# Configuration Perspective

Icon: <img src="/files/T4UfVLGlNMSS8wr6PkoJ" alt="gear" data-size="line">

Keyboard shortcut: `CTRL-Shift-C`

### Description

The configuration perspective offers a central location for all Apache Hop configuration options.

### Usage

The configuration perspective groups configuration options in the following tabs:

* **General** options control the behavior of Apache Hop and Hop Gui.
* **Look & Feel** control how Hop Gui looks like on your desktop or in your browser.
* **Plugin** options provide configuration options to control the behavior of your available Apache Hop plugins.
* **System variables** allows you to set and configure Apache Hop global variables.

### Detailed configuration tabs overview

#### General

The General configuration tab allows you to configure the core Apache Hop options.

| Option                                        | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | Default                                      |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- |
| Hop configuration filename                    | <p>the location where Apache Hop will store the configuration file. This configuration file will contain your project and environment information and global variables.<br>Tip: set the environment variable <code>HOP\_CONFIG\_FOLDER</code> to set this location dynamically to allow easy switching between different Apache Hop versions and installations. <a href="/pages/JCFyWxtCijiJs679RkWY">Read more</a>. </p>                                                                              | `<INSTALLATION_PATH>/config/hop-config.json` |
| Preview data batch size                       | <p>number of rows that will be shown when previewing through the Pipeline run toolbar or from transform preview dialogs.</p><p>INFO: this setting complements the preview option that is used in the <a href="/pages/ouuWvT8QAyYBrmJ17h7l">native local pipeline run configuration</a>, which can be accessed through the <img src="/files/kZaNCNaBPWWRfd823W6F" alt="data grid" data-size="line"> <code>preview data</code> icon in the bottom right corner of transforms after a successful run.</p> | 1000                                         |
| Use database cache                            | enable caching for relational databases                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | yes                                          |
| Open last file at startup                     | reopen the last used files and select the last used file when Hop GUI starts                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | yes                                          |
| Autosave changed files                        | Automatically save changed workflow and pipelines files                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | yes                                          |
| Automatically split hops                      | <p>Automatically split hops when a new transform or action is dropped on a hop.</p><p>Tip: Hops will be shown in bold when a transform or action can be dropped on it</p>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | yes                                          |
| Show Copy or Distribute Dialog                | Show a pop-up dialog to ask the user to confirm whether data should be copied or distributed (round-robin) to subsequent transforms in a pipeline                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | yes                                          |
| Ask user when exiting                         | Show a pop-up dialog to let the user confirm before exiting Hop GUI                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | yes                                          |
| Clear customer parameters (transforms/plugins | Deletes all custom flags and parameters in the dialogs of the transforms and plugins                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | on click                                     |
| Auto collapse palette tree                    | Collapse or expand the categories in the context dialog                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | no (expanded)                                |
| Display tooltips                              | Show tooltips where available in Hop GUI                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | yes                                          |
| Show help tooltips                            | Show help tooltips where available in Hop GUI                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | yes                                          |
| Use double click on canvas?                   | <p>double-click instead of single click on e.g. transform and action dialogs.</p><p>enabled: double-click on a transform or action icon to open its properties. A single click on the icon opens the context dialog. disabled (default): (single) click on a transform or action icon to open the context dialog. (single) click on a transform or action name to open its properties</p>                                                                                                              | no                                           |
| Draw border around names on canvas?           | If this option is enabled, a border will be drawn around the names of transforms and actions on the canvas.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | no                                           |
| Use global bookmarks in the file dialog       | Bookmarks in the file dialog are global (across projects) by default. Enable to make them project-specific                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             | yes                                          |

#### Look & Feel

The `Look & Feel` configuration options allow you to configure various aspects of Hop GUI’s behavior.

| Option                      | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | Default        |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- |
| Default font                | the default font to use in Hop GUI                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | Noto Sans - 10 |
| Fixed width font            | the default fixed width font to use in Hop GUI                                                                                                                                                                                                      | Monospace - 10 |
| Font on workspace           | the font to use in the workspace                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | Noto Sans - 10 |
| Font for notes              | the font to use for workflow and pipeline notes                                                                                                                                                                                                     | Noto Sans - 10 |
| Icon size in workspace      | the default size for action and transform icons in workflows and pipelines                                                                                                                                                                          | 32             |
| Line width on workspace     | line width to use for hops in workflows and actions                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1              |
| Dialog middle percentage    | percentage to use to determine a dialog’s position                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 35             |
| UI zoom level               | default zoom level to use for workflows and pipelines in Hop GUI                                                                                                                                                                                    | 100%           |
| Canvas Grid Size            | default grid size to use for workflows and pipelines in the Hop GUI editor                                                                                                                                                                          | 16             |
| Show Canvas Grid            | show the grid (dotted) for workflows and pipelines in Hop GUI                                                                                                                                                                                       | no             |
| Hide the menu bar           | Do not show the menu bar. If enabled (default), the menu options are available from the Apache Hop icon in Hop GUI’s upper left corner.                                                                                                             | yes            |
| Show a toolbar above tables | Show a toolbar with options to cut/copy/paste, move lines up/down etc in table views (e.g. in preview dialogs, transform configuration options)                                                                                                     | yes            |
| Dark mode                   | use dark mode. This options is read only (can’t be changed). Your operating system’s theme settings are used by default.                                                                                                                            | N/A            |
| Preferred Language          | <p>the default language to use in Hop GUI.<br>Tip: Check the <a href="https://hop.apache.org/community/contribution-guides/translation-contribution-guide/">Translation Contribution Guide</a> to translate Apache Hop to your native language.</p> | English (US)   |

#### Plugins

The plugins tab contains configuration options that are provided by the various plugins in Apache Hop.

The following plugins are available by default:

* [Azure Blob Storage](/data-shaper-1.21/knowing-the-data-shaper-designer/apache-hop-virtual-file-system/azure-blob-storage-vfs.md) VFS configuration options.
* [Dropbox](/data-shaper-1.21/knowing-the-data-shaper-designer/apache-hop-virtual-file-system/dropbox-vfs.md) VFS configuration options.
* [Explorer perspective](/data-shaper-1.21/knowing-the-data-shaper-designer/index/perspectives/perspective-file-explorer.md) configuration options.
* [Google Cloud](/data-shaper-1.21/knowing-the-data-shaper-designer/apache-hop-virtual-file-system/google-cloud-storage-vfs.md) configuration options (service account JSON key file).
* [Google Drive](/data-shaper-1.21/knowing-the-data-shaper-designer/apache-hop-virtual-file-system/google-drive-vfs.md) VFS configuration options.
* [Project](/data-shaper-1.21/knowing-the-data-shaper-designer/index-1.md) configuration options
* Welcome Dialog: specify whether to show or hide the welcome dialog when Hop GUI starts.

#### System Variables

The System Variables tab contains the available system variables in Hop GUI.

Check the [Variables documentation](/data-shaper-1.21/knowing-the-data-shaper-designer/variables.md) for more information about the available variables and their default values.


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