************
Introduction
************

Here are some preferences that you may wish to set initially.
The full list and explanation of the user preferences are documented in the section
:doc:`User Preferences </preferences/index>`.


Language
========

At :menuselection:`File --> User Preferences --> System`,
enable *International Fonts* to choose the *Language* and
what to translate from *Interface*, *Tooltips* and *New Data*.

See :ref:`prefs-system-international` for details.


Input
=====

If you have a compact keyboard without a separate number pad, enable
:menuselection:`File --> User Preferences --> Emulate Numpad`.

If you do not have a middle mouse button, you can enable
:menuselection:`File --> User Preferences --> Emulate 3 Button Mouse`.

See :doc:`Input Preferences </preferences/input>` for details.


File and Paths
==============

At :menuselection:`File --> User Preferences --> File`
you can set options such as what external *Image Editor* to use,
such as GIMP or Krita, and the Animation Player.

The :ref:`temp-dir` sets where to store files such as temporary renders and auto-saves.

.. tip::

   The ``//`` at the start of each path in Blender means the directory of the currently opened blend-file,
   used to reference relative paths.

If you trust the source of your blend-files, you can enable *Auto Run Python Scripts*.
This option is meant to protect you from malicious Python scripts that someone can include inside a blend-file.
This would not happen by accident,
and most users leave this option on to automatically run scripts often used in advanced rigs
(such as "Rigify" that controls the skeleton of a human rig).

See :doc:`File Preferences </preferences/file>` for details.