Preferences

In the Preferences window you can set different options of IcoFX. On the left side of the preferences window you can select a preference group. On the right side you can view and change the preferences of the specified group. To open the preferences window use the "Options/Preferences..." menu item.

The preferences window contains the following preferences groups:

• General
• Transparency
• Grid
• Preview
• Actions
• Options
• Explorer
• History
• Quick Mask
• Associations
• Update
• Interface

General

On this panel you can set the general preferences of IcoFX.

You can set the following preferences:

• Show the welcome window and tips at startup.
• Make IcoFX portable by storing the settings in the application folder. The user must have write permisiion on the IcoFX installation folder. If you are having problems setting this checkbox then take a look at the Throubleshooting
• Preview changes on the image when using the image adjustment windows. This option can be set also on the adjustment windows.
• Clear the content of the clipboard when exiting IcoFX.
• Enable or disable anti-aliased drawing.
• Preserve the transparency of the slected pixels. The underlaying image will not show through transparent areas.
• Enable the dragging of selections between canvas windows if they are not maximized.
• Set the image interpolation algorithm that is used when resizing images.

Transparency

On this panel you can set the look of the checker pattern displayed behind images.

On this panel you can set the look of the background checker pattern displayed behind images. Transparency properties like the size and color of the checker can be set. You can also select custom colors. A preview of the background is displayed at the top right corner of the window.

Grid

On this panel you can set the look of the grid displayed over images.

A preview of the grid is displayed at the right side of the window. On this panel you can set the following options:

• The properties of the grid: style, color and opacity.
• The properties of the helper lines of the grid: spacing, color and opacity.

Preview

This panel contains the preferences of the Preview panel.

On this panel you can set the following options:

• Set the background color of the Preview panel.
• Set the color and visibility of the View Box that shows the visible area of the image.

Actions

Here you can set the default action for some cases.

On this panel you can set the following options:

• What action to take if the palette is about to be changed. You can set to change the palette, do not change the palette, or to show a dialog that will ask you what action to perform each time the palette is about to change. Using the Automatic option IcoFX will take care of the palette for you. To change palette is recommended for 256 color images. For 2 or 16 color images it is recommended to keep the original (Windows default) palette since if Windows is set to 16 colors then the icon will be displayed using the default palette.
• What action to take if the pasted image is larger than he canvas. You can choose to shrink the image, to crop the image, or to show the Import Image dialog where you have more options.
• What action to take if the imported image is larger than he canvas. You can choose to shrink the image, to crop the image, or to show the Import Image dialog where you have more options.
• What action to take when an image is opened in IcoFX. You can choose to open it as an image or to convert it to an icon, cursor or animated cursor.
• What action to take when a toolbar image strip is opened in IcoFX. You can choose to open it as an image strip or open it as a regular image.
• What action to take when a shortcut is opened in IcoFX. You can choose to open its target or the icon of the shortcut (if available).

Options

On this panel you can set different options of IcoFX.

On this panel you can set the following options:

• Option to compress Windows Vista (256x256) images using PNG compression. Other image sizes will not be compressed to keep the compatibility with Windows XP or lower.
• Option to use the filter on alpha channel (transparency). If this option is not checked then the effects will leave the alpha channel unchanged. This option is also included on the Main Tool bar.
• Option to apply adjustments and effects to all images inside of an icon or all layers inside of an image. If this option is not checked then the effects will be applied only on the selected image/layer. This option is also included on the Main Tool bar.
• Option to apply dithering on palette based images. This will result in a better image quality because it will simulate gradients by arranging the pixels of the image.
• Option to use optimized palette for 4 bit images. This is useful if you want to use the icon as a toolbar icon under Visual Basic. If it is unchecked the standard Windows palette is used. This is useful if you want to use the icon as an application icon on a 4 bit Windows.
• Option to export the transparency information when saving to images (bmp, gif, png, jp2). The transparent area will be filled with the selected background color.
• The default save settings for different file formats. These settings will be used if batch process is used or when the image is saved in these formats.
• The DPI setting for saved png and jpg files.
• The automatic zoom behavior. If set to "Fixed zoom" then the image will be zoomed to the given zoom level. If "Fit to screen" is selected then the image will be zoomed to best fit the window.

Explorer

This panel contains the preferences of the Explorer panel.

On this panel you can set the following options:

• You can set the file types that are displayed in the Explorer panel. You can choose between: folders, images and binary files.
• Show or hide the file names.
• The size of the image thumbnails.
• The background color of the thumbnails.

History

This panel contains the preferences of the History panel.

On this panel you can set the following options:

• The maximum number of undo steps that the History panel will remember.
• The folder where the temporary history data will be stored. This data is deleted at exit.

Quick Mask

This panel contains the Quick Mask related preferences.

On this panel you can set the following options:

• The meaning of the colored area: masked area (the unselected area will be colored) or selected area (the selected area will be colored).
• The color and opacity that is used to display the selected area in quick mask mode.

Associations

This panel contains the file associations of IcoFX.

On this panel you can set the following options:

• You can add IcoFX to windows Explorer context menu. When you right click a file in the Explorer on the appearing pop up menu the option "IcoFX" will be available.
• You can associate different icon, cursors and image files to IcoFX. When you double click one of the associated files in explorer it will be opened with IcoFX.

These check boxes are available only for administrators (users who can write to the Windows registry). For more information see the Troubleshooting.

Update

On this panel you can set IcoFX to check for updates at startup.

Interface

On this panel you can set the appearance of the user interface.

You can set the user interface icon theme you want to use. You can choose between the old classic look and the new simple look. Beside the theme combo box you can see a preview of the theme on light and dark background. The new simple theme contains different icon sets for light and dark backgrounds for a better visibility. The theme will be applied only after restarting IcoFX.

In the Languages group box you can select the language of the user interface