Edit online

Global Preferences

The global options cover various aspects of the overall operation of Oxygen XML Author. To configure the Global options, open the Preferences dialog box (Options > Preferences) and go to Global.

The following options are available in the Global preferences page:
Automatic Version Checking
If this option is selected, Oxygen XML Author will check for a new version on startup.
Check for Oxygen-related events at startup
If this option is selected, Oxygen XML Author will check for various new event updates on the Oxygen XML Author website and if any new events are found, they will be presented at startup.
Check for notifications
If selected (default value), the application will check for various types of messages from the Oxygen XML Author website and they will be displayed in the status bar. The types of messages include the addition of new videos on the website, the announcement of upcoming webinars and conferences where the Oxygen XML Author team will participate, and more.
Language
This option specifies the language used in the user interface. You can choose between English, French, German, Dutch, Japanese, or Chinese. You must restart Oxygen XML Author for the change to take effect.
Other language
This option sets the language used in the user interface using an interface localization file. For details about creating this file, see Localizing the User Interface. You can use this option to set the language of the user interface to a language that is not shipped with Oxygen XML Author.
Note: If some interface labels are not rendered correctly after restarting the application, (for example, Korean characters are not displayed correctly), make sure that your operating system has the appropriate language pack installed (for example, the East-Asian language pack).
Line separator
This option specifies the type of line separator to be used when saving files. Use System Default to select the normal line separator for your OS. The other two possible selections are Unix-like and Windows-like.
Notes:
  • This option is ignored if the Detect the line separator on file open option is selected AND a line separator is automatically detected.
  • When changing the selection in this option, the change does not affect an opened file until you make a modification to the file and save it. At that point, all line separators in the file will change to the type of line separator you chose in this option.
Detect the line separator on file open
When this option is selected, the editor detects the line separator when a file is loaded and it uses it when the file is saved. If this option is not selected, you can use the Line separator option to choose the type of line separator to be used when saving files.
Tip: To see the line separator type for the current file, you can use the Properties view (Window > Show View > Properties).
Default Internet browser
This option sets the Web browser that Oxygen XML Author will use to do the following:
  • Open (X)HTML or PDF transformation results.
  • Open a web page.

If you leave this setting blank, the system default browser will be used.

Open last edited files from project
When this option is selected, Oxygen XML Author opens the files you had open the last time you used a project whenever you open the application or switch to that project.
Load file content only when switching to its corresponding editor tab
When selected (default), files that were left open in the previous editing session remain as placeholder tabs but the file content is loaded only when switching to the corresponding editor tab. This helps to improve performance. If the option is deselected, the previously open files are all re-loaded at startup.
Check opened files for file system changes

When this option is selected, Oxygen XML Author checks the content of the all open editors to see if they have been updated by another application. If the file has changed, Oxygen XML Author will ask you if you want to reload the file.

Auto update unmodified editors on file system changes
If this option is selected, Oxygen XML Author automatically updates unmodified editors if the edited file changes externally.
Beep on operation finished
When this option is selected, Oxygen XML Author beeps when a validation or transform action ends. Different tones are used for success and failure. The tones used may depend on the sound settings in your operating system.
Show memory status
When this option is selected, the memory that Oxygen XML Author uses is displayed in the status bar. To free memory, click the Free unused memory button located at the right side of the status bar. The memory status bar turns yellow or red when Oxygen XML Author uses too much memory. You can change the amount of memory available to Oxygen XML Author by changing the parameters of the application launcher.
Order of switching between editor tabs
This option specifies the order for switching between open file tabs when using Ctrl + Tab (Command + Tab on macOS) or Ctrl + Shift + Tab (Command + Shift + Tab on macOS). You can choose between:
  • Recently used order - Switches to the most recently used tab.
  • Visual order - Switches to the next tab in visual order.
File Chooser Dialog section
Use platform file chooser (Windows and macOS)

This option is selected by default and it specifies that the native file chooser is used. You can deselect this option if you want the Java Swing file chooser to be used instead. If Oxygen XML Author encounters a problem while using the native file manager, it will avoid using it again in the current session, even if this option is selected.

Consider application bundles to be directories when browsing (macOS only)
This option is available only on the macOS platform. When selected, the file browser dialog box allows you to browse inside an application bundle, as in a regular folder. Otherwise, it is not allowed (the same as the Finder application on macOS).
Show hidden files and directories
If this option is selected, Oxygen XML Author shows system hidden files and folders in the file browser dialog box and the folder browser dialog box.
Tip: On macOS, you need to press Command + Shift + Period in the file browser to show hidden files.
File chooser opens
This option specifies the starting directory that the file browser dialog box will open. You can choose between:
  • Directory of the selected file - The file browser opens the folder where the selected file is stored, depending on the current selection (for example, a file could be selected from the Project view, DITA Maps Manager, main editing pane, or another location within the application).
  • Last visited directory - The file browser opens the last visited folder.