Introduction

This chapter explains how to change Blender’s default configuration with the User Preferences editor.

The Blender User Preferences editor contains settings to control how Blender behaves.

Open User Preferences

To open the User Preferences editor go to File ‣ User Preferences.

Configure

Now that you have opened the User Preferences editor, you can configure Blender to your liking. At the top of the editor, the available options are grouped into seven tabs:

Interface

Change how UI elements are displayed and how they react.

Editing

Control how several tools will interact with your input.

Input

Customize how Blender reacts to the mouse and keyboard as well as define your own keymap.

Add-ons

Manage Blender’s Add-ons, allowing you to access features not built-in as well as install new features.

Themes

Customize interface appearance and colors.

File

Configure auto-save preferences and set default file paths for blend-files, rendered images, and more.

System

Set resolution, scripting console preferences, sound, graphics cards, and internationalization.

Save User Settings

Once you have set your preferences, you will need to manually save them, otherwise the new configuration will be lost after a restart. Blender saves its preferences to userpref.blend in your user folder (see next section, “Load Factory Settings”, for details).

In the User Preferences editor, click on the Save User Settings button in the bottom left. This will save all of the new preferences.

Load Factory Settings

Go to File ‣ Load Factory Settings then save the preferences via the User Preferences editor.

Hint

It can be valuable to make a backup of your preferences in the event that you lose your configuration.

See the directory layout section to see where your preferences are stored.