Settings

The settings dialog can be invoked at any time by selecting Settings from the Tools menu option.

The following buttons are always available on any page of the Settings dialog. Sometimes the Cancel button has no effect for the page - this will be noted on the page in the area next to the buttons.

Button	Description
OK	Save any entered changes made in any settings page and close the Settings dialog.
Cancel	Any entered changes in any settings page are not saved. The Settings dialog is closed.
Apply	Any entered changes in any settings page are saved.

All settings that are specific to Git Extensions will be stored in a file either in the user’s application data path or with the program. The location is dependant on the IsPortable setting in the GitExtensions.exe.config file that is with the program. The settings that are used by Git are stored in the configuration files of Git. The global settings are stored in a file called .gitconfig in the user directory. The local settings are stored in the .git\config file of the repository.

Checklist

This page is a visual overview of the minimal settings that Git Extensions requires to work properly. Any items highlighted in red should be configured by clicking on the highlighted item.

This page contains the following settings and buttons.

Setting	Description
Check settings at startup (disables automatically if all settings are correct)	Forces Git Extensions to re-check the minimal set of required settings the next time Git Extensions is started. If all settings are ‘green’ this will be automatically unchecked.
Save and rescan Button	Saves any setting changes made and re-checks the settings to see if the minimal requirements are now met.

Git

This page contains the settings needed to access git repositories. The repositories will be accessed using external tools. For Windows usually MsysGit or cygwin are used. Git Extensions will try to configure these settings automatically.

Group	Setting	Description
Git	Command used to run git (git.cmd or git.exe)	Needed for Git Extensions to run Git commands. Set the full command used to run git (MsysGit or cygwin). Use the Browse button to find the executable on your file system.
	Path to Linux tools (sh). Leave empty when it is in the path.	A few linux tools are used by Git Extensions. When MsysGit is installed, these tools are located in the bin directory of MsysGit. Use the Browse button to find the directory on your file system.
Environment	Change HOME Button	This button opens a dialog where the HOME directory can be changed.

The global configuration file used by git will be put in the HOME directory. On some systems the home directory is not set or is pointed to a network drive. Git Extensions will try to detect the optimal setting for your environment. When there is already a global git configuration file, this location will be used. If you need to relocate the home directory for git, click the Change HOME button to change this setting. Otherwise leave this setting as the default.

Git Extensions

This page contains general settings for Git Extensions.

Group	Setting	Description
Performance	Show repository status in browse dialog (number of changes in toolbar, restart required)	When enabled, the number of pending commits are shown on the toolbar as a figure in parentheses next to the Commit button. Git Extensions must be stopped and restarted to activate changes to this option.
	Show current working dir changes in revision graph	When enabled, two extra revisions are added to the revision graph. The first shows the current working directory status. The second shows the staged files. This option can cause slowdowns when browsing large repositories.
	Use FileSystemWatcher to check if index is changed	Using the FileSystemWatcher to check index state improves the performance in some cases. Turn this off if you experience refresh problems in commit log.
	Show stash count on status bar in browse window	When you use the stash a lot, it can be useful to show the number of stashed items on the toolbar. This option causes serious slowdowns in large repositories and is turned off by default.
	Check for uncommitted changes in checkout branch dialog	Git Extensions will not allow you to checkout a branch if you have uncommitted changes on the current branch. If you select this option, Git Extensions will display a dialog where you can decide what to do with uncommitted changes before swapping branches.
	Limit number of commits that will be loaded in list at start-up	This number specifies the maximum number of commits that Git Extensions will load when it is started. These commits are shown in the Commit Log window. To see more commits than are loaded, then this setting will need to be adjusted and Git Extensions restarted.
Behaviour	Close Process dialog when process is succeeded	When a process is finished, close the process dialog automatically. Leave this option off if you want to see the result of processes. When a process has failed, the dialog will automatically remain open.
	Show console window when executing git process	Git Extensions uses command line tools to access the git repository. In some environments it might be useful to see the command line dialog when a process is executed. An option on the command line dialog window displayed allows this setting to to be turned off.
	Use patience diff algorithm	Use the Git ‘patience diff’ algorithm instead of the default. This algorithm is useful in situations where two files have diverged significantly and the default algorithm may become ‘misaligned’, resulting in a totally unusable conflict file.
	Show errors when staging files	If an error occurs when files are staged(in the Commit dialog), then the process dialog showing the results of the git command is shown if this setting is checked.
	Include untracked files in stash	If checked, when a stash is performed as a result of any action except a manual stash request, e.g. checking out a new branch and requesting a stash then any files not tracked by git will also be saved to the stash.
	Follow renames in file history (experimental)	Try to follow file renames in the file history.
	Open last working dir on startup	When starting Git Extensions, open the last used repository (bypassing the Start Page).
	Play Special Startup Sound	Play a sound when starting Git Extensions. It will put you in a good moooooood!
	Compose commit messages in Commit dialog (otherwise the message will be requested during commit)	If this is unchecked, then commit messages cannot be entered in the commit dialog. When the Commit button is clicked, a new editor window is opened where the commit message can be entered.
	Default clone destination	Git Extensions will prefill destination directory input with value of this setting on any form used to perform repository clone.
	Revision grid quick search timeout [ms]	The timeout (milliseconds) used for the quick search feature in the revision graph. The quick search will be enabled when you start typing and the revision graph has the focus.
	Smtp server for sending patches by email	Smtp server to use for sending patches.

