Curio's default settings should be fine for most customers, and there are some fine-tunings you can make via the Curio > Preferences menu item. However, for you power-users out there, here are some advanced settings you can explore.
For all of these settings you must quit Curio before making these changes.
Launch Applications > Utilities > Terminal. In the Terminal window that appears you will set a new preference value using the defaults write command. For example:
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "General Open Previous Project" -bool no
A value can be a whole integer number (-int), boolean (-bool), floating point number (-float), or string (-string).
To delete an overridden setting you use the defaults delete command:
defaults delete com.zengobi.curio "General Open Previous Project"
To delete all Curio preferences do the following, which will reset Curio to a true, default state.
defaults delete com.zengobi.curio
If you find yourself working with lots of advanced settings then you may want to add something like the following to your .profile file in your home directory:
alias dw='defaults write com.zengobi.curio' alias dd='defaults delete com.zengobi.curio' alias dr='defaults read com.zengobi.curio'
That way it's a bit easier to change or delete an item:
dw "General Open Untitled" -bool no dd "General Open Untitled"
You can prevent Curio from opening a new, untitled project on start-up by typing the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "General Open Untitled" -bool no
You can tell Curio to not open previously projects, assuming system-wide window restoration is not enabled in System Preferences > General, by typing the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "General Open Previous Project" -bool no
By default your Curio personal respository of tags, idea space templates, stencils, etc, is at ~/Library/Application Support/Curio/Repository. However, if you would like to change this to something else, like a synced Dropbox folder, then move it over there and type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Personal Repository Folder" -string "~/Dropbox/Curio/Repository"
By default your personal Curio application support folder is at ~/Library/Application Support/Curio. However, if you would like to change this to something else, like a synced Dropbox folder, then move it over there and type the following.
Important: this is more drastic than just overriding the Personal Repository Folder as described above, since you'd be sharing everything that goes into Curio's app support folder including project gallery and Status shelf project categories and lists, temporary documents, and other items. The Personal Repository Folder may be a better choice for most users.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Application Support Folder" -string "~/Dropbox/Application Support/Curio"
Normally Curio centers all idea spaces and other Organizer documents in the main content area. If you'd like them placed towards the top-left corner instead type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Center Contents" -bool no
Normally Curio will show a bounce back effect when you scroll beyond the bounds of your idea space. If you wish you can turn this off with the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Disable Scroll Elasticity" -bool yes
When opening a project file located in a specific tree hierarchy, Curio can automatically use a lock file as necessary to ensure that only a single person has write access to the file at a time. The following setting can be used to specify a semicolon delimited list of path prefixes that require lock files.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Project Auto Lockfile Prefixes" -string "~/Dropbox/;~/SyncService/"
Normally clicking the Projects toolbar button will show the open project quick pick list, and holding Option while clicking will show the open project gallery. However, you can reverse this mapping with this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Projects Button Open QuickPick" -bool no
Curio is using the modern [NSImage imageTypes] call to detect images pasted from the clipboard. If you're having problems pasting in images from an older application then you may need to tell us to use the older, deprecated [NSImage imagePasteboardTypes] method.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Use Old Image Pasteboard Types" -bool yes
Curio sold via the Zengobi website automatically checks to see if updates are available, for its major version, on application launch or via Curio > Check for Updates menu item. You can request access to preview releases, for example if you're on Curio 10 and you want early access to Curio 10.1 then. You can do this either by (a) renaming your Curio application so the word "Preview" is the suffix (e.g. Curio Preview, or Curio 10 Preview), or (b) via the following configuration setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Appcast Get Preview Updates" -bool yes
When you choose Insert > Space, Curio will create the given number of pixels of empty space around the selected figures or around the idea space if nothing is selected.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Insert Space Around Selection" -int 100
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Insert Space" -int 500
If a figure is selected an idea space and you quickly tap on the spacebar then we show a Quick Look preview. If you hold down the spacebar we turn the mouse pointer into a Photoshop-like scrolling hand. You can change how quickly you must tap but adjusting this timeout given in seconds.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Spacebar QuickLook Sensitivity" -float 0.15
Normally the ruler in Curio (visible via View > Show Ruler) shows dimensions in points. You can optionally set the ruler to a different measurement unit such as inches or centimeters. You can also set a ruler measurement unit specifically for text editing. To change the units enter a case-sensitive unit such as Inches, Centimeters, or Points.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Ruler Units" -string "Inches" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Editing Units" -string "Inches"
