Settings Overview
Tex stores every preference in a single JSON file under your user profile. Most changes take effect immediately; a few require a restart.
Where settings live
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Path | %APPDATA%\Tex\settings.json |
| Format | JSON with camelCase keys |
| Auto-created | On first launch if missing |
| Encoding | UTF-8 |
Hot-reload behaviour
Most settings apply immediately when saved from the Settings window. Global hotkeys are unregistered and re-registered automatically on any change to hotkey.* values — no restart required. Theme changes swap resource dictionaries live. Direct JSON edits made while Tex is running will only be picked up after the next launch.
Corrupt-file recovery
If settings.json fails to parse on load, Tex renames the broken file to settings.json.bak-<timestamp> and writes a fresh file populated with defaults. Your old file is preserved for manual recovery — it is never deleted.
Warning — If you see settings reset unexpectedly, check %APPDATA%\Tex\ for a .bak-* file before changing anything further.
Editing approaches
Settings window (recommended). Click the gear icon on the toolbar, or right-click the tray icon and choose Settings. All common options are grouped into sections, validated on entry, and saved on change.
Direct JSON edit (advanced). Close Tex, edit %APPDATA%\Tex\settings.json in a text editor, and relaunch. Use this when you need to change a value the Settings window does not expose, or to copy a config between machines.
Tip — Back up settings.json before a direct edit. A malformed file triggers the recovery flow above.
Settings groups
| Group | Page | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Hotkey | 10.2 | Global keyboard shortcuts |
| Capture | 10.3 | Region / fullscreen capture behaviour |
| OCR | 10.3 | Tesseract language and preprocessing |
| Save | 10.4 | Output formats, file naming, quality |
| Annotation | 10.5 | Default colours, thickness, blur / pixelate |
| UI | 10.6 | Theme, tray, dock, startup behaviour |
| License | 11 | EULA state, licence info display |
| Update | 11 | Update channel, check frequency |
| History | 10.7 | Capture history retention |
| Recording | 10.8 | Screen recording video / audio |
See Appendix C for the complete JSON schema and every default in one table.