Settings overview

Settings contains options for language, appearance, shortcuts, views and system integration. The options below follow the categories in the settings window.

Opening Settings

Windows / LinuxCtrl+Shift+PmacOS⌘+,

Settings opens in a dialog by default. If this window already has a settings tab, it switches to that tab instead. Select a category on the left, or enter a keyword in Search settings… at the top. If nothing matches, the dialog shows No matching settings.

Settings search covers every category and the action names and current keys in the shortcut table. Press Enter on a subpage result to open it. Context menu order, custom commands, Open With and Vim bindings use their own filters.

Settings are saved automatically and retained after restart.

Settings pages that support resetting provide Undo after a reset. Resetting values already at their defaults creates no record. See Activity.

Some options appear only when another setting enables them. For example, selecting Follow System under Theme shows the light and dark theme options.

Opening settings in a tab

1. Click the menu button at the upper-left corner of the window.
2. Choose Open Settings in a Tab.

Each window can have one settings tab. Choosing this entry again switches to the existing tab. While it is open, Settings in the menu and the shortcut for opening settings also switch to that tab.

The settings tab can share split panes within its window, but cannot be dragged out to another window. Switching tabs leaves it open, and it can be restored with the session after a restart. Esc does not close it; use the tab's close button or × inside settings. Once it is closed, opening settings uses the dialog again. When the page is narrow, use its horizontal scrollbar to reach content on the right.

Appearance

Scale & Language

Setting	What it does
UI Scale	Scale the tessoa interface from 50% to 300%. Saved separately for each display.
Language	Interface language. Each language is listed under its own name, followed by its English name in parentheses (中文 (Simplified Chinese), Deutsch (German))

Language includes English in its label and options so it can be identified in an unfamiliar interface language. Searching for language also finds this setting.

Until you choose a language, tessoa uses the first supported language in the system preference list, or English if none matches. A manual selection overrides the system preference.

UI scale is saved separately for each display. Displays you have not adjusted use their system scale; adjusted displays use the saved value. tessoa applies the appropriate scale when you move between displays.

After you adjust the current display, Reset to screen default appears below UI Scale. It restores system scaling for this display without changing other displays.

When upgrading from a version before 0.23, the old scale is assigned to the display used for the first launch. Other displays use system scaling. If the migrated value does not suit that display, click Reset to screen default.

Adding an interface language

You can add an interface language with a TOML translation file.

1. Open Settings and click Export Language Template in the System category. tessoa writes every string of the current build out as a TOML file and shows a message; click Open Folder on it to get to that directory.
2. Copy the template and rename it to the language tag plus .toml — ko.toml for Korean, for instance.
3. Translate the text to the right of each = in a text editor. Leave the names on the left, and placeholders like {name} inside braces, exactly as they are.
4. Save it in the same folder and restart tessoa. The new language now appears under Language.

Untranslated entries use English. A file named after an existing language, such as zh.toml, overrides the corresponding strings in that language.

Files with TOML syntax errors are ignored. Files without recognized strings are not added to the language list. Removing a custom language file restores the default interface language.

Colors

Setting	What it does
Theme	Choose a built-in theme, custom scheme or Follow System. Use New scheme… to create a scheme.
When system is light	Theme used when the system is in light mode. Shown under Follow System.
When system is dark	Theme used when the system is in dark mode. Shown under Follow System.
Window Material	Uses a system material for the title bar, tab bar, and sidebar on supported Windows systems; None by default. See Window material
Translucent Content Area	Extends the window material to the file list; off by default. Only appears when a material other than None is selected

There are five built-in themes: Dark 1, Dark 2, Gray, Light 1, and Light 2. Follow System defaults to switching between Dark 1 and Light 1.

0.24.0 updates the built-in palettes. Bronze Snow and Sea Salt become Dark 1 and Light 1 respectively; Obsidian maps to Gray, Latte to Light 2, Clear to Light 1, and the other retired built-in schemes to Dark 1. Built-in themes look different after upgrading; this update does not rewrite schemes you saved yourself. Some component styles change how those colors appear in the interface.

Custom color schemes

Select New scheme… in the Theme dropdown to copy the current theme and open the color editor. Each custom scheme has its own dropdown entry. Up to 32 schemes can be saved.