You can turn off Curio's support for double-tap Smart Magnify zooms. You can also tell Curio to ignore magnify (pinch to zoom) gestures and swipe gestures. Normally Curio ignores pinch gestures for zooming if they are too subtle. You can change how sensitive Curio is to zooming (0.008 is the default, make very slightly larger like to 0.01 for even less sensitive) or even turn it off entirely if you type the following. Possible values for Idea Space Swipe Handler are 0 which means left/right swiping will now go previous/next in sequence and if Shift or Command is held then swipes left/right will go back/forward in history, 1 means left/right swiping will now go back/forward in history and if Shift or Command is held then swipes left/right will go previous/next in sequence.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Ignore Smart Magnify" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Ignore Swipe Gesture" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Ignore Magnify Gesture" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Magnify Gesture Min Sensitivity" -float 0.008 defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Swipe Handler" -int 0
Normally double-clicking on a PDF launches it in your PDF viewer, like Preview. Holding Option while double-clicking will go into annotation mode right there on the idea space. If you wish double-clicking to go into annotations mode directly you can type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Double Click Inline PDF Annotations" -bool no
If you don't want Curio to show bundled instant document templates then apply this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Ignore Bundled Instant Document Templates" -bool yes
When you drag a message from Mail into Curio we include a special title for the created asset figure with the message's subject, from, and date. You can control what we put in the title with the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Include Mail Subject" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Include Mail From" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Include Mail Date" -bool yes
Dragging a message from Mail into Curio uses a clipboard operation called a promised file. If you have problems with a particular message with a large attachment that you drag into Curio then you may need to increase our timeout in accessing that file (which Mail will place in a temp folder for copying purposes). That will ask Curio to retry for the file after a 1 second pause. If it still doesn’t work try 2 seconds and that should definitely take care of it. (The default is a 0.1 second delay.)
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Promised Files Delay" -float 1.0
If you don't want Curio to search the contents of your project assets then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Use SearchKit" -bool no
SearchKit normally scans most file types but you can add additional file extensions that it should ignore via a comma-separated list.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "SearchKit Ignore Extensions" -string "nb,sib"
If you have problems searching within asset contents then turn on SearchKit logging.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "SearchKit Log" -bool yes
If you don't want Curio to search the within the PDF pages to find out specifically which pages match the query text then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Search Into PDF Pages" -bool no
If you don't want Curio to ask you to resolve every broken alias in your project then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Asset Resolve Alias" -bool no
Normally we embed files dragged into Curio, unless Option is held down during the drag. If you'd like to reverse this logic then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Embed Assets" -bool no
Normally if you drag a folder into Curio we insert it as an alias, regardless of whether the Option key is pressed or not. We do this primarily to reduce confusion: while an embedded or aliased folder is considered an asset in Curio, the contents of the folder are not, so you cannot tag, search, or do anything with those contained files within Curio but only via the Finder instead. By forcing folders to be an alias, the folder truly lives outside of Curio and it makes sense that the contained files are not true Curio assets. If, however, you wish to allow embedded folders and understand that while the folder and its contents exist within your Curio project's package the contents are not true assets, and where, like dragged-in files, they will be added as embedded copies by default and aliases only if Option is held down during the drag, then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Force Alias To Folders" -bool no
When you drag a file into Curio its default title is normally the file name without its extension. You can make titles include the file extension if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Asset Default Title Show Extension" -bool yes
Normally Curio asks QuickTime via Apple's QTKit if a given file dragged into Curio is a media file. On some rare systems, QTKit appears to be a bit too aggressive for unknown reasons so Curio may believe a boring text file dropped into Curio is a movie file. If you want to add extensions for Curio to treat as non-media files then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Additional Non Media Files" -string "nb,config"
When renaming the title of an asset or asset figure, Curio will try to rename the underlying asset file as well. It filters out non-OS-safe characters, of course, but we can also clip it to a max file name length. By default this max length is 255 characters, which is the max supported by OS X, but you can set it to a smaller value if you need those asset files to work with other 3rd party applications or services that may not work with such long file names.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Asset Max File Name Length" -int 50
Normally when you delete an asset figure in Curio, if it is not being used by any other figure within your project, then Curio will automatically send that item to the Trash since it is no longer needed. However, using the following setting you can tell Curio to ask you before discarding the asset (value=0), leave it in your Library as an Unused Asset (value=1), or move it to the Trash (value=2).