Appearance

This page contains settings that affect the appearance of the application.

Group	Setting	Description
General	Show relative date instead of full date	Show relative date, e.g. 2 weeks ago, instead of full date. Displayed on the commit tab on the main Commit Log window.
	Show current branch in Visual Studio	Determines whether or not the currently checked out branch is displayed on the Git Extensions toolbar within Visual Studio.
	Auto scale user interface when high dpi is used	Automatically resize controls and their contents according to the current system resolution of the display, measured in dots per inch (DPI).
	Truncate long filenames	This setting affects the display of filenames in a component of a window e.g. in the Diff tab of the Commit Log window. The three options that can be selected are: None: no truncation occurs; a horizontal scroll bar is used to see the whole filename. Compact: no horizontal scroll bar. Filenames are truncated at both start and end to fit into the width of the display component. Trimstart: no horizontal scroll bar. Filenames are truncated at the start only.
Author images	Get author image from gravatar.com	If checked, gravatar will be accessed to retrieve an image for the author of commits. This image is displayed on the commit tab on the main Commit Log window.
	Image size	The display size of the user image.
	Cache images	The number of days to elapse before gravatar is checked for any changes to an authors image.
	No image service	If the author has not set up their own image, then gravatar can return an image based on one of these services.
	Clear image cache button	Clear the cached avatars.
Fonts	Code font	Change the font used for the display of file contents.
	Application font	Change the font used on Git Extensions windows and dialogs.
	Commit font	Change the font used for entering a commit message in the commit dialog.
Language	Language (restart required)	Choose the language for the Git Extensions interface.
	Dictionary for spelling checker	Choose the dictionary to use for the spelling checker in the Commit dialog.

Revision Links

You can configure here how to convert parts of a revision into clickable links. These links will be located under the commit message on the Commit tab in the Related links section.

Setting	Description
Categories	Lists all the currently defined Categories. Click the Add button to add a new empty Category. The default name is ‘new’. To remove a Category select it and click the Remove button.
Name	This is the Category name used to match the same categories defined on different levels of the Settings.
Enabled	Indicates whether the Category is enabled or not. Disabled categories are skipped while creating links.
Search in	List of revision parts that will be checked when searching for matching text to be converted into links. Only the checked parts will be searched for matches.
Search pattern/Nested pattern	Regular expression used for matching text in chosen revision parts. Each matched fragment will be used to create a new link. More than one fragment can be used in a single link by using a capturing group. A capturing group value can be passed to a link by using zero-based indexed placeholders in a link format definition e.g. {0}. Nested pattern can be used when only part of the text matched by the Search pattern should be used to format the link. When the Nested pattern is empty, matches found by the Search pattern are used to create links.
Links: Caption/URI	List of links to be created from a single match. Each link consists of the Caption to be displayed and the URI to be opened when the link is clicked on. In addition to the standard zero-based indexed placeholders, the %COMMIT_HASH% placeholder can be used to put the commit’s hash into the link. For example: https://github.com/gitextensions/gitextensions/commit/%COMMIT_HASH%

Colors

This page contains settings to define the colors used in the application.

Group	Setting	Description
Revision graph	Multicolor branches	Displays branch commits in different colors if checked. If unchecked, all branches are shown in the same color. This color can be selected.
	Striped branch change	When a new branch is created from an existing branch, the common part of the history is shown in a ‘hatch’ pattern.
	Draw branch borders	Outlines branch commits in a black border if checked.
	Draw non relatives graph gray	Show commit history in gray for branches not related to the current branch.
	Draw non relatives text gray	Show commit text in gray for branches not related to the current branch.
	Color tag	Color to show tags in.
	Color branch	Color to show branch names in.
	Color remote branch	Color to show remote branch names in.
	Color other label	Color to show other labels in.
Application Icon	Icon style	Change icons. Useful for recognising various open instances.
	Icon color	Changes color of the selected icons.
Difference View	Color removed line	Highlight color for lines that have been removed.
	Color added line	Highlight color for lines that have been added.
	Color removed line highlighting	Highlight color for characters that have been removed in lines.
	Color added line highlighting	Highlight color for characters that have been added in lines.
	Color section	Highlight color for a section.

