some Undo/Redo commands and when changing the View's Connection Router.

Speed (mS)
Sets the animation speed for animating in Views in milliseconds.

Animate Visualiser
Sets whether animation is used in the Visualiser when laid out for the first time and when the "Layout" button is clicked.

Speed (mS)
Sets the animation speed for animating in the Visualiser in milliseconds.