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Delete Last Use Action" -int 2
Watch what the internal asset library is doing. Log messages are sent to Applications > Utilities > Console. The value of 3 is the max detail log level.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "AssetLibrary Log Level" -int 3
Normally if you rename the title of an asset figure on an idea space or asset in the library, Curio will also rename the underlying file, thus keeping the title and file name in sync. However, you can specify a comma separated list of file extensions that don't rename when the title is renamed.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Extensions Ignore Title Changes" -string "mov,mp4"
Constrain the size of an image dragged into Curio to no bigger than the given width and height.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Asset Figure Image Size Constraint" -string "{ 600.0, 400.0 }"
If an asset figure preview would be greater than the given size, by default 10,000 x 10,000, then Apple's CGImageSourceCreateThumbnailAtIndex function is used to give Curio the biggest preview possible. In practice this returns a perfectly suitable preview image almost instantly. Raise this size, or set it to {0, 0}, if you want Curio to read the full image regardless of how large it is.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Asset Figure Preview Size Limit" -string "{ 10000.0, 10000.0 }"
A jump anchor has a default size of 16 x 16. You can change this using the following setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Jump Anchor Size" -string "{32, 32}"
When horizontally or vertically distributing figures via the Arrange menu, Curio will normally leave no gap between the figures. If you want a gap then enter a value here.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Min Distribution Gap" -float 10.0
Constrain the width of a text figure as you start typing on an idea space or within a mind map.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Asset Figure Text Width Constraint" -float 600.0
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Asset Figure Text Width Constraint Mindmap" -float 250.0
You can also tell Curio to avoid generating any previews for certain image types. Instead we'll use the icon and, in the background, ask Quick Look to give us a preview image if possible. Give Curio a comma-separated list of file extensions and, optionally, a max file size in megabytes. For example, the following means to block all JPEG2000 images that are over 15 MB in size.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Block Previews For File Extensions" -string "jp2,jpx" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Block Previews For File Megabytes" -int 15
The default title for a list.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "List Title" -string "My List"
Determines whether a new list has a title. This is also set if you choose Format > Save As Default Style for List Figure.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "List Title Is Visible" -bool yes
You can override the default text displayed for tooltips and in the Status shelf for priorities.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Priority None" -string "None" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Priority Very Low" -string "Very Low" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Priority Low" -string "Low" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Priority Medium" -string "Medium" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Priority High" -string "High" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Priority Urgent" -string "Urgent"
Normally when you drag an URL into Curio we make the title of that new figure appear with blue, underlined text so it looks like web link. For example, dragging www.apple.com from Safari into Curio would display "Apple" with blue text and and an underline. You can disable this automatic coloring of dragged-in URL's via this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Disable Link Color" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Disable Link Underline" -bool yes
Note that this is setting doesn't change a normal text figure where you happen to type a link URL. For that you should check out the Edit > Substitutions > Smart Links menu item. If you toggle that setting while editing a text figure then the change is only for that one text figure. If, however, you aren't editing a figure and you toggle the setting then it's changed for all new text figures.
This setting will make it so the Insert Figure popover doesn't animate between the galleries.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Instant Insert Figure Popover" -bool yes
Normally hitting the Enter key on the numeric keypad (not the main Return key) will end editing of the current text figure. You can disable that feature via this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Enter Ends Editing" -bool no
When pasting or dropping items within or into a collection, Curio will default to adopt the styling appropriate for placement in the destination collection.
However, the Shift key can be used to reverse this logic. That is, simply hold Shift while dropping, or press Command-Shift-V, or hold Shift when choosing Edit > Paste, and Curio will keep the figure's styling as-is instead of adopting the destination's default styling.
You can override the default adopt vs. keep value based on (a) whether you're dropping/pasting within the same collection vs. into another collection, (b) the specific collection type such as List, Mind Map, or Table.
For example, this will make it so anything you drag into or within a mind map will not adopt the styling and thus keep its existing styling:
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Adopt Style Into Mind Map" -bool no defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Adopt Style Within Mind Map" -bool no
And this will make it so anything you do within the table will not adopt, but dragging items into a table will still adopt:
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Adopt Style Within Table" -bool no
Don't forget: even your override can be overridden on-the-fly by simply holding down the Shift key.
