What is the difference between "Settings..." and "Default Settings..." in Android Studio?

Question

I find I can set File Encodings and other parameters in both File | Settings..., and also File | Other Settings | Default Settings.... However, I'm not clear on what the difference between these two options is.

Further, I can run File | Export Settings... to save settings to a settings.jar file, however I am unclear what is restored if I run the File | Import Settings... operation.

• What is the difference between the two settings options?
• What settings are being exported/imported when running export/import?

Answer 1

The settings in Android Studio work the same way as they do in the IntelliJ IDE, as Android Studio is based on IntelliJ.

Settings

File | Settings is used to define settings that apply for the current project, and also settings for the IDE (i.e. not related to, or saved with, a project).

In the Settings dialog, settings are grouped into (1) "Project Settings" for the current project (which may change when a new project is loaded), and (2) IDE Settings which are not specific to the current project:

Default Settings

File | Other Settings | Default Settings... apply only for new projects (the template project's settings).

Thus if a new project has just been created, then Default Settings and Settings would be the same.

Note in the dialog that the settings are labelled "Template Project Settings", and include the same sub-headings as those for "My Application" from Settings, above:

Exporting and Importing Settings

Settings may be exported to a JAR file, such that they may be imported later.

Exporting

When importing and exporting, one or more components may be selected to import or export. Default Project Settings (those accessible from File | Other Settings | Default Settings...) is one of the options available for export/import. In the dialog below, only Default Project Settings are selected for export:

Importing

When an exported JAR settings file is selected for import, in the "Select Components to Import" dialog, only options that were originally exported are available for re-import. In this case, only Default project settings were exported, and thus this is the only option to select when re-importing the file:

Answer 2

Export settings : You can export your favorite IDE settings as jar file.

In the Export Settings dialog box that opens specify the settings to export by selecting the check boxes next to them. By default, all settings are selected.

Import Settings : Similarly you can import settings to your IDE

Default Settings : These settings are used as defaults every time you create a new project.