The BalsamiqMockups.cfg Configuration Fi...

Balsamiq for Desktop allows for some customization via a simple XML file called BalsamiqMockups.cfg.

Saving your Config File#

You create the file in a text editor (you can use this sample BalsamiqMockups.cfg file as a starting point) and save it in the following location:

On Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\ BalsamiqMockupsForDesktop.EDE15CF69E11F7F7D45B5430C7D37CC6C3545E3C.1\Local Store
On Mac OS X:
<your user home>/Library/Preferences/ BalsamiqMockupsForDesktop.EDE15CF69E11F7F7D45B5430C7D37CC6C3545E3C.1/Local Store
Note for Mac OS X Lion users: the ~/Library folder is hidden by default. To make it visible again, open a terminal window and enter: chflags nohidden ~/Library
On Windows Vista and Windows 7:
C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Roaming\ BalsamiqMockupsForDesktop.EDE15CF69E11F7F7D45B5430C7D37CC6C3545E3C.1\Local Store
On Linux:
~/.appdata/BalsamiqMockupsForDesktop.EDE15CF69E11F7F7D45B5430C7D37CC6C3545E3C.1/Local Store

Note: config file must be saved to plain text format!
This will NOT work if you save your config file to RTF, or with the .cfg.txt or .cfg.rtf extensions. If you are using TextEdit.app, to save in plain text format select the menu, Format > Make Plain Text.

Sample File#

The config file might look like this:

<config>

  <fontFace>Architect Small Block</fontFace> 

  <rememberWindowSize>false</rememberWindowSize> 

  <useCookies>false</useCookies> 

  <documentsPath>C:\Documents And Settings\Administrator\Desktop</documentsPath> 

  <snappingEnabled>false</snappingEnabled> 

  <selectionColor>FF0000</selectionColor> 

  <transparentBackground>true</transparentBackground> 

</config>

Options#

the fontFace tag allows you to specify the name of a font face on your computer to use instead of Comic Sans MS
set the rememberWindowSize tag to false if you'd like Mockups to not try to remember the size and position of the application window (some video card drivers don't play well with Adobe AIR and Mockups won't start unless you set this to false)
set useCookies to false if you'd like Mockups to not save any of your preferences on the current computer (preferences include the state of "show UI Library", "Show Notebook" and others
if you don't want to use the classical "My Documents" folder (often because it is on a remote server, not always connected) for the shared data of Mockups, then you can set documentsPath to the path of a folder of your choice. This is also useful to share symbols across projects.
set snappingEnabled to false if you'd like to turn off snapping alltogether in the app.
set selectionColor if you want to change the color we use for showing selection in the app.
set transparentBackground to true if you want your PNGs to be exported with a transparent background instead of the default white one.

Setting up an assets path for cloud drives

Here are some examples for how to set up your documents path so that account assets will work with cloud drives. This assumes that you will have a folder named "Balsamiq Mockups" under your DropBox or Google Drive. Change your computer name where applicable below.

Mac OS

Dropbox

<documentsPath>/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/YOUR COMPUTER NAME/Dropbox</documentsPath>

Google Drive

<documentsPath>/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/YOUR COMPUTER NAME/Google Drive</documentsPath>

Windows
The path may vary depending on your version and setup of Windows. Please check Windows Explorer to get the correct path.

Dropbox

<documentsPath>C:\Users\YOUR COMPUTER NAME\Dropbox\</documentsPath>

Google Drive

<documentsPath>C:\Users\YOUR COMPUTER NAME\Google Drive\</documentsPath>

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