The default arrangement for a new mind map. 1=radial, 2=right, 3=left, 4=bottom-up, 5=top-down, 6=org chart. This is also set if you choose Format > Save As Default Style for Mind Map Figure.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Mindmap Arrangement" -int 1
Determines whether headers and footers are displayed when creating a new table.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Table Initial Header Row" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Table Initial Header Column" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Table Initial Footer Row" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Table Initial Footer Column" -bool yes
The figure Geometry inspector now shows the figure bounds without inflating those bounds for enclosed adornments or captions, as it did prior to Curio 10. If you wish to see those "complete bounds" instead you can use this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Figure Show Complete Bounds" -bool yes
The figure Geometry inspector shows the minimum (smallest) X and minimum (smallest) Y coordinate for the selected figure. Thus if you rotate a figure it will be the smallest X and smallest Y, as measured from the top/left corner of the idea space, of that rotated object. If you'd rather see the actual internal origin of the figure, regardless of rotation, then use this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Figure Show Bounds Origin" -bool yes
Normally Curio will create a PDF when you right-click on a web link figure and choose Grab Web Archive. You can customize this with the following in Terminal where 0=paginated pdf, 1=pdf image, 2=webarchive.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "GrabWebArchive Format" -int 0
Normally Curio automatically resizes pinboards as you add more content. You can turn this off if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Pinboard Auto Resizes" -bool no
Normally when you collapse a list or mind map figure (by selecting the collection figure itself and hitting spacebar) it collapses but keeps the parent nodes under the title still visible. You can tell Curio to collapse all the way to the title with these settings.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "List Collapse To Title" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Mind Map Collapse To Title" -bool yes
When working with collection figures, the first click selects the collection itself and, now that the collection is active, subsequent clicks will select items with the collection. Some collection layouts support direct clicking on contained items even if the collection itself is not active. If the click doesn't hit an item within then the collection itself is selected, as usual.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "List Allows Direct Click" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Mindmap Allows Direct Click" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Album Allows Direct Click" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Pinboard Allows Direct Click" -bool yes
Normally links in Curio are displayed with blue, underlined attributes. You can override this with the following settings. Please note that URL figures, as opposed to inline links in the middle of a bunch of text, can still be styled independently via the Format > Save As Default Style for URL Figure menu item.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Link Color" -string "#ff0000" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Link Underline" -bool no
Normally Curio ignores clicks on adornments associated with locked figures. You can change this with this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Locked Figures Allow Adornment Clicks" -bool yes
Normally if you click on a collection toolbar button, such as List or Mind Map, then see the gallery for that collection, while holding Shift and clicking on the toolbar button will instantly insert that collection with the default style. This setting will reverse that Shift logic.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Shift Bypasses Galleries" -bool no
When using Curio's connected figures feature to automatically connect figures together with lines, the default line color is black and the default line dash pattern (when Command+Shift+Option is pressed) is a 2 (meaning 2 pixels on, 2 pixels off, repeat). These values can be overridden. The dash pattern is of the format: pixelsOn{,pixelsOff,pixelsOn,pixelsOff}, such as "5,3,2,3,2,3"
You can also change whether the head or tail decoration is filled or hollow, and determine which decoration is used for the head or tail. The choice of decorations are: "Winged", "Arrow", "Triangle", "Box", "Circle", "Stop".
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Connected Line Color" -string "#ff0000" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Connected Dash Pattern" -string "2,3" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Connected Line Head Filled" -bool no defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Connected Line Tail Filled" -bool no defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Connected Line Head Decoration" -string "Winged" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Connected Line Tail Decoration" -string "Triangle"
You can redefine the ordering of shapes in the toolbar, inspector, and Basic Shapes gallery shown within Curio. Here's the default.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Shapes" -array "Rectangle" "RoundedRect" "Octagon" "Hexagon" "Pentagon" "House" "Underline" "Brackets" "VerticalBrackets" "Trapezoid" "TrapezoidFlipped" "Semicircle" "Oval" "Capsule" "TriangleLeft" "TriangleRight" "Triangle" "TriangleFlipped" "Diamond" "Cloud" "Speech" "ArrowLeft" "ArrowRight" "ArrowUp" "ArrowDown" "ArrowLeftRight" "ArrowUpDown" "Cross" "SignpostLeft" "SignpostRight" "Parallelagram" "SlopedRect" "Cylinder" "Document" "Note"
By default the shadow color in Curio is black at 75% opacity. You can set this to a different default value using a rgba(hexRed, hexGreen, hexBlue, opacityFraction) value. Note the hex values do not have preceding # signs.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Shadow Color" -string "rgba(aa,bb,cc,0.2)"
