App settings

App settings

Every setting of the app: what it does, its starting value, what changes and where you find it. For the calculation options of a project (calculation profile, critical definition) see Calculation options and conventions: those belong to the project file, not to the app.

Where to find them and how they work

The settings panel is in three places, and everywhere it is the same panel: the gear at the top of the window, Settings › Project › App settings and File › App settings. The panel has three tabs: Appearance, Planning and Advanced. Each setting below only names the tab.

A change takes effect immediately. There is no Apply button and no Cancel.

App-wide, not per project. All settings in this article apply to all your projects and belong to this device. The app keeps them in the storage of the app or of your browser, not in the project file. Someone else opening your file therefore sees their own settings. A browser whose storage you clear starts again with the starting values.

Appearance tab

Theme — the colour scheme of the interface. Choose from Dark, Light and High Contrast. Default: Dark. Effect: the colours of the whole interface, including the Gantt and the histogram. Where: Appearance.

Follow system theme — lets the colour scheme of your operating system decide. Default: off. Effect: the app is Light or Dark, depending on your system; the three theme cards are then switched off. High Contrast does not follow your system: you pick it yourself. If you switch this off, the theme that was on screen at that moment stays. Where: Appearance, under Theme.

Language — the language of the interface. Default: the language of your browser or system if the app knows it, otherwise English. Effect: all texts in the app; the languages are sorted by their short code. Arabic and Persian mirror the interface from right to left. You set the language of the Help articles separately, under Documentation language in File › Help. Where: Appearance.

Font — the font of the whole interface. Choose from Default, System, Serif and Monospace. Default: Default. Effect: headings and text in the window, and the text in the Gantt and the histogram. A web app does not follow your system font by itself; that is why you choose it here. Where: Appearance.

Text size — scale of the interface. Choose from 90%, 100%, 110% and 125%. Default: 100%. Effect: the text and layout of the ribbon, the panels and the dialogs get larger or smaller, and the row height of the table and the Gantt scales along. There is no choice above 125%, because button labels in the ribbon then break over several lines. Where: Appearance.

Date format — how dates appear in the app. Choose from dd-mm-yyyy, mm-dd-yyyy and yyyy-mm-dd. Default: dd-mm-yyyy. Effect: dates in the table, the dialogs, the reports and the print. Files and calculations do not change: only the display. Where: Appearance.

Time format — how clock times appear in the app. Choose from 24-hour (13:00) and 12-hour (1:00 PM). Default: 24-hour (13:00). Effect: the times in the calendar window, the date and time of tasks in hours (table, splits, messages) and the Hour timescale in the Gantt. In a time field you may type either form: 13:00, 1300, 13, 1:00 PM or 1 pm. Midnight as the end of the day is 24:00 or 12:00 AM. Files and calculations do not change: they stay 24-hour. Where: Appearance.

Duration display — in which unit the duration of a task is shown. Choose from Automatic (native unit per task), Always days and Always hours. Default: Automatic (native unit per task). Effect: in the task grid, the bar labels of the Gantt, the tooltip, the print and the reports. With Automatic a day task shows days and an hour task shows hours. With Always days or Always hours the app converts using the hours per day of the task calendar and, if the unit of the task differs, puts its own unit after it in brackets, for example 2.25d(18h). Only the display changes; the task keeps its own unit. Where: Appearance.

Document switch style — how you switch between open projects. Choose from Horizontal tabs, Vertical tabs and Pill. Default: Horizontal tabs. Effect: Horizontal tabs puts a tab bar under the ribbon; Vertical tabs a project bar on the left; Pill a small project button in the title bar. Where: Appearance.

Gantt section

Show only working days — compresses the timeline axis. Default: off. Effect: weekends and holidays from the project calendar are skipped, so a task of 5 working days is exactly 5 columns wide. The shortcuts for Jump to today and Fit to project then also count in working days. The report has its own checkbox with the same name, which is independent of this setting. Where: Appearance, under Gantt › Timeline axis.

Show quarter-hours when zoomed in far — an extra fine time scale. Default: off. Effect: you can zoom in further and the hour scale gets an extra quarter-hour row. Dragging an hour bar can then snap to quarter-hours instead of whole hours. You only see this when Enable hour planning is on. Where: Appearance, under Gantt › Quarter-hour zoom.

Task bars at interruptions — whether an hour task is drawn in blocks. Choose from Never split, Split when selected and Always split. Default: Split when selected. Effect: the bar of an hour task is then drawn per working block instead of as one continuous block. Split when selected does that only for the selected task. It only concerns hour tasks; a task that is really split (with Split task) shows its interruption regardless of this setting. Where: Appearance, under Gantt.