Inside the editor:

• Click the title to rename the scheme. Changes are saved automatically.
• Delete scheme removes the current scheme and selects its neighbor. Deleting the last scheme restores a built-in theme.
• Follow System can use separate custom schemes for light and dark modes. Using the same scheme for both shows a notice that colors will not change, but the selection can still be saved.

Click Export at the top of the color editor to copy the scheme to the clipboard. Copy that configuration on another machine, then open its color editor and click Import.

Window material

Window Material uses the Mica or Acrylic effects provided by Windows. This option requires Windows 11 22H2 (build 22621) or later and a graphics environment that can use DirectComposition for translucent compositing. The option is hidden when these requirements are not met. It is not available on macOS or Linux.

1. Open Settings → Appearance.
2. Click Window Material in the Colors group and choose an effect.
3. Enable Translucent Content Area if you also want the background to show through the file list. This is off by default; enabling it can make list text harder to read.

Value	Effect
None	Uses the theme's solid background; the default
Mica	Uses a Mica effect based on the desktop wallpaper's colors
Mica Alt	Uses an alternative Mica effect, also based on the desktop wallpaper's colors
Acrylic	Blurs the content behind the window
Thin Acrylic	Uses Acrylic with a lighter interface tint

The selected material is not visible when Windows transparency effects are off. Click Turn on Windows transparency effects below the material setting to enable the system transparency effects for the current Windows user. If the system prevents a direct change, tessoa opens the Windows color settings page. Windows may replace the material with a solid background when the window loses focus.

Window material is used only with Flat, Wireframe and Native component styles. Other styles hide its settings and suspend the effect. The existing values are retained and take effect again when you switch to a supported style.

Component Style

Component Style controls the shape and surface effects of buttons, fields, menus and tabs, and can be chosen separately from the theme. See Component styles for comparison images of all seven styles and the settings available with each.

Setting	What it does
Component Style	Defaults to Flat. You can also choose Neumorphic, Glass, Wireframe, Native, Tonal or Brutalist.
Tint Strength	Shown only with Neumorphic. Adjusts how much of the theme's hue the background retains, from 0%–150%, with a default of 100%.
Follow Theme Lightness	Shown only with Neumorphic. Adjusts how closely the background's lightness follows the theme, from 0%–100%, with a default of 0%.
Surface Tint	Shown only with Tonal. Adjusts the accent color's influence on interface backgrounds, from 0%–15%, with a default of 5%.

Font

Setting	What it does
Font	Interface typeface, System Default to start; the box above filters the font list
Font Weight	How heavy interface text is, see below
Font Size	Interface text size, 10–20 px

Font weight

The slider uses the weights available in the selected font. Microsoft YaHei provides three weights: 290 Light, 400 Regular and 700 Bold. Source Han Sans can provide nine. The slider ticks correspond to those weights.

Using the font’s own weights avoids falling back to another font for an unavailable weight.

If a font has only one weight, the slider is disabled and still shows that weight.

Reading

Text previews and text editor tabs share these settings, independently of UI density. For steps and the relationship to area density, see UI density and reading.

Setting	What it does
Reading Font	Defaults to Same as UI Font; a separate font can be selected.
Reading Font Size	Follows the interface font size by default; turn off Follow to set 10–20 px independently.
Reading Line Spacing	Line height as a multiple of font size, 1.00–2.00; default 1.30.

Spacing & Roundness

Setting	What it does
UI Density	Global spacing, 50%–200%, default 100%; does not change text size.
File List	Padding in file rows, headers and column gaps; follows global density by default.
Icons & Thumbnails	Space around icons, thumbnails and their names; follows global density by default.
Sidebar	Padding in sidebar entries and tab strips; follows global density by default.
Buttons & Tabs	Padding in tabs, navigation buttons and footer controls; follows global density by default.
Corner Roundness	Corner radius on controls and panes. Wireframe uses square corners and hides this setting.
Tab Outline	Outline opacity for inactive tabs, 0%–100%, default 45%; 0% turns the outline off. Shown only with Flat, Wireframe and Brutalist.
Tab Outline Width	Outline width for inactive tabs, 1–3 px, default 1 px. Shown only with Flat, Wireframe and Brutalist.
Tab Group Outline	Draws an outline around each split pane's tab bar and content area; off by default. It does not outline individual named groups within the tab bar
Animations	How strong the motion is, or off entirely