Since support for the Jagged shape was removed in Curio 8 it is dynamically replaced with another shape. In Curio 8 we replaced it with the Cloud shape but this could conflict with any existing true Cloud shapes in a diagram or flowchart. So in Curio 10 we're replacing it with the brand new House shape. You can customize the shape using any of the following values: Rectangle, RoundedRect, Octagon, Hexagon, Pentagon, House, Underline, Brackets, VerticalBrackets, Trapezoid, TrapezoidFlipped, Semicircle, Oval, Capsule, TriangleLeft, TriangleRight, Triangle, TriangleFlipped, Diamond, Cloud, Speech, ArrowLeft, ArrowRight, ArrowUp, ArrowDown, ArrowLeftRight, ArrowUpDown, Cross, SignpostLeft, SignpostRight, Parallelagram, SlopedRect, Cylinder, Document, Note.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Jagged Shape Replacement" -string "House"
You can change the default, initial size for inserted YouTube videos with this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "YouTube Size" -string "{ 640.0, 360.0 }"
You can change the default, initial size for inserted Vimeo videos with this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Vimeo Size" -string "{ 640.0, 360.0 }"
Normally video WebViews, like Vimeo and YouTube videos, are dimmed, like all other WebViews, when the WebView itself is not active. You can make it so the placeholder image isn't dimmed with this option.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Dim Video WebView Poster Images" -bool no
For normal media files, Curio will display inline controls overlaid on the media viewer to control playback with a handy scrubber. You can customize this with this setting where 0=none, 1=inline (default), 2=floating, 3=minimal.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Movie Controller Style" -int 0
Curio will show the poster frame if one is specified via the Media actions menu, else an offset into the movie based on the start and end of the movie (which can be overridden via the Media actions menu). You can specify the percentage (from 0 to 100) which is used, along with the start and end times, to determine the frame to use as the poster: 0=start frame (default), 25=25% of the way through the movie, 50=middle frame, 100=last frame.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Movie Poster Percentage" -int 50
Normally Curio uses a 0.01 second timer when updating the media playback counter. For those wanting to control this value manually you can use this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Media Playback Timer" -float 0.03
Normally certain shapes (Cloud, Diamond, Hexagon, Octagon, Oval, Semicircle, Speech, Trapezoid, TrapezoidFlipped, Triangle, TriangleFlipped, TriangleLeft, TriangleRight) are set to auto inflate their bounds automatically to minimize the amount of clipping that could occur to any text or image within the shape. The result is a nicer looking resulting shape without you having to fidget with margins or things like that. This can be toggled off and back on within the Shape inspector. However, you can also set the default to be off for a specific shape for those that like absolute control of the shape from the get-go. Note that you can still toggle it on in the inspector if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Auto Inflate Triangle" -bool no
You can also turn it off by default for all shapes that support auto inflate.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Auto Inflate" -bool no
Curio supports a nifty OS X feature called responsive scrolling that Apple added back in Mavericks. This feature speeds up scrolling a ton with a clever trick where OS X caches areas of the scrollable view that the user doesn't see, yet. That way, if the user scrolls there, it's already in its cache. The result is super-fast scrolling that many Curio customers absolutely love.
However, we've noticed that Mavericks's support for responsive scrolling has some issues, many of which are fixed in Yosemite.
In particular, WebView figures embedded on idea space that show certain web pages — like YouTube video pages — appear to mess up that responsive scrolling cache so that, in Mavericks, you can see content of that web page outside the WebView bounds. Yosemite is much, much better although still not completely perfect: it's correctly clipping everything outside the scroll bounds except if a movie is playing and you scroll up then you can see it scoot off above the view area, where it should have been clipped.
There are two ways to workaround this issue:
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Ideaspace Responsive Scrolling" -bool no
Normally Curio displays a handy info tooltip when hovering over a figure. If you don't wish to see those tooltips you can use this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Ideaspace Show Info Tooltips" -bool no
Normally Curio displays a handy tooltip when resizing and moving figures around. If you don't wish to see those tooltips you can use this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Ideaspace Show Manipulation Tooltips" -bool no
Curio normally automatically prepends the Curiota note title (if it exists) onto the note body if dragged in from the Local shelf.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Curiota Note Prepend Title" -bool no
If prepending the note title, as mentioned above, then Curio normally makes that title a bold version of the same font used in the note itself.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Curiota Note Bold Title" -bool no
If you drag a Curiota Note into Curio via the Local library shelf, Curio will convert that note (technically a RTF or RTFD file) into a native Curio text figure. But if you drag in other types of files that you've stored within Curiota, Curio creates file asset figures instead. However, you can tell Curio to treat certain file extensions differently when dragged in from Curiota and text figures will be created instead.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Curiota Extensions to Text Figures" -string "rtf,rtfd,txt,m"
The idea space title can be Untitled (which is the default), a custom string, a date, or a custom date format (date format string).
If Idea Space Title is 0 then it will be either the default text ("Untitled") or custom text if Idea Space Title Text is also set.
If Idea Space Title is 1 then it will be either the default date format (the long format defined in System Preferences) or a custom date format if Idea Space Title Date Format is also set.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Title" -int 0 defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Title Text" -string "Ideas" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Title" -int 1 defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Idea Space Title Date Format" -string "E d/M/yy h:mm a"
The folder title can be Untitled, a custom string, a date (which is the default), or a custom date format (date format string).