Scroll & zoom › Mode — what the scroll wheel does over the Gantt. Choose from Position, Keys and Zoom + drag. Default: Zoom + drag. Effect: with Zoom + drag the wheel zooms around the cursor, Shift+wheel scrolls through the rows, you pan the timeline by dragging the background and Ctrl+drag (Cmd on a Mac) draws a selection box. With Position the function of the wheel depends on where your cursor is; Ctrl+wheel always zooms and Shift+wheel always scrolls horizontally. With Keys you choose yourself which key does what. The choice also applies to the second timeline of the split view. Where: Appearance, under Gantt › Scroll & zoom.

Scroll & zoom › Screen division — where the cursor is for which function. Only visible in the Position mode. Choose from Left/right, Top/bottom and Top-right corner. Default: Left/right. Effect: with Left/right the wheel scrolls vertically over the left half and horizontally over the right half. With Top/bottom the wheel scrolls horizontally over the top 30% (near the time scale) and vertically below it. With Top-right corner the wheel scrolls horizontally in the top-right quadrant and vertically in the rest. Where: Appearance, under Gantt › Scroll & zoom.

Scroll & zoom › Vertical, Horizontal, Zoom — which key belongs to which wheel function. Only visible in the Keys mode. For each function you choose from Scroll, Ctrl + scroll or Shift + scroll. Default: Vertical is Scroll, Zoom is Ctrl + scroll and Horizontal is Shift + scroll. Effect: if you pick a key that is already in use, it swaps with the function that had it. Where: Appearance, under Gantt › Scroll & zoom.

Planning tab

Enable construction mode — construction-oriented starting values for new projects. Default: on. Effect: on gives a new project the calendar Bouwkalender NL with the Dutch public holidays, lets you choose a builders' holiday when generating holidays, offers the phasing templates Residential construction and Commercial / renovation and gives new tasks the work category Construction. Off gives the calendar Standaardkalender without holidays, only the template Empty and the work category Other. A new task under a parent task that has a work category takes over that work category first; Construction or Other applies after that. Existing tasks and calendars do not change. Where: Planning.

Enable hour planning — planning in working hours next to working days. Default: off. Effect: the time scale Hour appears under View › Time Scale, in the Calendars window an ordinary calendar can get working-time blocks (the Working times block; a calendar that already has blocks always shows it), and the New project window gets the choices Shift and Default unit for new tasks. Project settings also gets the choice Default unit for new tasks. Off, the app works day-granular. Tasks that are already in hours stay and are included in the calculation; you can only edit their duration once you turn hour planning on. Where: Planning, under Hour planning. See Turning on hour planning.

Allow mixed day/hour planning — whether you choose the unit per task. Only visible when Enable hour planning is on. Default: on. Effect: on shows the Duration unit drop-down next to the duration of every task. Off hides that drop-down. Where: Planning, under Hour planning. See Days and hours.

Week starts on — the first day of the week. Choose from Monday and Sunday. Default: Monday. Effect: the week layout and week numbers of the time scale in the Gantt and in the reports (the Gantt chart print), and the order of the weekdays in the Calendars window. Where: Planning.

Calculate automatically — recalculates the schedule as soon as it is out of date. Default: off. Effect: off means you press Calculate (F5) yourself. On makes the app recalculate the schedule within a fraction of a second after a change to tasks, relations or calendar. During a drag gesture or while you type in a field, the app waits and calculates once when you are done. After a failed calculation it only calculates again once you have changed something. Where: Planning, under Calculation.

Use task types — the task type and work fields in the app. Default: off. Effect: on shows the Task type field on a task and the work column for the assignments, and makes the table column Task type available. Off hides them; duration and units stay and the work follows. A project that already contains task type or work data, for example from an .mpp or .xer file, always shows them, even if the setting is off. Where: Planning, under Calculation. See Task types: duration, units and work.

Advanced tab

Show an explanation after opening — one checkbox per format: Primavera file (.xer), MS Project file (.mpp), MS Project XML, Primavera P6 XML and CSV file. Default: all on. Effect: on shows a window with a short explanation of the format after you open such a file: what the app took over, what it did not, and how saving and writing back work. Don't show again for … in that window clears the checkbox here; here you turn it back on. An IFC file, an example and a project that an AI assistant or an extension opens never get this explanation. Where: Advanced, under Show an explanation after opening. See Opening and saving a file.

Enable AI mode — lets an AI assistant work with your schedule. Default: off. Effect: on shows the AI tab with the MCP bridge, so an AI assistant can work with your schedule over the Model Context Protocol. Off hides the tab and stops the bridge. Where: Advanced, under AI mode. See Connecting an AI assistant (MCP).