Text Rendering

Setting	What it does
Text Gamma	How dark the edges of glyphs come out, 0.60–1.60, see below
Subpixel Positioning	Places each glyph at subpixel precision; on by default
LCD Subpixel Antialiasing	Use display subpixels to sharpen text edges. Off by default; see below.
Glyph Hinting	Align strokes to whole pixel boundaries. Three options; Off by default.
Classic Text Engine	Windows only. Uses the built-in text rendering from before v0.21.0; on by default, see below
Reset to Defaults	Reset appearance settings to their defaults

Text rendering settings

These options change text rendering without changing layout.

Option	Adjustment advice
Subpixel Positioning	Enable for uneven letter spacing. On by default.
Text Gamma	Lower for heavy strokes or raise for thin strokes. 1.00 leaves gamma unchanged.
LCD Subpixel Antialiasing	Try on low-resolution displays; disable if color fringes appear.
Glyph Hinting	Try Force for blurred edges at high display scaling.
Classic Text Engine	Compare the two engines on your display. On by default.

LCD Subpixel Antialiasing is off by default. It assumes horizontal RGB subpixels and may produce color fringes on OLED, rotated or BGR displays. Disable it if fringes appear. Unsupported graphics hardware uses ordinary antialiasing.

Glyph Hinting aligns strokes to whole pixel boundaries. This can sharpen edges but may alter glyph shapes. Three options are available:

Value	What it means
Off	No snapping, and the most faithful glyph shapes. The factory default
Follow Font	Use the font’s hinting rules, which may disable hinting above a certain size.
Force	Apply hinting at every size.

At high display scaling, text may exceed the font’s hinting threshold. Follow Font may then stop aligning strokes, while Force continues to align them. Below that threshold, the two options produce the same result.

Classic Text Engine is available on Windows and is on by default. It uses the built-in engine from before v0.21.0. Turn it off to use the engine introduced in v0.21.0. The classic engine has softer edge transitions; the newer engine has harder edges. Choose the one that is easier to read on your display.

Changing these options redraws all text and may cause a brief pause.

Classic Text Engine is shown only on Windows. macOS also omits LCD Subpixel Antialiasing and Glyph Hinting, which do not produce their intended effects there. Values saved on other platforms are retained.

Layout

Quick Bar

Setting	What it does
Quick Bar	Configure the bar’s display, buttons and favorites. See Quick bar.

Tab Bar

Setting	What it does
Tab Bar Position	Top, Left, or Right; Top by default. The tab-bar context menu can set a different position for the current pane
Auto-Hide Tab Bar	Off by default. Collapses the tab bar to tiles showing the first character of each title; hovering expands it over the content
Switch Tabs on Hover	Off by default. Moving the pointer over a tab activates it; does not apply while dragging
Show Close Button on Tabs	On by default. Turning it off removes the button and its space; tabs can still be closed through the context menu, middle mouse button, or close shortcut
Tab Width	Shrink: narrows tabs when space runs out. Full Name: each tab's width follows its own content; the default
Tab Overflow	When tabs exceed one row, use Wrap Rows or Scroll.
Tab Group Number	Set the badge shape: Circle Badge (default), Keycap, or Corner Mark.
New Tab Position	Choose At End to append tabs, or After Current to insert them after the active tab.
Focus New Tab When Opened	Focus a folder opened in a new tab. Off by default, which loads the tab in the background.

Tab-bar position, display, and interaction options are under Settings → Layout. See Managing tabs for renaming, pinning, grouping, and using a vertical tab bar.

The first time 0.24.0 reads an older configuration, it changes Tab Width from Shrink to Full Name, including configurations where Shrink was chosen manually. To keep the old choice, select Shrink again under Settings → Layout → Tab Width; later launches preserve that choice. Under Full Name, shorter and longer names receive different widths, and Tab Overflow determines whether excess tabs wrap or scroll.

Tab Group Number sets the badge shape. The badge appears when a window has at least two tab groups or a preview tab. See Tabs & split panes.

New Tab Position applies to all new tabs. Focus New Tab When Opened applies to context-menu actions, middle-click, Ctrl+Enter and opening sidebar search results in a new tab. Ctrl+T always focuses the new tab. See Open in a new tab.