If Folder Title is 0 then it will be either the default text ("Untitled") or custom text if Folder Title Text is also set.
If Folder Title is 1 then it will be either the default date format (the long format defined in System Preferences) or a custom date format if Folder Title Date Format is also set.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Folder Title" -int 0 defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Folder Title Text" -string "Ideas" defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Folder Title" -int 1 defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Folder Title Date Format" -string "E d/M/yy h:mm a"
After creating a new idea space it is, by default, not ready for editing so you can quickly put items into your newly created idea space. If you'd like to be immediately placed into edit mode then do the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Organizer Rename New Idea Space" -bool yes
After creating a new folder you are placed in edit mode so you can instantly rename it. You can turn this off if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Organizer Rename New Folder" -bool no
If you drag a PDF file into the Organizer it normally scrolls in single-page continuous mode. If you wish you can set it to single-page at a time by setting this value to 0.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Organizer PDF Display Mode" -int 1
Normally if a local HTML file is dragged to the Organizer as an Organizer Document then the raw source text will be displayed within an editable text editor. If you wish to render the HTML in a WebView instead, which is how web URLs are shown, then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Organizer Display HTML In WebView" -bool yes
Normally any plain or rich text document added to the Organizer is opened for editing directly within Curio. If you wish certain file types, such as doc or docs, to be opened as a Quick Look view instead (to insure that no formatting is lost) then specify a comma-separated list of extensions that Curio should skip.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Organizer Display Non Text Extensions" -string "doc,docx"
This is the size of the font the Organizer uses for item titles. The default is 11.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Organizer Font Size" -int 11
Curio normally generates and stores idea space previews in the JPG format, unless PDF Mirroring is enabled. You can force Curio to use JPG, PDF, or PNG if you wish by passing jpg, pdf, or png to the following setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview File Extension" -string pdf
When generating a JPG idea space preview file Curio uses a 0.5 compression factor. You can choose a less aggressive value closer to 1.0, like 0.8, or a more aggressive compression closer to 0.0, like 0.3, with the following setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview JPEG Compression Factor" -float 0.5
If Curio is generating PDF's they are normally compressed with a simple ColorSync filter. You can ask Curio to not perform this PDF compression with the following setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview Compress PDF" -bool no
Curio normally updates the preview for the active idea space in the background even while you are editing the idea space. Generally these previews are very quick to generate and, if they are slow for a particular idea space, Curio will automatically refresh the preview much less frequently. This is key because, for a very brief moment, interactions with the idea space are locked so the preview can complete. However, if you regularly construct very complex idea spaces you can disable background refesh entirely. If disabled the only time Curio will force a preview generation is when you leave the idea space and go to another or close the project.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview Background Refresh" -bool no
Back in Curio 10.3, Curio began storing a tiny, compressed JPG thumbnail of the idea space within the idea space's data file so it can be used to quickly render the Organizer display. If the thumbnail is not there, Curio has to read the potentially large PDF preview file for the idea space and generate the thumbnail on the fly. The embedded thumbnail is automatically updated when you save changes to an idea space. By default, older projects will also stored updated thumbnails for their idea spaces when the project is loaded even if the user doesn't manually touch a particular idea space, unless you turn off this feature with the following setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview Immediately Store Thumbnails If None" -bool no
Curio scans your entire project when it is loaded to see if any idea spaces have out-of-date previews and then generates them on a background thread. If you would like to disable this then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview Generator On Load" -bool no
You can force Curio to regenerate all the previews for a project by setting this preference then opening a project. Use in combination with Preview Generator Log to watch the preview generation background progress in Console but it should only take a few seconds to complete. Then close the project and turn off this preference.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview Generator Force Update" -bool yes
If you would like to see what the idea space preview generator is doing in the background then type the following. Log messages are sent to Applications > Utilities > Console.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Preview Generator Log" -bool yes
Normally checkmarks automatically propagate changes to and from children. You can change this if you type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Figure Percent Complete To From Children" -bool no
By default the new Format > Clear All Meta menu item resets all meta fields. This can be customized by typing the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Percent Complete" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Checkmark" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Rating" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Priority" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Start Date" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Due Date" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Duration" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Resources" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Tags" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Actions" -bool yes defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Clear All Meta Leaves Notes" -bool yes
