General Preferences

The General preferences page lets you personalize your MicroStrategy Web settings, including the language in which reports are displayed and whether to display Save options that let you save a report as static or prompted.

On the upper right of any page, click your user name, and then select Preferences from the drop-down list. From the left, select General. The available options are listed below.

Default start page: Select a page to be displayed by default when you log in to MicroStrategy Web. Options include:

My Page, which you can customize to display the areas that you use most frequently. For example, you can display the Shared Reports folder and the most recent objects that you worked with. For steps to add and remove areas from My Page, see Add and Remove Areas from My Page Start Page.

Search, which allows you to search for objects within the project by object type, creation date, and other criteria. It also provides icons and links for the most commonly used areas of a project.
Home, which displays folders, links to create objects, and links to import data by adding external files or uploading MicroStrategy files. (This is the default home page.)
Summary, which provides an overview of all of the areas in MicroStrategy Web, and a list of related objects for each area. For example, in the summary of the My Reports area, the description shows a list of the folders and objects in that area.
History List, which contains links to the reports and documents that you have subscribed to, as well as messages about reports and documents that you run (see Viewing reports and documents in your History List for steps to work with the History List).
My Subscriptions, which lists your subscriptions (for steps to work with your subscriptions, see View and Customize Your Scheduled Reports and Documents).
My Reports, which lists the reports, documents, and other objects that only you have access to.
Shared Reports, which lists the reports, documents, and other objects that are shared with other users.
Create Report, which contains links to templates that you can use to create a new report.
Create Document, which contains links to templates that you can use to create a new document. For steps to create a new document, see the Document Creation Help.
Create Dashboard, which creates a blank dashboard.

The options listed below appear only if you have executed a report or document or browsed through a project folder before opening the General preferences page:

Last document
Last folder
Last report

Color Theme: Select the color theme you want to use to display MicroStrategy Web. A preview of the color theme is automatically displayed once you select an option from the drop-down list.

Language: Specify the language in which to display MicroStrategy Web pages.

Click Show advanced options to set languages for the following:

Metadata: Select the language in which the report object names, for example the row and column names, should be displayed.
Data: Select the language in which report results should be displayed. This is the data that comes from your organization's data storage.
Number and Date Format: Specify the language in which numbers and dates are displayed. This setting, along with the Time Zone setting, ensures that object creation/modification dates and times are converted to your local time if the project information is in another time zone.
Using this setting along with a custom number format can create a dynamic currency format that changes according to the locale's default currency symbol. For the syntax to create the custom number format, see Format: Template Dialog Box: Number Tab (for a report) and Properties and Formatting dialog box: Number (for a document).
The Number and Date Format and Time Zone settings do not affect the report execution dates and times shown in the History List.
Intelligence Server: Specify the language in which all messages from the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, such as error messages and warning messages, are displayed.
Measurement Units: Specify the unit of measurement that Web should use for horizontal and vertical rulers, the alignment grid, and the measurement and positioning of objects in a report or document.
Time Zone: Specify the time zone in which you work. The default setting is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Dynamic HTML (called DHTML): Enable or disable DHTML optimization in your browser for MicroStrategy Web. (DHTML optimization features are described in the list below.) The default setting is Determine automatically, which means that DHTML optimization is automatically enabled if your browser supports the technology. Select No to use HTML only.

DHTML optimization allows you to access the following features (some of the following actions require certain MicroStrategy privileges):

Creating Report Services documents.
Automatically submitting option selections in drop-down menus as soon as they are selected, rather than requiring you to select the option and then click OK or Apply.
Moving, copying, or renaming reports, documents, folders, or other objects while browsing through folder pages.
Dragging and dropping objects on or off a grid report.
Right-clicking objects in reports or folders to have quick access to formatting and other functionality.
Enabling outline mode in grid reports, which lets you group data, making longer reports easier to analyze.
Locking a grid report's column and row headings, so that when you scroll through a large report, the column and row headings remain visible.
Adding shortcut metrics, such as percent-to-total or rank metrics, to a grid report.
Moving dialog boxes, such as the Report Properties dialog box. If DHTML is disabled, dialog boxes are displayed as panels that cannot be repositioned.

