## 1. User preferences

XMLmind XML Editor, the desktop application (XXE), stores the user preferences in the following directory:

- `$HOME/.xxe11/` on Linux.
- `$HOME/Library/Application Support/XMLmind/XMLEditor11/` on the Mac.
- `%APPDATA%\XMLmind\XMLEditor11\` on Windows. Example: `C:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming\XMLmind\XMLEditor11\`.

If this user preferences directory —let's call it XXE_PREFS_DIR— does not exist, XXE automatically creates it and populates it with various sub-directories and files.
If `xxeserver` option `-userprefs` has been specified, `xxeserver` shares XXE_PREFS_DIR with XXE. However, there are important differences:

- In the case of `xxeserver`, the “user” is the account which is used to run the server. Therefore different users of `<xxe-client>` cannot have different user preferences.
- `xxeserver` works fine without any user preferences directory and will not automatically create one.
- `xxeserver` will never change the files and sub-directories found in the user preferences directory.
  The `-putprefs`, `-putpref`, `-delpref` command-line options may be used to explicitly override some of the user preferences found in `XXE_PREFS_DIR/preferences.properties` and/or the default values of some user preferences, but they will never cause `xxeserver` to modify `XXE_PREFS_DIR/preferences.properties`.
- XXE and `xxeserver` differ in their use of the sub-directories and files found in the user preferences directory. See table below.

Sub-directory or file | XXE | `xxeserver`
`preferences​.properties` | Java™ property file containing the user preferences. These user preferences are all documented in Preference keys . | Most user preferences are ignored as they only apply to XXE, the desktop application. However a number of user preferences are considered and may prove to be really useful, for example: `addOpenLines` and more generally all preferences related to XML formatting when saving a document. `autoDiffSupport` `lockLocalDocuments` and more generally all preferences related to file locks. `makeBackupFiles` `maxUndo`
`addon/` | Some XXE addons may have been installed in this sub-directory. | Add-ons which are not useful in the context of XMLmind XML Editor Web Edition (XXEW) are ignored: translation add-ons, spell-checker dictionaries, spell-checker plug-ins, XSL-FO processor plug-ins, any add-on in the Other category like "Bidi Support", "Edit source", "Easy Profiling", etc. To make it simple, only configuration add-ons are considered.
`cache/` | Serialized (that is, fast-loading) DTDs and W3C XML Schemas may be found in this sub-directory. | Ignored.
`custom/` | Customizations of some XXE configurations may be found in this sub-directory. | Ignored.
`spell/` | “Learned words” added by the user to the spell-checker dictionaries may be found in this sub-directory. | Ignored.