Normally Curio does not show a year in the date adornment. If you wish to show the year then enter this.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Display Year In Adornment" -bool yes
Or you can simply override the date adornment format entirely using a date format string. For example, this will format it like Mon 4/8/14.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Date Adornment Format" -string "E d/M/yy"
Normally the start date is today, meaning today at midnight (00:00). But you can specify that the current date including the current hour and minute are used instead.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Start Date Now" -bool yes
Normally if the due date for a figure is at midnight (00:00:00) then Curio will show the due date adornment with the previous day since you have that entire previous day to complete the task, as it's due precisely at midnight. This is similar to how an app like Calendar shows dates so the displayed adornment matches what you see if you have Calendar syncing enabled. If, however, you want to see the actual set due date in the adornment then use this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Display Actual Due Date" -bool yes
If a figure has a due date at midnight on a date then normally the synced task in Reminders has that same date and time. However, you can use this setting to ask Curio to adjust the resulting Reminders task to 23:59:59 the previous day if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Reminder Due Date Midnight Adjust" -bool yes
You can enter any custom asset file extension types that will be made available in the Search shelf.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Search Asset Types" -string "XCode files;.m,.h,.xcodeproj;iMovie movies;.iMovieProject"
Normally Curio embeds a copy of any global tag sets that you reference within the project package. This way other colleagues, that wouldn't have access to your global tags, can see and change tag associations. You can disable this functionality if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Embed Tags Extract File" -bool no
The Notes window normally has a slight yellow coloring to look like a yellow notepad. You can change this color with this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Notes Window Color" -string "#ffffff"
The Notes window has a slight inset to text isn't crammed into the top-left corner. You can adjust this inset with this setting.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Notes Window Inset" -string "{ 50.0, 50.0 }"
The new Scribble popover includes a big 120-color matrix which can be customized by double-clicking on a color cell. If you want the popover to use the same smaller 64-color matrix that is displayed in the Inspector Bar then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Scribble Popover Uses InspectorBar Colors" -bool yes
Curio will use the crosshair cursor when scribbling with brushes 2 pixels wide or smaller. You can now change that by typing the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Use Crosshair For Small Brush" -bool no
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Brush Crosshair At Size" -float 2.0
You can enable brush logging if you are having some odd issues with the scribble tools.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Brush Log Level" -int 1
Single Page Spread PDF normally limits the number of pages in the PDF to 20 so that the resulting idea space isn't too large, mainly for memory reasons. You can change this limit if you type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Single Page Spread PDF Limit" -int 20
Single Page Spread PDF normally skips 20 pixels between duplicated figures. You can change this limit if you type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Single Page Spread PDF Vertical Offset" -int 20
Importing a table as CSV is currently done with NSMacOSRomanStringEncoding (30) which seems to be the most reliable. There are a number of other encodings you can try if you're having difficulties with a certain CSV file.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Import CSV Encoding" -int 30
Table exporting as CSV usually outputs everything in the Unicode UTF-8 standard. However, Microsoft Excel apparently has problems with that format and international characters may not appear correctly. You can change Curio's export format to UTF-16 which works with Excel if you type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Export CSV UTF16LittleEndianBOM" -bool yes
On Retina Macs Curio will create 144 DPI HTML imagemap exports and image exports so they are optimized for those systems. The HTML imagemap will still look extremely good on non-Retina systems thanks to the HTML img height and width tags added to the HTML export templates and the browser's built-in scaling. Image exports will appear to be large on non-Retina systems unless the image viewer honors the image's DPI setting. If you wish to force Curio to output non-Retina (72 DPI) images on Retina systems then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Image Export NonRetina" -bool yes
During Curio to Reminder syncing, make the Reminder note the figure's note instead of an URL link to the Curio figure.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Reminders Sync Notes" -bool yes
Make the filenames generated via image and HTML export safe, ASCII (7-bit) characters by typing the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Export ASCII Filenames" -bool yes
Normally the mind map and list text outline exporters strip carriage returns contained in figure notes. However, you can tell Curio to leave them in by typing the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Copy Text Outline Note Keep CRLF" -bool yes
Normally Curio will export a mind map as a MindNode file in zipped format. Alternatively you can ask Curio to export as an OS X package file if you wish. In both cases the resulting file extension is .mindnode.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "MindNode Exports As Package" -bool yes