Nav Bar

Setting	What it does
New Tab Folder	Folder opened by the new-tab action. Values are listed below.
Specific Folder	Shown under Specific Folder. Enter a path and press Enter, or click Browse….
History Dropdown: Hide Repeated Paths	In the nav bar's ▾ history list, each folder appears once — the entry closest to where you are now
Address Bar: Current Location Only	With this on, going up no longer leaves the deeper path segments greyed out in the address bar

New Tab Folder takes three values:

Value	Where a new tab lands
Match Current Tab	The folder you are looking at
Home	Your home folder
Specific Folder	The path you filled in

This setting applies to Ctrl+T and the + button on the tab bar. Actions with a specified destination, such as Open in New Tab, are unaffected.

Paths support ~ and %VARIABLE%. A missing folder produces That folder doesn’t exist, not saved. If a saved folder is later deleted, new tabs use the default location.

You can also click Browse… and select a folder in the Choose starting folder dialog. See Folder picker.

History Dropdown: Hide Repeated Paths only affects the ▾ menu. Back and forward still navigate through the complete history.

Address Bar: Current Location Only is off by default. For example, going from D:\Photos\2026\Summer back to D:\Photos leaves 2026 › Summer in gray so you can click to return. Enable this option to show only the current path.

Sidebar

Setting	What it does
Recents / Bookmarks / Storage / Places / Tags / Layouts	Whether each page is shown in the sidebar; visible by default
Open Tabs	Visible by default. Lists every tab in each pane of this window; click a row to switch to it
Follow Current Folder in Tree	On by default. The sidebar expands to the current folder and scrolls to it as you navigate; turn it off and the sidebar stops moving with you, see Interface tour
Sidebar: Auto-Collapse When Unfocused	Collapse the sidebar when it loses focus.
Favorites expand as a folder tree	Expand favorite folders to browse their subfolders.
Clear Recent History	Wipes the Recents statistics immediately

This group decides which pages appear in the sidebar and whether the folder tree follows the current folder. Switch pages through their tabs, or show them in separate panes; see Sidebar.

Hiding a page does not delete its data. Hiding Tags preserves the library and file tags; hiding Recents keeps recording visits. Use Clear Recent History to clear those statistics.

Hidden pages keep their order in the sidebar layout and return to their position when shown again. See Sidebar for splitting, collapsing and reordering tabs.

Startup

Setting	What it does
Layout to Restore at Startup	Choose the layout restored at startup; see Layouts.

Batch Rename

Setting	What it does
Rule Panel Position	Position of the batch rename rule panel; see Batch rename.

Visibility

Visibility contains display modes, hiding rules and storage switches:

Section	What it covers
Show hidden items	Three tiers: Hide / Show / Show all. Ctrl+H flips the first two; the third is only selectable here
Rules	Your own list: match names by wildcard or regex, hide or let through, optionally only inside one folder
Storage items	Every partition, WSL distribution and portable device on the machine, one toggle each, deciding whether it appears in the sidebar and This PC

The Show Hidden Items toggle and the separate Hide Rules page that 0.19 and earlier had are now merged into this one page. For a walk-through see Visibility.

On Windows, the system hidden attribute can also be used to hide files and folders.

From v0.27.0, separate toggles control dot-prefixed names and the system hidden attribute. Both are enabled by default. The system hidden attribute applies only on Windows.

List

Views & Columns

Setting	What it does
View Configuration	Sets View Settings Belong To, the zoom steps for each of the five views, and full-resolution decoding per icon step
New Tab View	The view used by a tab opened with Ctrl+T; Match Current reuses the current view
New Tab Icon Size	Sets the default icon size for new tabs; only shown when the entry above is set to Icons
List view columns	Choose the columns shown in Details and their order; see Arranging the interface

View Settings Belong To, in View Configuration, sets the scope of view changes, sorting and wheel zoom:

Value	Reaches
Current Folder	Save the current folder’s view and restore it on the next visit. See View modes.
Current Tab	Only the tab you are looking at (the default)
Group Tabs	Every tab in the same pane
All Groups	Every tab in every pane

When folder view records exist, Clear Folder View Memory appears on this page and clears all of them.

