General Configuration

The General section of the Configuration dialog contains options for the Background Color, Map View, and Workspace.

Access the General Options by selecting the configure button Configuration button from the File Toolbar or Tools menu, and navigating to the General section.

Background Color

Set the background color of the map display. This setting is also available from the View Menu.

Note: The background color is also used as the background color for image exports when transparency is not enabled or not supported by the format. In these cases pixels that contain no data will be assigned the map background color.

Map View Options

Show Pixel Location in Status Bar	If checked, this option causes the native pixel location of the topmost raster or gridded elevation file to be displayed in the status bar as you move the cursor around in addition to the color and/or elevation data.
Always display Lat/Lon in Status Bar/Info as WGS84	When this option is checked the lat/lon location displayed on the right side of the status bar will always be in the WGS84 datum rather than the datum that is selected on the Projection tab of the Configuration dialog.
Add full path to Control Center Descriptions	If checked, the Control Center will show the full path to the file rather than just the file name.
Center on cursor when zooming with mouse wheel	When this option is checked (or when holding down Ctrl) and you rotate the mouse wheel over the map, the map will zoom in and out and maintain the location under your cursor at the same location rather than just zooming in and out on the current screen center.
Swap zoom direction using mouse wheel or hot keys	When this option is selected, the direction of zoom when scrolling the mouse wheel or using the Page Up/ Page Down keys will be reversed.
Display pan arrows on map edge	When this option is checked, the cursor will change to an arrow icon when moved to the edge of the map view. Clicking when the cursor becomes and arrow at the edge of the map will pan in that direction allowing the map to be panned when any tool is active.
Prompt when loading duplicate file names	If checked, you will be prompted to abort the load of already loaded files. If unchecked the files will load with no warning.
Automatically interpolate zoomed-out display	This setting controls the automatic interpolation/ anti-aliasing done when zoomed out on raster/ imagery layers. Un-checking this can increase the drawing speed when zoomed out on data.

Workspace Options

Automatically create backup workspace files	If checked, the currently open workspace file will be automatically backed up every so often (i.e. after so many vector edits, etc.). These backup copies will be created in the same folder as the workspace file and have the suffix "auto_backupX", where X is the backup iteration from 0 to 9.
Lock active workspace file to prevent sharing	If checked, this prevents other users from opening and using the workspace file (*.gmw) that you have open.. This is useful in network environments where you don't want one person's work to accidentally overwrite another person's. If you try to open a locked workspace, it will open in read-only mode, to prevent you from overwriting the original workspace file when saving.

Search Options

Run default query when launching Search function

If checked, the Search Vector Data tool will automatically run the default search query, <Feature Name> like '*', to populate the attribute editor window with all vector features when the tool is launched. When working with large datasets or lidar data, it is recommended to uncheck this option so that no default search query is automatically run when the Search Vector Data tool is opened.

Other Options

Ask before opening multiple Attribute Editors in tabbed panes

This option is applied when the user selects Edit Attributes for layers in a group. Global Mapper will display a prompt asking if the user wants to open multiple, tabbed panes. If the user clicks "Yes," each selected layer will get its own Attribute Editor pane. If the user clicks "No," all of the attributes will be displayed in one Attribute Editor pane. This option is applied by default.

Restore Default Settings

The Restore Default Settings button will restore all Global Mapper settings from the Configuration dialog to their default values.