Preferences dialog > Advanced Preferences tab

The Advanced Peferences tab shows all raw settings and allows to manipulate them. It is visible in expert mode only.

Most settings can more easily and safely be modified via the other tabs of this dialog box. Normally you should not need to use this display. Do so with caution. Invalid settings can cause errors and/or loss of data. You may be instructed to edit here in order to access experimental features. See more about user settings in the Preferences Overwiew.

Search

Use the Search field to quickly access values and keys grouped by namespace.

List colors

1. Bold on yellow - value has changed at least once.
2. Bold on green - value was changed in this dialog.
3. Normal on green - value was reset to default in this dialog.

After JOSM being restarted the preferences equal to their default will loose all markings.

Buttons

Add

To add keys with simple values and with a XML structure.

Edit

To edit one selected key/value pair.

Reset

Sets all selected key/value pairs to their default value.

Read from file

Imports a JOSM custom configuration XML file. That can contain preferences modifications, commands to download some files or plugins, and even JavaScript code.
After file import is complete, you can see a detailed log and the changed preferences will be represented. You can reject these changes by pressing Cancel button. Caution: You can not undo reject file or plugin operations (download, delete, etc.), so be careful and do not open scripts from untrusted sources!

Export selected items

Generates a custom configuration XML file automatically. When reading this file, the key-value pairs will replace existing ones or be appended to them (in case of properties containing lists or maps). You can use it together with the Search field to find all preferences you need to backup or share.

More…

launches the popup menu with additional actions:

• Save ... profile - saves part of preferences related to shortcuts, colors, toolbar and imagery to a separate custom configuration XML files.
• Load profile - replace existing part of preferences with previously saved fragment (for example, reset all shortcuts to default and then load them from file). User should press OK to confirm changes.
• Reset preferences - reset all preferences by deleting the preferences.xml file. See Reset preferences also.

Explanation

The table below contains settings not accessible in the GUI:

Single key or group?	Key	Values	Default	Description
group	changesetdialog.buttonhiding; commandstack.buttonhiding; conflict.buttonhiding; filter.buttonhiding; layerlist.buttonhiding; mapstyle.buttonhiding; notes/note_open.buttonhiding; propertiesdialog.buttonhiding; relationlist.buttonhiding; selectionlist.buttonhiding; userlist.buttonhiding; validator.buttonhiding	DYNAMIC or ALWAYS_HIDDEN or ALWAYS_SHOWN	DYNAMIC	explained at JOSM interface customization
group	changesetdialog.minimized; commandstack.minimized; conflict.minimized; filter.minimized; layerlist.minimized; mapstyle.minimized; notes/note_open.minimized; propertiesdialog.minimized; relationlist.minimized; selectionlist.minimized; userlist.minimized; validator.minimized	true or false	false	explained at JOSM interface customization
group	changesetdialog.docked; commandstack.docked; conflict.docked; filter.docked; layerlist.docked; mapstyle.docked; notes/note_open.docked; propertiesdialog.docked; relationlist.docked; selectionlist.docked; userlist.docked; validator.docked	true or false	false	explained at JOSM interface customization
group	menu.always-visible; sidetoolbar.always-visible; statusbar.always-visible; toolbar.always-visible	true or false	true	explained at JOSM interface customization
group	gui.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.actions.SessionSaveAsAction$SessionSaveAsDialog.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.dialogs.DeleteFromRelationConfirmationDialog.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.dialogs.properties.TagEditHelper$AddTagsDialog.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.dialogs.properties.TagEditHelper$EditTagDialog.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.dialogs.relation.GenericRelationEditor.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.download.DownloadDialog.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.help.HelpBrowser.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.history.HistoryBrowserDialogManager.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.io.UploadDialog.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.preferences.PreferenceDialog.geometry; org.openstreetmap.josm.gui.preferences.advanced.ListEditor.geometry		unset	JOSM interface customization
group	starts with draw.anglesnap. and probably keys starting with color.draw.angle.snap	mixed	mixed	should be explained at Help/Action/Draw under "Angle snapping" section

Single key or group?	Key	Values	Default	Description
single	edit.initial-move-threshold	pixels		was explained at Help/Action/Select#Advanceddetails
single	edit.initial-move-delay	ms		was explained at Help/Action/Select#Advanceddetails
single	draw.fullscreen	true or false	false	Help/Action/FullscreenView and JOSM interface customization
single	createcircle.nodecount			Help/Action/CreateCircle#AdvancedPreferences
single	zoom.undo.delay			Help/Action/ZoomToPrevious#AdvancedPreferences
single	zoom.undo.max			Help/Action/ZoomToPrevious#AdvancedPreferences
single	properties.presets.top		true	Help/Dialog/TagsMembership#AdvancedPreferences
single	url.openstreetmap-wiki		​https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/	Help/Dialog/TagsMembership#AdvancedPreferences
single	selectaction.cycles.multiple.matches	true or false	false	Help/Action/Select#Selectingsingleobjects
single	osm.notes.daysClosed	-1, 0 or positive integer	7	Help/Dialog/Notes#AdvancedPreferences
single	osm.notes.downloadLimit	from ... to 10000	1000	Help/Dialog/Notes#AdvancedPreferences
single	latlon.dms.decimal-format			Help/StatusBar#AdvancedPreferences
single	latlon.dm.decimal-format			Help/StatusBar#AdvancedPreferences
single	statusbar.decimal-format			Help/StatusBar#AdvancedPreferences
single	statusbar.distance-threshold			Help/StatusBar#AdvancedPreferences
single	simplify-way.max-error	integer, meters	3	Help/Action/SimplifyWay#AdvancedPreferences
single	message.way.split.segment-selection-dialog	true or false	false	Help/Action/SplitWay#AdvancedPreferences
single	mappaint.wireframe.use-antialiasing	true or false	false	Help/Action/WireframeToggle#AdvancedPreferences
single	curves.circlearc.angle-separation		20	Action/CreateCircleArc#AdvancedPreferences
single	merge-nodes.mode	0 or 1 or 2	0	Action/MergeNodes#AdvancedPreferences
single	upload.comment.max-age	integer	4 * 3600 * 1000	Help/Concepts/Changeset#AdvancedPreferences
group	mappaint.fillalpha, mappaint.showicons and couple others			Styles#AdvancedPreferences
single	message.movedManyElements	true or false	unset	"Move multiple objects at once message" at Select,move,rotate page

Details

The list of preferences is build like this:

• Not all possible available keys are listed at the beginning.
• Whenever JOSM internally requests the value of a particular setting, it remembers the key and the default value.
• Note that a setting is not saved in the preference file, unless the value is different from the default. However JOSM will remember all keys and their default values which were previously requested.
• This means, that settings related to download may not be in the list, before you did your first download. However, if you already know the key, you can still set it explicitly.

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