Zoom steps define the sizes used for each wheel notch. Percentage steps range from 50% to 300%; icon sizes range from 16 to 512 px. You can add steps until no values remain in the range. Click Reset Tables to restore the defaults.

Each Icons step has a full-resolution decoding checkbox. Checked steps decode the original image; unchecked steps scale a 256 px thumbnail. Display size stays the same, but full-resolution decoding uses more VRAM. Only the largest step is checked by default.

Steps below 24 px use a fixed 16 px thumbnail area and do not need full-resolution decoding. Their checkboxes are disabled and show n/a for small icons.

System icons are limited to 256 px. Larger steps scale them up regardless of the full-resolution decoding setting.

List Appearance

Setting	What it does
Zebra Striping	Tints every other row so long lists are easier to read across
Ellipsis in the Middle	Keeps both ends of text that does not fit and drops the middle (abc…xyz). Off by default, which trims from the end
Flat Folder Icons	Uses flat folder icons. Off on a fresh installation, which uses native system icons; upgrading preserves the existing choice
Highlight Full Row	Highlight the whole row in Details; when off, highlight only the name.
Show Row Numbers	Show row numbers; each group starts at 1.
Show File Extensions	Show file extensions. When off, renaming changes the stem and preserves the extension.
Folder hover spread	Arrange folder thumbnails on hover: Arc, Deal, Row, Stair, or Off.
Keep Folder Expansion While Grouped	Allow folders to expand within grouped lists. On by default. See View modes.

Flat folder icons use Folder icon in the custom color editor. Changing Accent does not change this color. Native folder icons retain system colors; folder thumbnail cards use Folder icon.

Ellipsis in the Middle preserves the start and end of text that does not fit (abc…xyz). It applies to file names, paths, tab titles and menu entries, but not text boxes; see File operations: Rename. Enable it when the end of a name helps distinguish items. When disabled, text is truncated at the end.

Columns View

Setting	What it does
Expand the Active Column	Expand the active column to show more information.
More Info in Wider Columns	Show more information as columns get wider.
Two-Line Details	Show a second information line in narrow columns.

File Name Wrapping

Setting	What it does
Max Lines per File Name	Set the maximum filename lines in Icons and Gallery.
Icon Row Height	Choose automatic row height or two fixed lines.
Wrap At	Choose where filenames may wrap.
Separators	Set delimiters at which filenames may wrap.

Age Badge

Setting	What it does
Age Badge Colors	Spectrum, Spectrum, Flat, Green to Blue, Saturation, or Quiet; default Spectrum
Age Badge Style	Solid, Tinted, or Text Only; default Solid
Age Color Mapping	Continuous or Stepped; default Continuous
Age Badge Chroma	40%, 70%, 100%, or 130%; default 100%
Age Badge Marker	Show the date-type marker in the Age column.

The five Age settings adjust the age badges in Details; see Age badges. Column visibility, order and width still belong to the column-header menu or List view columns.

Folder Size

Setting	What it does
Calculate Folder Sizes Automatically	Scan subfolders in the background to calculate their total sizes when opening a folder.

Deciding by storage medium

Calculating folder sizes requires reading all child items. Scans may be slow on hard disks and network locations. On Windows, Calculate Folder Sizes Automatically provides separate switches for each storage medium:

Child switch	Suggestion
Solid-State Drives	Automatic scans usually have a low overhead.
Hard Disk Drives	Scanning large folders may affect disk performance. Disable automatic scans if needed.
Removable Media	Includes USB drives, SD cards and optical drives. Scan speed varies; disconnecting the device interrupts the scan.
Network Locations	Includes mapped drives and shares. Scan speed depends on the network; disable automatic scans if they are slow.

The groups reflect read costs: RAM disks are grouped with SSDs, and optical drives with removable media.

Windows volumes whose storage medium cannot be identified are excluded from automatic scans, regardless of these four switches.

Count Other Media with Everything is enabled by default and appears only on Windows while Calculate Folder Sizes Automatically is enabled. For media with automatic scans disabled, and volumes whose medium cannot be identified, it can read subfolder counts, file counts and total sizes from the Everything index without scanning the disk.

This feature requires Everything to be installed and running, with Index attributes enabled in Everything. If Everything is unavailable, attribute indexing is disabled or the folder is not indexed, the statistics columns still show Not calculated. Hovering an indexed statistic shows From the Everything index.