By default Curio will use the AVCaptureSessionPresetMedium internal setting for making audio and video recordings which is medium quality and size. You can tell Curio to use a different preset, such as a higher-resolution preset for larger video and better quality audio.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "AV Session Preset" -string "AVCaptureSessionPresetHigh"
Normally Curio determines the default mail client by asking the system. The official way to set your mail client is to launch Mail, choose Mail > Preferences and change the Default mail reader. Alternatively you can tell Curio to use a specific client, assuming we support it. Currently we support the following mail clients using AppleScript: Mail, Outlook, Entourage, Eudora, Postbox, Airmail, and MailMate.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Use Mail App" -string "Postbox"
As mentioned above, Curio uses AppleScript to communicate with mail clients that it supports. You can supply a custom script if you wish by placing a Scripts/CreateMessage.applescript file in your Curio application support folder and then setting the following. You can see Curio's bundled scripts in /Applications/Curio.app/Contents/Frameworks/GGCore.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Scripts.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Custom Mail Scripts" -bool yes
Before Curio displays an idea space during presentation mode it can pre-collapse all mind maps if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Presentation PreCollapse Mind Maps" -bool yes
Normally Curio will create a global tag set called "Evernote" and create and assign a tag that matches the Evernote notebook the note originated from and any tags associated with the note. If you don't want Curio to do this then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Assign Notebook Tag" -bool no defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Assign Note Tags" -bool no
Normally Curio will only return up to 500 matches in an Evernote notebook, based on the entered search and sorting criteria.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Results Limit" -int 500
Normally Curio will only automatically download and cache the first 5 notes in a result set, in order to minimize the number of requests hitting Evernote's server. We will also download any note when it is selected. To increase the download limit use this setting but don't make it too high or you could hit Evernote's 3rd Party App Rate Limits.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Auto Download Limit" -int 5
Curio will normally request note thumbnails from the Evernote cloud. Set this to no if you only want local icons instead.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Request Thumbnails" -bool no
Curio will normally add an attribution line to any text dragged in from the Evernote shelf so you can easily get back to the original note in the Evernote Mac client. However, this attribute line addition can be disabled if you wish.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Note URL" -bool no
This setting can be used to force a connection to the app.yinxiang.com service, instead of www.evernote.com, if the automatic mechanism for doing so (based on IP address and locale) is not working.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Force Host" -string "app.yinxiang.com"
Watch what the Evernote shelf is doing. Log messages are sent to Applications > Utilities > Console. The value of 2 is the max detail log level.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Evernote Log Level" -int 2
If you wish Sleuth to only show kid-safe websites and enable the built-in profanity filter then type the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Sleuth Is KidSafe" -bool yes
Specify the number of entries in Sleuth's history by typing the following.
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "Sleuth History Size" -int 10
Many of Curio's user interface colors and values can be overridden with some advanced settings.
Curio reads these values from a bundled file called UI.plist which serves as a base for all interface settings.
Curio bundles other UI files which can override the base with selective tweaks. For example, this setting will override certain values with colorings and values from Curio 9's look and feel:
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "UI Bundled Override" -string "UI 9"
If Curio finds a UI.plist in your ~/Library/Application Support/Curio" folder then those values will override any bundled values. Just drop in a file and you've instantly changed the look of Curio.
You can also selectively change one or two UI elements by setting them directly. For example, setting a value to bright red helps you identify how that specific property changes the look of the UI:
defaults write com.zengobi.curio "UI.InspectorBoxBackgroundColor" -string "#ff0000"
Here is a sample UI.plist file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>UI.ShelfBackgroundColor</key> <string>#f5f5f5</string> <key>UI.InspectorPopoverBackgroundColor</key> <string>#f5f5f5</string> <key>UI.InspectorBoxBackgroundColor</key> <string>#fafafa</string> <key>UI.InspectorBoxStrokeColor</key> <string>#e0e0e0</string> <key>UI.InspectorBoxInnerSeparatorColor</key> <string>#e0e0e0</string> <key>UI.InspectorBoxInnerLabelBold</key> <true/> <key>UI.InspectorBackgroundBoxBackgroundColor</key> <string>#ecebf1</string> <key>UI.InspectorBackgroundBoxStrokeColor</key> <string>#a8a8a8</string> <key>UI.InspectorTabViewBackgroundColor</key> <string>#f5f5f5</string> <key>UI.InspectorTabViewStrokeColor</key> <string>#a8a8a8</string> <key>UI.InspectorInnerTabViewBackgroundColor</key> <string>#ffffff</string> <key>UI.InspectorInnerTabViewStrokeColor</key> <string>#bcbcbc</string> <key>UI.InspectorHeadingColor</key> <string>#5c5c5c</string> <key>UI.InspectorHeadingUppercase</key> <true/> <key>UI.InspectorHeadingFontSize</key> <integer>13</integer> <key>UI.InspectorHeadingBold</key> <true/> <key>UI.InspectorShelfSeparatorColor</key> <string></string> <key>UI.InspectorShelfSeparatorGapBefore</key> <integer>0</integer> <key>UI.InspectorShelfSeparatorGapAfter</key> <integer>0</integer> </dict> </plist>