Start Page

This page allows you to add/remove or modify the Categories and repositories that will appear on the Start Page when Git Extensions is launched. Per Category you can either configure an RSS feed or add repositories. The order of both Categories, and repositories within Categories, can be changed using the context menus in the Start Page. See Start Page for further details.

Setting	Description
Categories	Lists all the currently defined Categories. Click the Add button to add a new empty Category. The default name is ‘new’. To remove a Category select it and click Remove. This will delete the Category and any repositories belonging to that Category.
Caption	This is the Category name displayed on the Start Page.
Type	Specify the type: an RSS feed or a repository.
RSS Feed	Enter the URL of the RSS feed.
Path/Title/Description	For each repository defined for a Category, shows the path, title and description. To add a new repository, click on a blank line and type the appropriate information. The contents of the Path field are shown on the Start Page as a link to your repository if the Title field is blank. If the Title field is non-blank, then this text is shown as the link to your repository. Any text in the Description field is shown underneath the repository link on the Start Page.

An RSS Feed can be useful to follow repositories on GitHub for example. See this page on GitHub: https://help.github.com/articles/viewing-your-feeds. You can also follow commits on public GitHub repositories by

1. In your browser, navigate to the public repository on GitHub.
2. Select the branch you are interested in.
3. Click on the Commits tab.
4. You will find a RSS icon next to the words “Commit History”.
5. Copy the link
6. Paste the link into the RSS Feed field in the Settings - Start Page as shown above.

Your Start Page will then show each commit - clicking on a link will open your browser and take you to the commit on GitHub.

Global Settings

This page contains the following global Git settings. These settings will affect all repositories.

Group	Setting	Description
	User name	User name shown in commits and patches.
	User email	User email shown in commits and patches.
	Editor	Editor that git.exe opens (e.g. for editing commit message). This is not used by Git Extensions, only when you call git.exe from the command line. By default Git will use the built in editor.
	Mergetool	Merge tool used to solve merge conflicts. Git Extensions will search for common merge tools on your system.
	Path to mergetool	Path to merge tool. Git Extensions will search for common merge tools on your system.
	Mergetool command	Command that Git uses to start the merge tool. Git Extensions will try to set this automatically when a merge tool is chosen. This setting can be left empty when Git supports the mergetool (e.g. kdiff3).
	Keep backup (.orig) after merge	Check to save the state of the original file before modifying to solve merge conflicts. Refer to Git configuration setting `mergetool.keepBackup`.
	Difftool	Diff tool that is used to show differences between source files. Git Extensions will search for common diff tools on your system.
	Path to difftool	The path to the diff tool. Git Extensions will search for common diff tools on your system.
	DiffTool command	Command that Git uses to start the diff tool. This setting should only be filled in when Git doesn’t support the diff tool.
	Path to commit template	A path to a file whose contents are used to pre-populate the commit message in the commit dialog.
Line endings	Checkout/commit radio buttons	Choose how git should handle line endings when checking out and checking in files. Refer to https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-line-endings#platform-all
	Files content encoding	The default encoding for file contents.

Local Settings

This page contains the Git settings for a repository. These settings are only required if you wish to override the global Git settings for this specific repository.

Group	Setting	Description
	User name	User name shown in commits and patches.
	User email	User email shown in commits and patches.
	Editor	Editor that git.exe opens (e.g. for editing commit message). This is not used by Git Extensions, only when you call git.exe from the command line. By default Git will use the command line text editor vi.
	Mergetool	Merge tool used to solve merge conflicts. Git Extensions will search for common merge tools on your system.
	Keep backup (.orig) after merge	Check to save the state of the original file before modifying to solve merge conflicts. Refer to Git configuration setting `mergetool.keepBackup`.
Line endings	Checkout/commit radio buttons	Choose how git should handle line endings when checking out and checking in files. Refer to https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-line-endings#platform-all
	Files content encoding	Choose the encoding you want GitExtensions to use.

Build server integration

This page allows you to configure the integration with build servers. This allows the build status of each commit to be displayed directly in the revision log, as well as providing a tab for direct access to the Build Server build report for the selected commit.

