Use the ribbon command File | Options to configure the settings of the script editor.
The available settings are distributed across several dialog-box tabs:
View tab
Use this tab to change settings related to the appearance of the program:
▪Typeface and Size
| Lets you choose the font face and size to be used in the editor. It is recommended to choose a non proportional font like "Courier New". |
▪Tabs
| Lets you adjust the width of tabs (in characters). This determines by how many characters the text is indented when the tab key is pressed. |
▪Show bookmarks
| Normally, bookmarks are not visible in the script. However, if you enable this option, bookmarks will be displayed. For information about using bookmarks, see the Bookmarks section and the Go to command. |
General tab
Use this tab to change general settings:
▪Maximum number of undo steps
| Lets you specify the number of actions that can be reversed with the Undo command. |
▪Expand SmartText entries
| When this option is enabled, SmartText entries can be expanded directly in the text. All you have to do is type the abbreviation for the SmartText entry and then press the space bar, Enter key or a punctuation character (see Using SmartText). |
| If this option is deactivated, SmartText elements can only be inserted via the ribbon command Home | Insert group | SmartText. |
Appearance tab
Use this tab to customize the user interface of BasicMaker:
▪Dialog language
| Here you can select the language to be used for the user interface (menus, dialog boxes, etc). |
| When you click on the User interface button, a dialog box appears in which you can select the type of user interface that the applications in SoftMaker Office should use: |
| Ribbon (upper row): When you select one of the items from the top row, the programs will use a ribbon, as some modern Windows applications do. (The differences between the individual entries are only in the color scheme used.) |
| Classic menus and toolbars (lower row): When you select one of the entries from the bottom row, the programs will use classic menus and toolbars. (Also for this, several different color variants are offered.) |
| In addition, the following settings can be made in the dialog box: |
| Quick access toolbar (ribbons only): Determines where the Quick access toolbar, which contains icons for some of the most frequently used commands, should be displayed: to the left of the document tabs – or in a separate toolbar directly below the ribbon. |
| Touch mode: If you activate this option, all icons in the ribbon or in menus/toolbars are enlarged a bit. This is useful when operating the software with your finger (for example, on a tablet). |
| Tip: The touch mode can alternatively be switched on/off with the following commands: |
Ribbon user interface: Here, you choose the command Touch mode  in the Quick access toolbar. |
| Classic menu interface: Here, you choose the command View > Touch mode. |
▪Prefer using larger controls
| This option is important when using 4k monitors. If the program's icons appear too small on your screen (caused by a higher monitor scaling), enabling this option will enlarge the icons appropriately. |
▪Show status bar in ribbon mode
| Only applies to ribbon mode:You can switch the display of the status line on/off here. To change the display of the status bar for the classic menu, see the section Commands in the View menu of the script editor. |
▪Show fonts in font list
| When this option is enabled, the program renders the names of fonts that appear in font lists (e.g. in the preferences dialog) using their corresponding fonts. This lets you see at a glance what each font looks like. |
▪Show tooltips
| Lets you specify whether or not tooltips should be displayed. These are short info texts that are displayed next to the mouse pointer when you point the mouse at a screen element. |
▪Beep on errors
| When this option is enabled, a sound plays when an error or warning message is displayed. |
▪Use system file dialogs
| This option controls the type of dialog boxes that appear when commands to open and save files are issued. If it is disabled, then BasicMaker's own file dialog will be displayed. If it is enabled, then the standard file dialog provided by your operating system will be displayed. |
▪Smooth edges of screen fonts
| When this option is enabled, BasicMaker uses a technology called "anti-aliasing" to smooth the edges of fonts and improve their appearance on the screen. |
▪Workspace color
| This option allows you to change the background color of document windows. |
Files tab
Use this tab to change options regarding the opening of files.
▪Recently used files in File menu
| BasicMaker displays a list of the files most recently opened in it in the File menu. If you select an item on the list, the corresponding file will be opened immediately. Here you can specify the number of files to be displayed in the list. |
Use this tab to change options regarding the manual and automatic saving of files:
▪When you save a file manually
| Keep older versions of the document: Several generations of file backups are created for each document. All of these copies are stored in a special Backup folder. |
Tip: If this option is enabled, the command File | Versions  (in the group File management) is also available, which allows you to easily return to a previous file version of the currently open document. |
| Number of versions to keep: Here, you specify the maximum number of versions of backups (generations) to be kept per document. |
▪Automatically created file versions (snapshots)
| Save unsaved changes every ... minutes: If you want automatic "snapshots" to be created as an additional backup while the document is being edited, enable the checkbox here. In the dropdown field to the right, you specify the interval at which the snapshots are to be taken regularly. |
| Number of snapshots to keep: In this dropdown field, you specify the maximum number of snapshots you want to keep. |
▪Folder for file versions
| Here, you can change the path for the Backup folder in which all backups are stored. |
▪"Clean up" button: This button provides the following two commands for deleting backups:
| Delete orphaned file versions removes all file backups where the corresponding original document no longer exists. |
| Delete file versions of all documents removes all file backups in the folder for file versions. |
If saving of backup copies has been enabled, you can open the version manager with the command File | Versions. There, all available backups of the currently opened script are listed clearly and you can return to a previous file version.
More detailed information on the usage of backup copies can be found in the TextMaker manual, keyword "Backup copies".
"Manage" button
In the dialog box of the ribbon command File | Options, you will find the Manage button on each tab. You can use it to save the settings of the program and, for example, transfer them to a new version.
See the next section for more detailed information.