Setting Preferences

Define a variety of options for display, shortcuts, paths, and client behavior.

From the menu bar, select File, then press the Preferences button.

Workspace Preferences

Define the display, language and behavior of the software workspace.

For this Preference	Do this
Show splash screen at startup	Select to display the splash screen when starting the software.
Show icon labels	Select to display names of the tool icons on the ribbon.
Scale UI	Select to scale icons up for large displays.
Select all text when line editing	Select to capture all of the text on a line.
Theme	Click and select from a variety of color schemes for the GUI.
Language	Select a language for the interface. Attention: After changing the language, restart the application for the modification to take effect.
Recent files	Enter the maximum number of recently viewed files displayed in the File menu.
Help	Select Use Online help or clear to use locally installed help. Online help is the default and directs you to a website with the most up-to-date help topics. Local help is included with the software installation.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Define shortcuts to common operations.

File

To do this	Press
Open	Ctrl + O
New	Ctrl + N
Import	Ctrl + I
Save	Ctrl + S
Save As	F12
Save All	Ctrl + Shift + F12
Save a Copy As...	F9
Save Selected	Shift + F12
Close	Ctrl + W
Close All	Ctrl + Shift + W
Exit	Ctrl + Q

Edit

To do this	Press
Redo	Ctrl + Y
Undo	Ctrl + Z
Copy	Ctrl + C
Cut	Ctrl + X
Paste	Ctrl + V
Delete	Delete
Rename	F2
Duplicate	Ctrl + D
Switch	Ctrl + T

Edit Blocks

To do this	Press
Super Block	Ctrl + B
Expand Super Block	Ctrl + Alt + X
Show Name	Ctrl + L
Flip	Ctrl + F
Rotate Right	Ctrl + R
Rotate Left	Ctrl + Shift + R
Auto Mask	Ctrl + M
Remove Mask	Ctrl + U
Restore Mask	Ctrl + Shift + M
Left	Ctrl + Shift + L
Right	Ctrl + Shift + R
Bottom	Ctrl + Shift + Down
Top	Ctrl + Shift + Up
Vertical	Ctrl + Shift + V
Horizontal	Ctrl + Shift + H

Simulate

To do this	Press
Run	Ctrl + E
Compile	Ctrl + Alt + C

Tools

To open	Press
OML Editor	Ctrl + H
Model dialog	Ctrl + Alt + M
Context dialog	Ctrl + Alt + D
Setup dialog	Ctrl + Alt + S
Debug File Viewer	Ctrl + Shift + D

View

To view	Press
Maximize Window	Ctrl + Alt + 6
Restore Window	Alt + Shift + X
Full Screen	Shift + F11
Split Vertical	Ctrl + Alt + V
Split Horizontal	Ctrl + Alt + Z
Split Window	Ctrl + Alt + W
New Window	Ctrl + Alt + N

Help

To open	Press
Help	Ctrl + F1

Miscellaneous

To do this	Press
Close All (Ignore Messages)	Ctrl + Shift + F4

Dock Windows

To open	Press
Project Browser	Ctrl + F2
Property Editor	F3
Python Window	F4
Command History	Ctrl + Alt + H
Variable Browser	Ctrl + Alt + R
OML Command Window	F8
File Browser	Ctrl + Alt + F
Demo Browser	F7

Modifying Keyboard Shortcuts

You can modify the default keyboard shortcuts in the Preferences dialog.

From the menu bar, select File > Preferences.
In the Preferences dialog that appears, under Category, select Keyboard Shortcuts.
Select a shortcut that you want to modify and enter a new value.

Plot Preferences

Define the display and behavior of the plots generated during the simulation process.

Title

For this Preference	Do this
Visibility	Select to display plot titles.
Font	Select a font family, style and size for plot titles.
Color	Select a color for plot titles.

Axis Scale

For this Preference	Do this
Mode	Select an automatic or fixed mode for axis scale.
Type	Select Linear, Logarithmic, db20, or db10.

Horizontal and Vertical Axis Scale

For this Preference	Do this
Label	Select a font family, style, size and color for label display.
Tick	Select a font family, style and size for tick display.

Legend

For this Preference	Do this
Visibility	Select to display legends.
Border	Select the thickness for the legend borders.
Border Color	Select the color of the legend borders.

Miscellaneous

For this Preference	Do this
Color	Select the color for the legend background, frame, zero line, and grid line.
Antialiasing	Select to enable antialiasing.

Page Setup

For this Preference	Do this
Orientation	Select portrait or landscape.
Margin	Enter a left, right, top and bottom margin in inches.

Activate Preferences

Define file paths, code display and session recovery options.

Activate Paths

For this Preference	Do this
Cosimulation with MotionSolve	Enter the paths for MotionView, MotionSolve, MotionSolve Licence and Python.
Cosimulation with Flux	Enter the path to Flux (flux/Flux folder). For example, on Windows, enter C:\Program Files\Altair\2020\flux\Flux.
VI-CarRealTime	Enter the path for VI-CarRealTime.

Recovery

For this Preference	Do this
Enable recovery	Select to enable the recovery of model files after a software crash.
Recovery interval	Enter a value in minutes. Note: Enabling this preference can result in slower performance times if the recovery interval is high or model files are very large.

Tool Tips

For this Preference	Do this
Show tooltips on blocks	Select to display tooltips.

Mouse Controls

For this Preference	Do this
Rotate wheel upward to	Select to set the upward wheel action to Zoom In or Zoom Out. By default, the downward wheel action is the reverse of your selection.

General: Project Browser

For this Preference	Do this
Remember Entity Types	In the Project Browser, select the entity types to be displayed in the tree. From File > Preferences, select Remember Entity Types to save your selections for future Activate sessions.

General: Command Window

For this Preference	Do this
Number of lines	Enter a value between 100-25000.
Show warning when lines are purged	Select On or Off.
Font size (2 to 20)	Enter a font size from 2-20.
Number of matrix rows and columns printed	Enter a value between 25-2500
Font	Enter a font family, size and style.

General: Auto Completion

For Code Completion	Do this
Show parameter information	Select to display parameter information.
Minimum characters to match	Enter a minimum value for character matching.
Ignore case	Select for the Editor to ignore case.
Automatically suggest	Select for the Editor to display code suggestions.

OML

For this Preference	Do this
Command Window	Set pagination and display parameters.
Editor	Set display parameters.
Plot	Set display parameters.