Group	Setting	Description
General	Enable build server integration	Check to globally enable/disable the integration functionality.
	Show build status summary in revision log
	Build server type	Select an integration target.
Jenkins	Jenkins server URL	Enter the URL of the server (and port, if applicable).
	Project name	Enter the name of the project which tracks this repository in TeamCity.
TeamCity	TeamCity server URL	Enter the URL of the server (and port, if applicable).
	Project name	Enter the name of the project which tracks this repository in Jenkins.
Team Foundation	Tfs server (Name or URL)	Enter the URL of the server (and port, if applicable).
	Team collection name
	Project name	Enter the name of the project which tracks this repository in Tfs.
	Build definition name (use first found if left empty)

SSH

This page allows you to configure the SSH client you want Git to use. Git Extensions is optimized for PuTTY. Git Extensions will show command line dialogs if you do not use PuTTY and user input is required (unless you have configured SSH to use authentication with key instead of password). Git Extensions can load SSH keys for PuTTY when needed.

Group	Setting	Description
Specify which ssh client to use	PuTTY radio button	Use PuTTY as SSH client.
	OpenSSH radio button	Use OpenSSH as SSH client.
	Other ssh client	Use another SSH client. Enter the path to the SSH client you wish to use.
Configure PuTTY	Path to plink.exe	Enter the path to the plink.exe executable.
	Path to puttygen	Enter the path to the puttygen.exe executable.
	Path to pageant	Enter the path to the pageant.exe executable.
	Automatically start authentication	If an SSH key has been configured, then when accessing a remote repository the key will automatically be used by the SSH client if this is checked.

Scripts

This page allows you to configure specific commands to run before/after Git actions or to add a new command to the User Menu. The top half of the page summarises all of the scripts currently defined. If a script is selected from the summary, the bottom half of the page will allow modifications to the script definition.

A hotkey can also be assigned to execute a specific script. See Hotkeys.

Setting	Description
Add Button	Adds a new script. Complete the details in the bottom half of the screen.
Remove Button	Removes a script.
Up/Down Arrows	Changes order of scripts.
Name	The name of the script.
Enabled checkbox	If checked, the script is active and will be performed at the appropriate time (as determined by the On Event setting).
Ask for confirmation checkbox	If checked, then a popup window is displayed just before the script is run to confirm whether or not the script is to be run. Note that this popup is not displayed when the script is added as a command to the User Menu (On Event setting is ShowInUserMenuBar).
Add to revision grid context menu checkbox	If checked, the script is added to the context menu that is displayed when right-clicking on a line in the Commit Log page.
Command	Enter the command to be run. This can be any command that your system can run e.g. an executable program, a .bat script, a Python command, etc. Use the `Browse button to find the command to run.
Arguments	Enter any arguments to be passed to the command that is run. The `Help` button displays items that will be resolved by Git Extensions before executing the command e.g. {cBranch} will resolve to the currently checked out branch, {UserInput} will display a popup where you can enter data to be passed to the command when it is run.
On Event	Select when this command will be executed, either before/after certain Git commands, or displayed on the User Menu bar.

Hotkeys

This page allows you to define keyboard shortcuts to actions when specific pages of Git Extensions are displayed. The HotKeyable Items identifies a page within Git Extensions. Selecting a Hotkeyable Item displays the list of commands on that page that can have a hotkey associated with them.

The Hotkeyable Items consist of the following pages

1. Commit: the page displayed when a Commit is requested via the `Commit` User Menu button or the `Commands/Commit` menu option.
2. Browse: the Commit Log page (the page displayed after a repository is selected from the Start Page).
3. RevisionGrid: the list of commits on the Commit Log page.
4. FileViewer: the page displayed when viewing the contents of a file.
5. FormMergeConflicts: the page displayed when merge conflicts are detected that need correcting.
6. Scripts: shows scripts defined in Git Extensions and allows shortcuts to be assigned. Refer Scripts.

Setting	Description
Hotkey	After selecting a Hotkeyable Item and the Command, the current keyboard shortcut associated with the command is displayed here. To alter this shortcut, just press the keyboard combination required. This field will be updated to reflect the keys pressed.
Apply button	Click to apply the entered keyboard combination to the Command.
Clear button	Sets the keyboard shortcut for the Command to ‘None’.
Reset all Hotkeys to defaults button	Resets all keyboard shortcuts to the defaults (i.e. the values when Git Extensions was first installed).

Shell Extension

When installed, Git Extensions adds items to the context menu when a file/folder is right-clicked within Windows Explorer. One of these items is `Git Extensions` from which a further(cascaded) menu can be opened. This settings page identifies what items will appear on that cascaded menu.

Note

what is displayed also depends on what item is being right-clicked in Windows Explorer; a file or a folder(and whether the folder is a Git repository or not).