Accessibility Mode: If you use software that audibly reads what is displayed on the monitor, select the Enable screen reader compatibility checkbox. Enabling this checkbox also enables a screen reader-compatible version of this help. If you select this checkbox and view a document in Presentation Mode, you can view the results of a document as you might in a static PDF file. This checkbox is cleared by default.

Drop-down menus: Select or clear the Require mouse click to open menus checkbox to determine whether to require a mouse click to open menus. If the checkbox is cleared, menus open when a user places the cursor over them. This is only applicable when DHTML is enabled. (See Dynamic HTML (called DHTML): Enable or disable DHTML optimization in your browser for MicroStrategy Web. (DHTML optimization features are described in the list below.) The default setting is Determine automatically, which means that DHTML optimization is automatically enabled if your browser supports the technology. Select No to use HTML only. above.)

Sort: From the Sort metrics hierarchically drop-down list, select one of the following:

Always
Only in Outline Mode (default)

Font style: Specify options for the fonts or typefaces that are applied to the interface and reports.

If you are using a double-byte (Asian) character set in the interface, be sure to select a font type that suits your language display.

Fonts: Determine whether to use the default font settings or select specific fonts for use in Web. Select Custom to specify fonts. Once you select a font in the Available column, click the right arrow to move it to the Selected column. You can then select a font and click the up or down arrows to order them in the priority to use on reports. The default fonts are Tahoma, Arial, Verdana, and Microsoft Sans Serif.
Font size: Determine whether to use the default font settings or select a custom font size. To specify a custom font size, select Custom, then type a number in the field. The default is 8.

Output Formats: Set printing and exporting options, as follows:

Re-use new window for each export, print, PDF action: Clear this checkbox (default) to open a new window every time you click the PDF, Print, or Export buttons. Select this checkbox to reuse a PDF, Export, or Print window whenever one of these types of windows is already open in Web.
Full Screen Mode Behavior for Reports: Specify whether reports are displayed in full screen. When you view a report in full screen, all of the menus, toolbars, and panels are hidden from view except the Standard toolbar and the Page-by field. This allows you to focus attention on the data itself and maximize the amount of the report that can be shown at one time. The options are:
- Read from Report (default): Reports are displayed in full screen only if the report's Full Screen Mode setting is enabled.
- Open every Report in Full Screen mode: All reports in the current project are displayed in full screen, by default.
- Don't open any Report in Full Screen mode: No reports in the current project are displayed in full screen.
Full Screen Mode Behavior for Documents: This setting applies to Editable Mode; it does not apply to Presentation Mode or Design Mode.
- Read from Document (default): Documents are edited in full screen only if the document's Full Screen mode setting is enabled.
  This setting is the Always open this document in full screen mode checkbox in the Properties and Formatting dialog box.
- Open every Document in Full Screen mode: All documents in the current project are edited in full screen, by default.
- Don't open any Document in Full Screen mode: No documents in the current project are edited in full screen.

Cart-style selections: Determine whether items in cart-style prompts or in the Report Filter and View Filter editors remain in the Available list even after you add them to the Selected list. Select the Keep item in list of available answers when making selections in cart-style prompts or filter editors checkbox to ensure that items you select are not removed from the Available list when you move them to the Selected list. This checkbox is cleared by default.