Indexed statistics follow tessoa's hide rules, but hard links, folders the current account cannot access, Everything exclusions and volumes mounted in folders can cause differences from a direct scan. Click a statistic or Not calculated, or press Ctrl+K, to scan and recalculate directly in tessoa, regardless of the automatic-scan settings. Disabling automatic scans does not clear existing results.

macOS and Linux have one switch without medium-specific controls. When enabled, all locations are scanned automatically. When disabled, none are scanned automatically.

Preview

Text Preview

Setting	What it does
Wrap Long Lines in Text Preview	Wrap long lines in text previews; see Text preview.

Text Editor

Setting	What it does
Wrap Long Lines in Editor Tabs	Wrap long lines in editor tabs without changing line breaks in the file.

Preview Tab

Setting	What it does
Show Only the Last Selected File When Following Focus	While following focus, update only for the last selected file; changing groups or selecting a folder leaves the preview unchanged.

Terminal Tab

Setting	What it does
Terminal Color Scheme	Choose Match Theme or one of four terminal palettes. See Terminal tabs.
Increase Text Contrast Automatically	Adjust text colors that are too close to the background.
Use Option as Meta Key	macOS only, off by default. Option plus a letter sends Esc followed by that letter. See Terminal tabs.

Cache & Memory

Setting	What it does
Preview cache	Choose Save memory, Balanced, Performance or a custom cache budget.
Preview VRAM Budget	Set the preview VRAM limit under a custom budget.
Text Cache Budget	Set the text cache limit under a custom budget.
Notify when a cache is nearly full	Notify once at 90% of the budget; dropping below 75% allows another notification.

Reducing a budget releases cached content except for what is currently displayed. The cache notification’s Open settings button goes to Preview cache, and the notification is also saved in Activity. Enable Show Memory Usage under System → Graphics & Performance to monitor usage.

Third-Party Space Preview

Setting	What it does
Space opens Quick Look	Windows only: use Space to preview with QuickLook. See Quick Look.
QuickLook status	A read-only row whose right end shows what tessoa detects right now; click the row to check again
Space opens Seer	Windows only: use Space to preview with Seer. Mutually exclusive with QuickLook.
Seer status	The same as QuickLook status, for Seer

Operations

Drag & Drop

Setting	What it does
Drag	Default action for drops within the window: Copy, Move, or Ask.
Ctrl + drag	Action used when dropping while holding Ctrl.
Name conflicts	Choose how pastes, moves and extractions handle name conflicts; see below.
Show Drop Target Name	Choose how the target folder name appears in drop feedback.
Keep-both numbering	Choose File (2), File-1, File_01 or a custom style; the custom style adds Number format.

Default for name conflicts

When pasting, moving or extracting to a destination that already contains an item with the same name, this setting determines the action:

Value	Effect
Ask every time	The default. Stops and raises a card for you to answer, see File operations
Always replace	Overwrites without asking
Always skip	Keeps what is there and does nothing with that item
Always keep both	The source goes in with a number appended

Versions 0.16 and earlier used Always keep both by default.

The setting is read when a batch starts. Changes made during a transfer do not affect that batch.

Delete

Setting	What it does
Confirm Before Deleting	Ask before normal deletion; permanent deletion always asks. See File operations.

Activity Panel

Setting	What it does
Toast duration	How long the on-screen message stays: Short, Standard, Long, Very long
Activity History	How many Activity entries to keep: Off, 50 entries, 200 entries (default), 1000 entries
Activity Panel: Auto-Collapse When Unfocused	Close the panel when you click outside it or the window loses focus. On by default.

Disable Activity Panel: Auto-Collapse When Unfocused to keep the panel open while working in the file list.

Warning

Setting Activity History to Off clears existing entries and stops recording. To clear entries once while continuing to record, use Clear history at the bottom of the panel.

