Configuring Leo-Web ?

[Viktor Ransmayr]

Hello Félix,

Can you elaborate a bit about your thinking of how to configure 'leo-web' ?

I understand, that I can have individual "myLeoSettings.leo" per workspace - but - I do not understand, what I am supposed to do with the modified / new 'untitled' outline, when I open 'LWT > Settings > Open LeoSettings' ...

With kind regards,

Viktor

[Félix]

Sure thing! :)

You're right that a myLeoSettings.leo (to be saved at the root of you workspace) file can be used to setup personal preferences, but also, an @settings node directly in a Leo file can be used to set any specific settings.

The purpose of showing the base leoSettings file that contain the default settings, exactly like when using Leo's menu->settings->Open leoSettings.leo, is to give the user examples of all possible settings that are used, see their default values, and to be easily copy/pasted and adjusted back into the user's own myLeoSettings or @setting node. 

For example, the abbreviation system I just recently implemented offers some already defined global abbreviations (date, html, zen, ... ) those reside in the abbreviations section of leoSettings.leo. So if you want to create your own, this serves somewhat as the documentation and reference for that. 

A common occurence is to set the setting shown below to 'True' to have the scripting abbreviations enabled instead of just the regular abbreviations:


Additionally, just like it is suggested the original Leo's leoSettings.leo, it is to be preserved as-is and not changed. (As you've noted, it is opened as an untitled file because it does not exist anywhere on disk, it's already included internally in leo-web's sources. So no risk to change it accidentally saving over it) Once you're done consulting it or copy/pasting from it to put parts of it in your @settings nodes or your myLeoSettings.leo file, you can just close it :) 

So to recap, that Settings->Open LeoSettings is just to show the user all the available default settings. To apply or add a setting of your choosing, an @setting node, or a myLeoSetting.leo file are the ways to do it.

Thanks for your questions! I'm sure other people will benefit from that short 'how-to' leo configuration overview!

Félix

[Viktor Ransmayr]

Hello Félix,

Thanks a lot for your explanation !

Am Mi., 29. Apr. 2026 um 02:31 Uhr schrieb Félix <felix...@gmail.com>:

Sure thing! :)

You're right that a myLeoSettings.leo (to be saved at the root of you workspace) file can be used to setup personal preferences, but also, an @settings node directly in a Leo file can be used to set any specific settings.

I am aware of the @settings tree in own outlines.

 

...

Additionally, just like it is suggested the original Leo's leoSettings.leo, it is to be preserved as-is and not changed. (As you've noted, it is opened as an untitled file because it does not exist anywhere on disk, it's already included internally in leo-web's sources. So no risk to change it accidentally saving over it) Once you're done consulting it or copy/pasting from it to put parts of it in your @settings nodes or your myLeoSettings.leo file, you can just close it :) 

 From a user experience point of view it is an interesting & subtle difference b/w 'leo' and 'leo-web':

• 'leo' opens the 'leoSettings' outline - and - I do - or - do not change it ...
• 'leo-web' opens the 'leoSettings' outline - and - has it marked as modified, so I have to explicitly close it ...

It surprises me a little bit, especially since one of the triggers for 'leo-web' was a  question from Brian [1], which led to the creation of the 'leo_to_html_outline_viewer' plugin ...

Is there a need / use-case for a read-only 'leo-web' tab ?

With kind regards,

Viktor

---

[1] Export HTML in format similar to LEO desktop

* https://groups.google.com/g/leo-editor/c/DmcrUCxZkDo/

[Félix]

@Viktor Oh I get it now! Yeah that untitled document showing 'leoSettings.leo' sould not be 'dirty' at least... So as to be closable directly! 

Thanks again for bringing this up :)

Félix