Importing Genie4 Config

Importing Genie 4 Config

If you're coming from Genie 4, you don't have to recreate your aliases, triggers, highlights, and so on by hand. Genie 5 reads Genie 4's .cfg files directly and folds their contents into your Genie 5 setup.

What can be imported

The File → Import from Genie 4… dialog imports these rule categories (each with its own checkbox so you can pick a subset):

Genie 4 file	Genie 5 destination
aliases.cfg	Aliases
triggers.cfg	Triggers (pattern + command + class association)
highlights.cfg	Highlights (fore/back colours)
substitutes.cfg	Substitutes (text rewrite rules)
gags.cfg	Gags (line suppression)
macros.cfg	Macros (keyboard shortcuts)
variables.cfg	Variables (persistent %var values)
classes.cfg	Classes (boolean on/off toggles)

The importer also understands names.cfg (name highlights) and presets.cfg (colour scheme) where present.

Finding your Genie 4 install

Genie 4 stores its .cfg files in a Config folder, typically:

OS	Path
Windows (default)	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Genie\Config\
Windows (portable)	the Config\ subfolder of wherever you extracted Genie
Wine on macOS/Linux	inside the wineprefix, e.g. ~/.wine/drive_c/users/<you>/Local Settings/Application Data/Genie/Config/

Look for a folder containing aliases.cfg, triggers.cfg, etc. — that's your source.

Multiple Genie 4 profiles? Each profile usually has its own .cfg set. Pick one character's folder first; you can re-run the import later against another folder to layer on more rules.

Running the import

1. Launch Genie 5 and choose File → Import from Genie 4….
2. Source folder — click Browse… and select your Genie 4 Config directory. Genie 5 probes the folder and shows a count next to each category (e.g. "Triggers: 45"), so you can confirm it found the right place before committing.
3. Per-category checkboxes — untick anything you don't want (Highlights, Triggers, Substitutes, Gags, Aliases, Macros, Variables, Classes).
4. Target — choose where the rules land:
   • Current character's profile — imports into the connected character's Profiles/<Char>-<Account>/ set.
   • Global / shared config — imports into the shared Config/ baseline. (See Application Folders for the difference.)
5. Mode:
   • Merge — keep existing rules; incoming rules with a matching key overwrite. Good default.
   • Add only — append everything without overwriting.
   • Replace — clear that category in Genie 5 first, then import. Clean for a one-shot migration; destructive if you'd already configured Genie 5.
6. Click Import.

When it finishes, the result line reports per-category counts (imported / skipped). Skipped lines are usually a malformed pattern in the source — those rows are simply not added. The import is read-only against your Genie 4 files — the originals on disk are untouched.

What's NOT imported

• Scripts (*.cmd) — these aren't .cfg; they're plain text in Genie 4's Scripts folder. Copy them straight into Genie 5's Scripts folder and run them as .scriptname.
• Maps (*.xml) — imported through the mapper, not this dialog. See Updating Maps and Scripts. (Genie 5 uses the same Genie 4 XML map format, so maps largely carry over directly.)
• Account passwords — for security, Genie 5 never reads Genie 4's stored credentials. Re-enter once via File → Connect… and save as a Genie 5 profile (encrypted AES-256-GCM).
• Window layouts — Genie 5's docking model differs from Genie 4's MDI. Re-arrange via the Window menu and save via Layout → Save Layout As….

Re-importing

You can run the import again any time. Prefer Add only or Merge for incremental top-ups and review the result counts — duplicates created by repeated imports are removed by hand via Edit → Configuration….

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
Probe shows 0 for everything	The selected folder isn't a Genie 4 Config directory. Confirm it contains aliases.cfg.
One category imports 0	That .cfg is empty in your Genie 4 install.
Rules use stale values	Imported variables.cfg carried old session state — edit via Edit → Configuration → Variables.
Colours look slightly off	The import preserves your exact hex values; tweak via Edit → Configuration → Highlights.