General Options

You can control the look and behavior of the PowerDesigner interface through the general options, the values for which are saved in the registry of your local machine.

To set general options, select Tools > General Options. The following options are available under the General category:

Option

Description

Autosave

Save recovery backup file every x minutes - Instructs PowerDesigner to save changes to all open models to a recovery backup file at the specified interval. Enabling this option provides you with a recovery option if PowerDesigner or your computer crash before you have had a chance to save your changes.

The save will take place after the interval has passed, but only when PowerDesigner is idle for more than ten seconds. Note that saving large or multiple models may take several seconds, and that PowerDesigner will not be responsive while it is performing the save.

In the event that your modeling session exits abnormally, when next you open PowerDesigner you will be invited to restore your unsaved models. You can choose:
  • Yes - to open the recovered models in the Browser allowing you to review and save or delete them as necessary.
  • No - to reject the recovered models and return your Browser to its last saved state.
Note: This option is not supported for the PowerDesigner plugin for Eclipse.

Delete

Confirm object deletion - Controls the display of a confirmation dialog box when you delete an object. If you disable this option, the confirmation dialog will no longer be shown and the default behavior is as follows:
  • Deleting an object symbol - the symbol only is deleted.
  • Deleting an object in the browser - the object, any sub-objects it contains, and any associated diagram symbols are deleted.
You can delete any object without confirmation at any time by selecting its symbol in a diagram and pressing Shift+Delete.

For more information, see Deleting Objects.

Startup

Auto-reload last workspace - Opens the last-edited workspace when you launch PowerDesigner. If this option is unchecked, PowerDesigner will open with an empty workspace.

Show welcome page - Displays the Welcome Page when starting PowerDesigner. If you select the Do not show this page again check box in the Welcome page, this option is deselected.

Browser

Drag and drop: Default action - Specify the default result of dragging and dropping an object (without any modifier key) in the Browser. You can choose from the following:
  • Move (Shift) – The object is displaced to the new location (parent object, package, model, etc).

  • Copy (Ctrl) – A copy of the object is created in the new location.

  • Create Shortcut (Ctrl+Shift) – A shortcut to the object (see Creating Shortcuts) is created in the new location.

  • Create replica (Alt+Shift) – A replica of the object (see Creating Replicas) is created in the new location.

The modifier keys given after the option are valid no matter what the default behavior.

Show shortcuts - Specifies that shortcuts are displayed in the Browser.

Output log

Log path - Specifies the path to the log file where PowerDesigner records all of its outputs.

Graphical tool behavior

Edit in place after creation - Allows you to directly modify the name of an object from the object symbol in the diagram without opening its property sheet whenever you create an object with the Toolbox.

Sort

Natural Sort - Treats numbers numerically when sorting objects in the Browser. For example, a naturally sorted list of tables would have the order: Table_1, Table_3, Table_12, Table_20.