Options and languages

OPTIONS (alias OP; also on the application menu and the Tools menu) opens the Options window with the program preferences. They belong to the user, not to the drawing: they apply to every drawing you open.

Interface tab

Setting	What it does
Language	Language of the whole interface: ribbon, menus, prompts, options, messages and help
Number format	Automatic (by language), Decimal comma (1234,56) or Decimal point (1234.56)
Decimal places	Number of decimal places of the lengths displayed (0 to 8)
Example	How a number will look with the chosen format

Apply tries the change without closing the window; OK applies and saves it; Cancel leaves everything as it was. Changing the language takes effect at once: no restart is needed.

Open and Save tab

Setting	What it does
QNEW template	Template that QNEW uses for new drawings
Start page	Shows the start page with templates and recent files while nothing has been drawn
Updates	Check for updates automatically: at startup and every 12 hours, in the background. On by default
Update channel	Stable (default) or Beta: the beta channel also gets preview versions

Updates are explained in CHECKFORUPDATES and in License and maintenance.

Automation tab

Lets other programs on the computer (Python scripts, AI assistants over MCP) read and change the drawings: Allow automation (API/MCP), read-only mode, confirmation in the AIACTIONS palette, allowed folders and the local HTTP MCP server. Changes are saved at once. Everything is explained in Automation (API and MCP).

Language and command names

In English you type the English command names (LINE, CIRCLE...) and their aliases (L, C...).
In Spanish you type the Spanish AutoCAD names (LINEA, CIRCULO...).
In any language the global names with an underscore (_LINE, _CIRCLE) and the Spanish names always work, so .scr scripts and AutoLISP routines run with any interface language.
The first time, LinceCAD starts in the system language if it has a catalog for it; otherwise in Spanish.

Number format

The format decides how numbers are displayed: status bar coordinates, measurements from DIST or LIST, properties... With Automatic (by language) the language's format is used (comma in Spanish, point in English). With a decimal comma, X and Y are separated by a semicolon (12,5; 30).

What you type never changes: on the command line it is always decimal point and comma between coordinates (10.5,20), AutoCAD-style.

Drawing units (decimal, feet and inches, angles) are a different thing: they are stored in each drawing and changed with UNITS. The decimal separator of dimensions is set by their style (DIMSTYLE).

Where they are stored

Preferences are stored in preferencias.toml, in the user configuration folder: %APPDATA%\lince on Windows and ~/.config/lince on Linux. The same folder holds lisp.toml (APPLOAD routines and trusted folders), idiomas (added language catalogs) and estilos_trazado (your own CTB and STB tables).

Adding a language

Each language is a text file <code>.ftl (UTF-8) with one key = text line for each text of the interface. Nothing needs to be compiled:

Start from es.ftl, the complete Spanish catalog (in the idiomas folder of the LinceCAD source code), and save it with the code of the new language: fr.ftl, de.ftl, pt-BR.ftl...
Translate the texts to the right of =; do not change the keys or the { $name } variables. Use AutoCAD's official terms in that language.
Put the name of the language, written in that language, in idioma-nombre, and its decimal separator (, or .) in idioma-separador-decimal.
cmd-<command>-nombre and cmd-<command>-alias hold the names and aliases to be typed in that language. In the options (opt-…), the capital letters are the abbreviation.
Copy the file to the idiomas folder next to lince.exe or to %APPDATA%\lince\idiomas and restart LinceCAD: the language appears under Language.

A partial catalog works: whatever is missing is shown in Spanish. A file with the code of an existing language (es.ftl, en.ftl) replaces only the keys it contains, which is useful to adjust a few texts.

The pages of this help are translated the same way: an ayuda\<code> folder next to the program with the pages you want to translate; missing pages are shown in Spanish.

Other preferences

The workspace (ribbon, Classic or a saved one) is chosen with the ⚙ button on the status bar; the ribbon, toolbars, shortcuts and aliases are adapted with CUI (see The user interface).
Automatic save runs every 10 minutes (see File formats).