How to access the Preferences panel in Affinity Designer

The Preferences panel in Affinity Designer provides options for changing how your workspace functions. Here you can adjust settings so that the software works best for your setup. These settings include Tools, Shortcuts as well as Color Management and more. In this tutorial we will go over the different ways you can access the Preference Panel in Affinity Designer.

Step 1 - Access the Preference Panel

There are three ways you can access the Preference Panel in Affinity Designer. First, open Affinity Designer then select New Document > Create.

The first way to access the panel is on screen. Once a blank document has been created the Preference Panel will be visible top left of the screen. You also need to have the Move Tool selected, which is the first tool at the top left. If another tool is selected, the Preferences panel will not be visible. Click on the panel to open the options.

The second way to access the Preference Panel is through the Edit menu. Go to the Edit menu > Preferences.

The third and final way is to use keyboard shortcut keys. Press Ctrl + , (comma) or Cmd + , (comma) for a Mac. The Preference Panel will pop up on your screen.

Step 2 - Preference Panel options

In the Preference Panel you have seven menu options, each with their own group of settings. You can click on each one to open, or use the arrows top left of the panel. You can also use the Search Panel top right.

General Options

Under the General Options there are quite a few settings available. This can be a bit daunting but the software has some checked by default. You can follow our image below for reference. We will only discuss a few options that would be of benefit.

Reopen document on startup will automatically open the last document that was saved in the software.

Import PSD text as text rather than bitmap is an option that allows you edit text in PSD files. However, with this option selected it may not always look exactly the same as the original text.

In the Clipboard option you have Copy Items as SVG. When checked, this will allow you to copy and paste to another program as an SVG. If this was unchecked, the SVG would be rasterized to the Clipboard.

Color Options

The next group of settings can be found under the Color Options. To go back to the menu, either click on the left arrow at the top or the menu box. In this menu, you will find your Color Management/Profile options. By default the RGB Color Profile is set to sRGB. Set this according to your needs if necessary.

Performance Options

Here, you can adjust how your computer uses RAM and disk usage. This will help to optimize your software performance and any lag issues you may experience depending on your system.

User Interface Options

The options under User Interface allow you to change the look of your workspace. If you don't want a dark overall look, you can change it to Light. The Decimal Places for Unit Types is left as is since we want to stay as close to one pixel as possible.

Tools Options

The options for Tool allow you to adjust how you select your tools, how your mouse works and more.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Here you can change the keyboard shortcuts to what best suits your workspace.

The shortcuts can be changed per Persona such as Designer, Pixel and Export.

For each persona you have the option of changing the shortcuts under the selected settings.

Miscellaneous Options

This menu allows you to reset Brushes, Styles, Fills and User Defaults to factory settings. You can also send crash reports here.

If you enjoyed this tutorial we have many more for you to check out like how to access the alignment options, install and delete brushes and create documents and artboards in Affinity Designer.