Advanced

This page allows advanced settings to be modified. Clicking on the ‘+’ symbol on the tree of settings will display further settings. Refer Confirmations.

Group	Setting	Description
Checkout	Always show checkout dialog	Always show the Checkout Branch dialog when swapping branches. This dialog is normally only shown when uncommitted changes exist on the current branch
	Use last chosen “local changes” action as default action.	This setting works in conjunction with the ‘Git Extensions/Check for uncommitted changes in checkout branch dialog’ setting. If the ‘Check for uncommitted changes’ setting is checked, then the Checkout Branch dialog is shown only if this setting is unchecked. If this setting is checked, then no dialog is shown and the last chosen action is used.
General	Don’t show help images	In the Pull dialog, images can be displayed to explain different scenarios. If checked, these Help images will not be displayed.

Confirmations

This page allows you to turn off certain confirmation popup windows.

Group	Setting	Description
Don’t ask to confirm to	Amend last commit	If checked, do not display the popup warning about the rewriting of history when you have elected to amend the last committed change.
	Apply stashed changes after successful pull	In the Pull dialog, if `Auto stash` is checked, then any changes will be stashed before the pull is performed. Any stashed changes are then re-applied after the pull is complete. If this setting is checked, the stashed changes are applied with no confirmation popup.
	Push a new branch for the remote	When pushing a new branch that does not exist on the remote repository, a confirmation popup will normally be displayed. If this setting is checked, then the new branch will be pushed with no confirmation popup.
	Add a tracking reference for newly pushed branch	When you push a local branch to a remote and it doesn’t have a tracking reference, you are asked to confirm whether you want to add such a reference. If this setting is checked, a tracking reference will always be added if it does not exist.
	Apply stashed changes after successful checkout	In the Checkout Branch dialog, if `Stash` is checked, then any changes will be stashed before the branch is checked out. If this setting is checked, then the stashed changes will be automatically re-applied after successful checkout of the branch with no confirmation popup.

Plugins

Plugins provide extra functionality for Git Extensions.

Plugin	Setting	Description
Check for Updates	This plugin is used by Git Extensions to check for updates to the Git Extensions software.
	Enabled (true/false)	Enable or disable the check.
	Check every # days	Check for updates after this number of days have elapsed since the last check.
	Last check (yyyy/M/dd)	Shows date of the last check.
Auto compile SubModules	This plugin proposes (confirmation required) that you automatically build submodules after they are updated via the GitExtensions Update submodules command.
	Enabled (true/false)	Enter true to enable the plugin, or false to disable.
	Path to msbuild.exe	Enter the path to the msbuild.exe executable.
	msbuild.exe arguments	Enter any arguments to msbuild.
Create local tracking branches	This plugin will create local tracking branches for all branches on a remote repository. The remote repository is specified when the plugin is run.
Delete obsolete branches	This plugin allows you to delete obsolete branches i.e. those branches that are fully merged to another branch. It will display a list of obsolete branches for review before deletion.
	Delete obsolete branches older than (days)	Select branches created greater than the specified number of days ago.
	Branch where all branches should be merged	The name of the branch where a branch must have been merged into to be considered obsolete.
Find large files	Finds large files in the repository and allows you to delete them.
	Find large files bigger than (Mb)	Specify what size is considered a ‘large’ file.
Gerrit Code Review	The Gerrit plugin provides integration with Gerrit for GitExtensions. This plugin has been based on the git-review tool.
Github	This plugin will create an OAuth token so that some common GitHub actions can be integrated with Git Extensions.
	OAuth Token	The token generated and retrieved from GitHub.
Impact Graph	This plugin shows in a graphical format the number of commits and counts of changed lines in the repository performed by each person who has committed a change.
Statistics	This plugin provides various statistics (and a pie chart) about the current Git repository. For example, number of commits by author, lines of code per language.
	Code files	Specifies extensions of files that are considered code files.
	Directories to ignore (EndsWith)	Ignore these directories when calculating statistics.
	Ignore submodules (true/false)	Ignore submodules when calculating statistics.
gource	Gource is a software version control visualization tool.
	Path to “gource”	Enter the path to the gource software.
	Arguments	Enter any arguments to gource.
Proxy Switcher	This plugin can set/unset the value for the http.proxy git config file key as per the settings entered here.
	Username	The user name needed to access the proxy.
	Password	The password attached to the username.
	HttpProxy	Proxy Server URL.
	HttpProxyPort	Proxy Server port number.
Release Notes Generator	This plugin will generate ‘release notes’. This involves summarising all commits between the specified from and to commit expressions when the plugin is started. This output can be copied to the clipboard in various formats.