# How does one handle presets (defaults)?
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [September 23, 2021, 4:13am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062 "2021-09-23T04:13:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 4:13am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/1 "2021-09-23T04:13:31Z")
How do I make PV remember things like the back ground colour of the view, default thickness of wire frame lines, colour of the Data Axes Grid?
Edit: I did get the background color to be saved in the settings. The key is to close PV with the exit item in the menu. I was closing it with the “x” button, and that apparently does not save the settings. I still don’t know how to handle the other defaults.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 6:53am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/2 "2021-09-23T06:53:56Z")
Settings file, in .config/ParaView
> I was closing it with the “x” button,
Unless you have a crazy window manager, that should exit cleanly ParaView as well and save the settings.
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/3 "2021-09-23T14:02:05Z")
I am on Windows 10. I think it may count as a crazy window manager,
'cause no, the settings don’t become permanent if I close with the decoration button.
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### Author:  [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/4 "2021-09-23T14:59:38Z")
Background color is set by the color palette. You’ll have to change palettes or edit the current palette to change the default used for new views. The palette also controls the color the of the Data Axes Grid.
For custom line widths, please see [11. Customizing ParaView — ParaView Documentation 5.8.1 documentation](https://docs.paraview.org/en/latest/ReferenceManual/customizingParaView.html?highlight=custom%20settings#custom-default-settings).
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/5 "2021-09-23T15:36:50Z")
Oh, great. That’s what I was missing! Thanks.
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 7:15pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/6 "2021-09-23T19:15:56Z")
I still don’t see the default properties being saved unless I exit paraview from the
“File” menu. In particular, clicking the button “Save current color map settings”
did not work until I exited the application. Is that supposed to happen, or is that a bug?
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### Author:  [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/7 "2021-09-23T19:17:35Z")
Settings are indeed not written to file until application exit. However, they are saved in memory such that if you go on to use ParaView and create new objects after you have saved the settings, they should apply to newly created objects.
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/8 "2021-09-23T19:31:37Z")
I don’t see this folder. Is it in a different place on windows?
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### Author:  [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/9 "2021-09-23T19:33:43Z")
Second paragraph of [11. Customizing ParaView — ParaView Documentation 5.8.1 documentation](https://docs.paraview.org/en/latest/ReferenceManual/customizingParaView.html?highlight=custom%20settings#configuring-default-settings-with-json).
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-does-one-handle-presets-defaults/8062/10 "2021-09-23T20:20:02Z")
Cool. But, some of the settings I changed are NOT in this file. Where are they (thickness of lines, for instance, or the color of the Data Axes Grid)? What I would like to understand is: if I like some settings, I would like to preserve them so that I can use them on a different system, which settings files do I need?
Sorry, I figured it out: same issue with the saving of the defaults only being available from the only running instance, using the Exit item, as before.