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settings_file
QElectroTech's settings — everything in Settings → Configure QElectroTech, plus the 3D mouse bindings, the keyboard shortcuts and the rest of what the program remembers between runs — can be saved to a file and loaded back. Use it to:
- copy your setup to another computer, or to a colleague;
- keep a backup before trying out different settings;
- switch between several setups, for example one per customer's drawing standard.
The two commands are at the bottom of the Configuration menu (Settings). They were added in PR #1166, asked for in discussion #610.
Settings → Save settings as... asks for a file name and writes the settings to it. The file
ends in .conf; QElectroTech adds the extension if you leave it out.
The file is always a plain text ini file, whatever system it was saved on. On Windows QElectroTech keeps its live settings in the registry, on Linux and macOS in a settings file of its own, but a saved file loads on any of them.
Settings → Load settings... asks for a .conf file, then:
- warns that the file will replace your current settings, and that QElectroTech will then close;
- on Yes, closes every open project, asking to save any that have changes, as quitting does. Cancelling there leaves your settings untouched;
- replaces the settings and closes QElectroTech.
Start QElectroTech again to use the loaded settings. It does not restart by itself: each part of the program reads its settings when it starts.
Loading replaces, it does not merge. A setting that is not in the file is removed, so it goes back to its default. That is what makes switching between two saved setups clean: nothing from the previous one is left behind.
A file that QElectroTech did not save is refused with “…” is not a configuration saved by QElectroTech, and nothing changes. Each saved file carries a marker for this check, so hand-made or renamed settings files are not accepted.
Two kinds of settings describe the computer rather than how you want QElectroTech to behave, so they are never saved, and loading a file keeps the ones you have:
| Left out | Why |
|---|---|
| window sizes and positions, and the layout of the docked panels | they depend on this computer's screens |
| the recent files lists | the files are on this computer |
Everything else is copied as it is, including folder paths, such as the folder of your own symbol collection. If the other computer keeps those folders somewhere else, set them again in Configure QElectroTech after loading.
Your projects, symbols and title blocks are not settings and are not in the file. Copy your own collection folder separately; see Collection browser.
- Preferences reference — what the settings themselves do
- Installing on Windows without admin rights — moving a portable copy to a new version
-
CLI Reference —
QET_SETTINGS_DIR, which keeps the live settings in a file in a folder of your choice