Qualification: A qualification is a condition that must be met for data to be included on a report. For example, "Region = Northeast" or "Revenue > $1 million". You can create multiple qualifications for a single filter or custom group, and then specify how to combine the qualifications using the logical operators AND, AND NOT, OR, and OR NOT. You can specify the following options for qualifications:

Default Operators for Metric Qualification: Determine the default operator (such as Greater Than or Equals) that is displayed in a report filter, view filter, or prompt when you create a metric qualification. When you build a metric qualification in a filter or prompt, the operator specified here is displayed by default if it is compatible with the data type of the metric

Default Operators for Attribute Qualification: Determine the default operator (such as Greater Than or Equals) that is displayed in a report filter, view filter, or prompt when you create an attribute qualification. When you build an attribute qualification in a filter or prompt, the operator specified here is displayed by default if it is compatible with the attribute form.

Preserve white space in prompt answers and filter expressions: Determines whether to keep the white space in prompt answers and filter details when you create a metric or attribute qualification. This checkbox is cleared by default.

Hierarchy browsing: Specify what levels of detail are displayed when you browse hierarchies of attributes. A hierarchy is a group of attributes that are related through some business concept. For example, a Time hierarchy might contain the attributes Year, Month, and Day. Hierarchies are used to group these related objects so you can find related objects easily and view them together when selecting objects.

Expand Attributes automatically when there is only one browsing option: Select this option to allow attributes with only one browsing option to be expanded automatically. This checkbox is selected by default.

Save Options: Specify save options, such as whether to save reports as prompted or static.

Default Save Behavior: Determine whether to display a confirmation message when users save changes to a dashboard, document, or report. This option also determines whether the Save icon or the Save As icon is displayed in the toolbar for reports and documents. The options are:
- Ask before saving changes: Display a confirmation message when users save changes to a dashboard, document, or report.

Display advanced options:Determine whether to display the advanced save options by default. The advanced save options allow you to choose whether to save reports as static or prompted, or whether to save the prompt answers provided when running the report as default prompt answers. For more information, see How to Save a Report.

Save prompted report as: Determine whether to save a report as prompted or static by default. If you save a report as prompted, you will be re-prompted the next time you run the report. If you save a report as static, your original prompt answers are saved and used as the default answers the next time you run the report.
- Prompted (default): Select this option to save reports as prompted.
- Static: Select this option to save reports as static.

Set the current prompt answers to be the default prompt answers: Select this option to use the prompt answers provided when running the report as default prompt answers the next time the report is run. This option is selected by default.

Copy names from all other languages: When you are creating a copy of an object, and translations are available for this object's name in languages other than the one in which you are working, you can choose whether to keep or discard the name translations for the other languages. By default, translations for the other languages are discarded, and the name that you provide in the Name field when creating the copy is used to identify the copy for all users until new name translations can be provided for the other languages. This ensures that the names used to identify the original and the copy are different, regardless of the language in which they are displayed.
Select this option to keep the translations by default instead. The translations for the original object are duplicated and saved with the copy. As a result, both the original object and the new copy are displayed with identical names when viewed by users working in one of the other languages. This option is cleared by default.

Derived Elements: Specify options for working with derived elements.

Warn that changes to stand-alone derived elements from within a report or document will only be local to such report or document: Determine whether to display a confirmation message alerting users that changes to stand-alone derived elements will only apply to the derived elements for the specific report or document in which the changes were made.

Navigation Bar: You can customize the navigation bar that displays on every page in Web. You can determine whether to display each of the following:

Show Feedback Option Displays in the list under your user name. Select it to open the MicroStrategy Community page.
Display Home Button: Displays the Home button .
Display Folder Up Button Displays the Folder Up button .

Features for Customer Feedback: If you have Administrator privileges, here you can turn on new features for which you can provide MicroStrategy with feedback. Any features that are available for preview will be shown here. The default status for any feature is Off. Once the status has been changed to On for a particular feature, users will be able to use that feature in MicroStrategy Web.

Preview features may or may not change with future releases of the software. We encourage you to try them but suggest you wait until they are finalized before using them in a production environment.

From the drop-down list at the bottom of the page, select to apply the changes to the current project or all projects you have access to that are stored on the Intelligence Server and then click Apply.

To reset all preference settings, click Load Default Values.