Start bridge automatically — starts the MCP bridge when the app starts. Can only be switched on when Enable AI mode is on. Default: off. Effect: the bridge is live straight away, so an AI client can connect without you first opening the AI tab. This only works in the desktop app, and once per start: if you switch the bridge off yourself afterwards, it does not start again. Where: Advanced, under AI mode.

Enable debug terminal — a log panel for troubleshooting. Default: off. Effect: on puts a terminal button in the status bar, which shows or hides the log panel. Off closes the panel. Where: Advanced, under Debug terminal.

Benchmark… — measures the performance of the scheduling engine. Effect: opens a window in which you have a test schedule of a chosen size generated and the core phases measured. Your open project is left untouched. It is a button, not a setting: there is nothing to remember. Where: Advanced, under Benchmark.

Statistics… — how often the app has been downloaded. Effect: opens the window Download statistics with public figures from GitHub Releases; nothing is collected from you. It is a button, not a setting. Where: Advanced, under Statistics. In the window:

• Downloads per operating system — per system the columns Downloads, Installers (what a person downloads) and Updates (what the updater in the app fetches), with a Total. On Linux the two cannot be separated: the updater fetches the same .deb, .rpm or .AppImage file that people also download by hand, so there only the snap file counts as an installer. Below it Update checks from the app: how often the updater in an installed app has fetched the version file from GitHub to look for a new version. Those are checks, not installs.
• Per release — the same downloads per version, with the date; first the six newest, with Show all … releases for the rest.
• Source — the date of the figures (GitHub Releases, updated weekly) and Refresh now. The app keeps fetched figures for half an hour. If fetching fails, the window says so. Installs via the Snap Store do not go through GitHub and are missing.

Start tour — the introductory tour again. Effect: closes the App settings window and starts the tour from the first step. Where: Advanced, under Tour.

Version — the version number of the app, with two buttons. Check for updates opens the update window. What's new shows the news of the current version. Where: Advanced, under Version.

Show classic view buttons — a replaced feature, under Legacy features. Default: off. Effect: on puts a group Display back on the View tab with the separate buttons Columns…, Filter…, Group… and Sort…. They have been replaced by the plus in the table header, the layout buttons and the layout window. Where: Advanced, under Legacy features.

Remembered display choices outside the panel

The app also keeps these choices on this device, but you set them at the item itself, not in the settings panel.

Baseline overlay — the active baseline as a thin bar under the task bar. Default: on. Where: View › Baselines & progress › Baseline overlay.

Progress line — the zigzag line of progress at the status date. Default: on. Effect: the line only appears when the project has a status date, and then replaces the separate status date line. Where: View › Baselines & progress › Progress line.

Status date line — a dotted line at the status date. Default: on. Effect: if the progress line is on, it draws the marking itself. Where: View › Baselines & progress › Status date line.

Resource accent — a thin stripe in the resource colour under the task bar. Default: off. Where: View › Baselines & progress › Resource accent.

Float band — the float as a band behind non-critical bars; not for completed tasks. Default: on. Where: View › Baselines & progress › Float band.

Bar colors — what the colour of a bar depends on. Choose from Critical path, Per task — automatic and By category. Default: Critical path. Effect: applies to the Gantt and the report at the same time. Where: View › Baselines & progress › Bar colors.

Histogram — the histogram strip under the Gantt. Default: off. Where: Resources › Histogram › Histogram, View › Panels › Histogram or Ctrl+Shift+H. You set the height of the strip (default 160 pixels, between 80 and 480) by dragging its edge.

Mini-map — an overview map of the timeline. Default: off. Where: View › Presentation › Mini-map.

Collapse the ribbon — a compact ribbon. Default: off. Where: the arrow button at the bottom right of the ribbon.

Width of the task table — default 350 pixels, between 150 and 800. You set it by dragging the divider next to the table, or with left arrow and right arrow when the divider has focus.

Width of the right panel — default 280 pixels, between 200 and 900. You set it by dragging the edge of the panel.

Height of Properties and Warnings in the right panel — default 240 and 220 pixels, between 120 and 2000. Properties has that height when the resource list is open too. You set the height with the drag handle between the sections. The app does not remember whether the sections are open or closed.

Also remembered, described elsewhere — the columns of the table (Adjusting table columns), your layouts (Creating and using a layout), the report options (Report types), your own calculation profile templates (Calculation options and conventions) and the Documentation language of Help (File › Help) are also kept by the app on this device, not in the project file.

See also

• Calculation options and conventions: the options that belong to a project.
• Turning on hour planning: the steps for the switch Enable hour planning.
• Days and hours: how the app counts days and hours.
• Task types: duration, units and work: what Use task types makes visible.
• Keyboard shortcuts: all keys of the app, including those for zooming and scrolling.