Keyboard & Mouse

Keyboard

Setting	What it does
Keyboard Shortcuts	Configure keyboard shortcuts, mouse buttons and wheel gestures; see Keyboard shortcuts
Type to Filter	On by default. Typing a letter or digit in the file area starts filtering, with no Ctrl+F first, see Working with files
Vim Mode (j/k navigation)	Turns on full keyboard control, see Vim mode
Vim Keys	Rebind Vim keys in three tables: File area / Sidebar / Command palette — see Changing the Vim keys. It works with Vim mode switched off too

Mouse

Setting	What it does
Single-Click to Open Folders	With this on, one click enters a folder instead of two
Right-Click Blank Areas Inside Rows for Folder Menu	On by default, Details view only. Right-clicking a part of a row with no text on it opens the New / Paste / Sort by menu, see below
Double-Click Empty Space to Go Up	With this on, double-clicking empty space in the file area goes up a level. Column view is unaffected
Double-Click Non-Name Columns to Go Up	Double-click outside the name in Details to go up; double-click the name to open the item.

Right-Click Blank Areas Inside Rows for Folder Menu applies only to blank areas in unselected Details rows. Selected or checked rows always open the file menu. Single-Click to Open Folders does not change file double-click behavior or Columns navigation.

Search

Setting	What it does
Remember Search History	Keep the 10 most recent footer and sidebar queries; disabling clears them.
Match Case When Typing Uppercase	Queries containing uppercase letters match case; pinyin initials remain case-insensitive.
Clear Search History	Clear saved search queries.

Context Menu

Menu Contents

Setting	What it does
Context Menu Order	Reorder menu entries, set their visibility and configure accelerator keys; see Arranging the interface
Custom Commands	Add entries to the context menu; see Custom commands
File Types	Group extensions and configure commands and info tips; see below.
Open With	Choose the programs pinned in the Open With submenu; see Open With
Shell Extensions	On Windows, choose which context menu entries from other software are loaded; see Shell extensions

Context Menu Order also controls menu accelerators, case matching and drag reordering; see Arranging the interface.

File types

File Types organizes types and groups by extension so that files of the same kind can share commands, events and info tips.

1. Open Settings, search for File Types, and click the result.
2. Select a group, such as Images.
3. Choose the tab for the settings you want to edit.

Setting	What it does
File types	Add or remove extensions. An extension belongs to one group only; adding it to a new group removes it from its previous group
Commands	Configure double-click or drop events, and commands in context menus and drop menus
Info tip	Define hover text using placeholders for names, sizes, dates, tags and other file details

The Images group identifies its members by extension. Switch to Commands or Info tip to configure shared actions or hover text for these files.

On Windows, the page also lists System file types. Their names and extensions come from the system and cannot be changed here. For command programs, arguments and matching conditions, see Custom commands.

System

System Permissions

Setting	What it does
Desktop folder	macOS only: check Desktop access.
Documents folder	macOS only: check Documents access.
Downloads folder	macOS only: check Downloads access.
Full Disk Access	macOS only: Full Disk Access is needed for the Trash and other protected locations.

Search Acceleration

Setting	What it does
Speed up search with Everything / Speed up search with Spotlight	The former appears on Windows, the latter on macOS. On by default and applies only to sidebar search. Absent on Linux; see Search and filtering
Search the whole PC	Off by default and shown only when index acceleration is on. Lets the indexer return results outside open folders; an unavailable index does not trigger a whole-disk scan
Everything status / Spotlight status	Shows detection results for the platform's indexer; click to check again. Remains visible with acceleration off

Graphics & Performance

Setting	What it does
Graphics	Which card renders. The list marks each one iGPU, dGPU, or vGPU; the window reopens once after a change
Graphics API	Windows only. Choose Auto, DirectX 12, Direct3D 11 or OpenGL; changes take effect after a restart.
Frame Rate Cap	Follow Display (with the measured refresh rate in parentheses), 30 FPS, 60 FPS, 120 FPS, or Custom
Custom Frame Rate	Only shown when the entry above is Custom; adjustable from 10 to 360 FPS
Window Size	Sets the client area to an exact pixel size: 1280×720, 1600×900, 1920×1080, or 2560×1440. Useful for screen recording and screenshots
Show Frame Rate	Puts a translucent frame rate readout in the bottom-left corner, for diagnosing stutter
Show Memory Usage	Show Preview VRAM and Text Cache at the bottom left. Windows and Linux also show Process usage.

Auto tries DirectX 12 first and uses OpenGL if the graphics card does not support it. It does not select Direct3D 11 automatically. Direct3D 11 can reduce idle memory usage and is still being validated. If rendering problems occur, switch back to Auto or DirectX 12 and restart tessoa.

