File > Preferences

There are three icon-macos or four icon-windows tabs here with settings, depending on whether you are using the macOS or the Windows version:

Main Window (Windows only)

icon-windows Basic program settings in Windows

When I close the main window:

You can choose whether SnipSVG closes completely when you close its main window or is minimized to the system tray in the corner on the right hand end of the Windows Taskbar. If you close it to the tray you can access it directly and also create screenshots without having to reopen the program first.

Close tabs before minimize:

Closes all tabs and prompts to save any unsaved images before saving to the System Tray.

Start with Windows:

Automatically starts SnipSVG with Windows, minimized to the System Tray.

Canvas

Settings for the canvas background on which your pictures are created. You can think of this as a kind of desktop, on which the borders of your pictures are defined by the Picture Frame.

Scrollbars:

Include scrollbars in the SnipSVG editor window. Even if you turn them off you can always move the canvas by holding down CTRL icon-windows or CMD icon-macos and dragging with the mouse. Double-clicking on the canvas scales and centers the image in the editor window.

"Slippy" canvas:

When the scrollbars are off in the canvas settings, the canvas is "slippy". This means that you can drag the canvas and the entire image directly with the mouse.

Non-slippy canvas

When the scrollbars are on you must hold down the CTRL icon-windows or CMD icon-macos key to be able to drag the entire canvas.

Snapping and grid:

Set what to snap to when dragging with the SHIFT key pressed. This is the easiest way to align an image precisely with the Picture Frame, for example.

Adjust the size of the grid with the slider.

New Picture

Default settings for new pictures created in SnipSVG

Dimensions:

This sets the default dimensions of the Picture Frame, which defines the dimensions of your images. SnipSVG will then attempt to adjust images to the size of this frame, for example by offering to physically resize larger images when you open them or paste them from the clipboard.

Save as:

The default format for saving images. You should generally choose SVG or SnipX because these formats allow you to edit all the elements of your images later. If you choose a bitmap format (PNG, BMP, GIF, JPG, TIF) added elements will become part of the image and cannot be edited later.

Autosize on save:

Activate this function for all new pictures. Then the Picture Frame will be automatically resized to precisely enclose all the elements in your image when you save.

Check clipboard:

When this is selected, SnipSVG will offer to use an image in the Windows clipboard/macOS Pasteboard when you create a new image.

Text Defaults

Note that these settings don't apply for numbering tags, each of which have their own default font settings.

Font:

Default font for callouts and text in shapes

Size:

Size of the font

Canvas formatting options in the formatting pane

Clicking on any empty part of the canvas shows the basic canvas settings in the formatting pane on the right.

Dimensions and aspect ratio:

Size of the Picture Frame that defines the dimensions of your image. Everything inside the frame becomes part of your final image. Everything outside of it does not.

Autosize:

Automatically adjusts the Picture Frame to encompass everything in your image.

Background:

Transparent or a solid color

Options:

Enter a title and description. These will be used in SVG images and when you insert SnipX images in Help+Manual®.