## Preferences and Configuration

Boa has an extensive preferences system that can for the most part be managed through the GUI.

You may also specify different resource configuration directories. (see command-line options -O and -B) This allows you to run differently configured Boas from one codebase with different resource config directories.

By default Boa uses the configuration files defined in the Boa root install directory. When the environmental variable HOME is set, Boa will automatically check for a .boa directory in HOME first.

Throughout the documentation there are references to setting Preferences->*. This refers to an item path accessible from the Preferences tree. It is rooted at the bottom of the Explorer tree. Double-click Preference items to edit in the Inspector or open further in the Explorer.

Note:Many preference changes require a restart to take effect!
Some other preference changes will only apply to files opened after the changes was set.

Digest:

prefs.rc.py | Source code file of preferences common to all platforms. Values are edited under: Preferences->General
prefs.rc.*.py | Source code file of preferences for specific platforms. Values are edited under: Preferences->Platform specific
prefskeys.rc.py | Source code file of preferences for key bindings. Values are edited under: Preferences->Key bindings
Explorer.*.cfg | Config file of settings used by the Explorer and state data used by the Editor. Values are generally edited thru the Explorer interface.
stc-styles.rc.cfg | Config file of source code style definitions used by the source views. Edited by the Styled Text Dialog available under Preferences->Source->[LanguageName] To change style settings shared by all source code editors, open Preferences->Source->Default settings
helpfrm.cfg | Config file used by the Help system.

Boa Constructor - Application Help - Preferences and Configuration