General preferences reference

The preferences in the General tab let you customize the overall behavior for working in Unity. To open the preferences, go to Edit > Preferences > General (macOS: Unity > Settings > General).

Property	Function
Load Previous Project on Startup	Enable this setting to always load the previous project at startup.
Disable Editor AnalyticsAbbreviation of Unity Analytics See in Glossary	Enable this setting to stop the Editor automatically sending information back to Unity. Pro only.
Auto-save scenes before building	Automatically save your sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info See in Glossary before it builds.
Script Changes While Playing	Choose the behavior of the Editor when scripts change while your game runs in the Editor: Recompile And Continue Playing: Recompile your scripts and keep running the scene. This is the default behavior, but you might want to change it if your scripts rely on any non-serializable data. Recompile After Finished Playing: Defer recompilation until you manually stop your scene, avoiding any interruption. Stop Playing And Recompile: Immediately stops your scene for recompilation, so you can quickly restart testing.
Code Optimization On Startup	Choose whether to set code optimization mode to Debug or Release when the Editor starts. You can use Debug mode to attach external debugger software, but this mode makes C# performance slower when you run your project in Play mode in the Editor. Release mode gives faster C# performance when you run your project in Play mode in the Editor, but you can’t attach any external debuggers. For more information, refer to Code Optimization Mode.
Editor Theme	Select the background theme to use in the Editor: Light: Applies a light grey background theme with black text. Dark: Applies a dark background theme with white text.
Editor Font	Select which font to display in the Unity Editor. The default font is Inter.
Editor Default Text Rendering Mode	Defines the Editor’s rendering for text. SDF is the default rendering mode. Bitmap: Offers sharper text on low-resolution displays using a rasterized bitmap approach. Use this mode for screens with lower DPI. SDF (Signed Distance Field): Offers scalable text rendering, but it might appear blurrier on low-DPI screens or smaller font sizes. The SDF mode uses a technique that enables efficient text scaling and rendering, though there might be a trade-off in sharpness on certain displays.
Editor Text Sharpness	Set how clear and sharp text in the Editor displays.
Editor Text Generator Type	Select from: Standard: Use Unity’s built-in text generator. Advanced: Use the advanced text generator.
Device to use	Select which GPU device to use by default, from a list of connected devices.
Graph Snapping	Align graph elements with other graph elements when you move them ingraph views. Packages such as ShaderA program that runs on the GPU. More info See in Glossary Graph use graph views. If Graph Snapping is disabled, graph elements move more freely.
Open Game View on Play	Open a Game view window when you enter Play mode if a Game view window isn’t open. You can also right-click the Play button on the toolbar to enable this setting.
Use Project Path in Window Title	Replace the name of the project in the main window title with the path of the project on disk.
Interaction Mode	Specifies how long the Editor can idle before it updates. After one frame finishes, the Editor waits up to the specified amount of time before the next frame begins. This allows you to throttle Editor performance, and reduce consumption of CPU resources and power. For example, if you want to test the Editor’s performance, set this property to No Throttling. If you want to conserve power (for example, to prolong battery life on a laptop computer), set this property to one of the throttled modes. In throttled modes, the Editor stops idling if you interact with it (for example, by panning in the Scene view). Note: In Play mode, Unity ignores any throttling that you apply using this preference. The editor updates as fast as possible unless you enable the VSync option in the Game view, or set `Application.targetFrameRate` to a value other than `-1`. Choose from the following modes: Default: The Editor idles up to 4 ms each tick. If a frame takes 5 ms or more, the Editor doesn’t idle at all, and the next frame starts automatically. No Throttling: Each time a frame finishes, the next frame begins immediately. The Editor never waits, and updates as fast as possible. This mode consumes a lot of CPU resources. If you are using a laptop computer, it can cause the battery to drain quickly. Monitor Refresh Rate: The Editor idles up to the monitor’s update rate in milliseconds. For most monitors, this is 16 ms. Custom: When enabled, you can use the Frame Throttling (milliseconds) property to specify how long the Editor can idle between frames. The value can be between 0 and 33 ms. 0 is equivalent to setting Interaction Mode to No Throttling.
Package Manager log level	Choose the level of detail you want the Package Manager logs to report: Error: Display unexpected errors and failures only. Warn: Display unusual situations that can cause issues. Info: Display high-level informational-only messages. Verbose: Display detailed informational messages. Debug: Display high-level debugging messages. Silly: Display detailed debugging messages.
Enable extended Dynamic hints	Select this to enable extended dynamic hints. Extended dynamic hints display more information when a property, object, or tool is hovered on for enough time or when a dynamic hint displays.
Timestamp Editor log entries	Add timestamp and thread ID to `Editor.log` messages.
Enable Shortcut Helper Bar	Display the Helper Bar in the status bar at the bottom of the main Editor window.
Enable PlayMode Tooltips	Enable tooltips in the Editor while in Play mode

Hierarchy window

Settings for how the Hierarchy window is displayed in the Editor.

Property	Function
Enable Alphanumeric Sorting	Displays a button in the top-right corner of the Hierarchy window to toggle between sorting GameObjectsThe fundamental object in Unity scenes, which can represent characters, props, scenery, cameras, waypoints, and more. A GameObject’s functionality is defined by the Components attached to it. More info See in Glossary by the default Transform sort, or alphanumeric sort order in the Hierarchy window. This setting isn’t available if you enable Use new Hierarchy window.
Default Prefab Mode	Select a prefab in prefab editing mode to use the following settings: In Isolation: Hide the current scene and display the GameObjects that relate to the prefab itself. In Context: Keep the rest of the scene visible, but prevent that scene from being edited.

Property

Function

Enable Alphanumeric Sorting

Displays a button in the top-right corner of the Hierarchy window to toggle between sorting by the default Transform sort, or alphanumeric sort order in the Hierarchy window. This setting isn’t available if you enable Use new Hierarchy window.

Default Prefab Mode

Select a prefab in prefab editing mode to use the following settings:

In Isolation: Hide the current scene and display the GameObjects that relate to the prefab itself.
In Context: Keep the rest of the scene visible, but prevent that scene from being edited.

Additional resources

Preferences reference

2D preferences reference

Unity Manual

General preferences reference

Hierarchy window

Additional resources