Note

The frame rate cap reduces power use during continuous rendering. Vertical sync is enabled, so the frame rate cannot exceed the display’s refresh rate. Selecting 120 FPS on a 60 Hz display therefore does not increase the frame rate. Rendering stops while the view is still, and the readout shows idle.

Plugins

Setting	What it does
Enable plugins	Load installed preview plugins. Disabled plugins do not provide previews. See Preview plugins.
Suggest installable plugins	Whether preview mentions a plugin when you open a format that needs one
Plugins	View available and installed plugins, and install, update or remove them. See Preview plugins.

Maintenance & Setup

Setting	What it does
Install / Integrate	On Windows, configure the install location, desktop shortcut and context menu entries. See Install & download
Keep running in the background on close	Windows only: keep the process in the system tray after closing the last window. Off by default.
Clean Up Stale Tag References	Clears tag records pointing at files that no longer exist, see Tags
Import Tags from Finder	macOS only. Reads Finder's tags into tessoa, once and one way; nothing is written back to Finder
Import Tags from TagSpaces…	Under Settings → System → Maintenance & Setup, on all three platforms. Choose a folder and review the summary before importing; see Importing tags from TagSpaces
Export Language Template	Writes out every string of the current build, for adding a language or rewording one

Keep running in the background on close is available on Windows. When enabled, closing the last window leaves tessoa in the system tray. Opening it again restores the window. Use Show in the tray menu to open the window or Quit to exit. Settings and the session are saved before entering the background.

Backup

Setting	What it does
Export Settings…	Export preferences to one file; open tabs, licenses and plugins are excluded.
Import Settings…	Back up current settings, import and restart; save editor contents first.

About

Version & Updates

Setting	What it does
Version	Read-only, shows the version you are running
Auto-check for Updates (daily)	Whether to check for a new version once a day in the background
Auto-install Updates (applies on restart)	Subordinate to the entry above and on by default: downloads and installs in the background, waiting for you to click Restart
Check for Updates	Check right now

Check for updates under Settings → About and follow the installation prompts. For updates initiated from v0.27.1 or later, both background updates and manually started updates wait for you to click Restart after installation. If editor tabs contain unsaved changes, you can save, discard or cancel the restart. The update control shows download progress, then Installing…, then Restart. If installation fails, it returns to Update so you can retry.

Auto-install Updates (applies on restart) is on by default. It downloads and installs in the background, waiting for a restart to apply. Turn it off to download only when you start an update manually. Where in-app updates are unavailable, the control opens the download page; see Install & download.

Before upgrading from v0.27.0 to v0.27.1, save all changes in editor tabs. This upgrade still uses the old updater and may restart tessoa immediately after installation. Manual restart and the unsaved-changes check apply to updates initiated from v0.27.1 onward.

Privacy & License

Setting	What it does
Send Anonymous Usage Statistics	Whether to send one anonymous statistics report a day, see below
License	View license status, activate a key or release a device.
Third-Party Licenses	Opens the full third-party license list in your browser
Terms & Privacy Policy	Read the terms and privacy policy.

Send Anonymous Usage Statistics sends at most one report per day containing a random installation ID, version, beta status, operating system and version, CPU architecture, interface language and the version last reported. It excludes paths, file names, user names, license keys and opened-file history. Reports are not sent before accepting Terms & Privacy Policy, when this option is off, or when DO_NOT_TRACK is set.

From v0.27.0, release licenses no longer use the beta builds’ shared expiry deadline. The free edition needs no activation code. To unlock paid features, enter the activation code supplied with your purchase under Settings → About → License. This page shows your plan name, license holder and license status, and lets you release a device. Paid plans include the same features and differ in device limits and update eligibility. See the pricing page for current plans and what remains available after the update period ends. For older beta builds, consult their version-specific guidance.

Help

Setting	What it does
Documentation	Opens this site in your default browser
Feedback Survey	Opens the feedback survey in your default browser.

Where settings live

Preferences, tags and layouts are saved as they change. Open folders, tabs and split panes belong to the session and are saved on normal exit.

A crash or forced exit can leave the current session unsaved. The next launch restores the session from the last normal exit. Tags and layouts are saved as they change and are generally unaffected.

See also

Keyboard shortcuts · Activity · Vim mode · Install & download · View modes