Settings

The settings dialog can be invoked at any time by selecting Settings from the Tools menu option.

Git Extensions

The top level page has a checklist for settings in Git and Git Extensions.

The following buttons are always available on any page of the Settings dialog. Sometimes the Cancel button has no effect for the page - this will be noted on the page in the area next to the buttons.

Button	Description
OK	Save any entered changes made in any settings page and close the Settings dialog.
Cancel	Any entered changes in any settings page are not saved. The Settings dialog is closed.
Apply	Any entered changes in any settings page are saved.

Settings that are specific to Git Extensions and apply globally will be stored in a file called GitExtensions.settings either in the user’s application data path or with the program. The location is dependent on the IsPortable setting in the GitExtensions.exe.config file that is with the program. Settings that are specific to Git Extensions but apply to only the current repository will be stored in a file of the same name, GitExtensions.settings, but in either the root folder of the repository or the .git folder of the repository, depending on whether or not they are distributed with that repository.

This page is a visual overview of the minimal settings that Git Extensions requires to work properly. Any items highlighted in red should be configured by clicking on the highlighted item.

This page contains the following settings and buttons.

Check settings at startup

Forces Git Extensions to re-check the minimal set of required settings the next time Git Extensions is started. If all settings are ‘green’ this will be automatically unchecked.

Save and rescan

Saves any setting changes made and re-checks the settings to see if the minimal requirements are now met.

General

This page contains general settings for Git Extensions.

Performance

Show number of changed files on commit button

When enabled, the number of pending commits are shown on the toolbar as a figure in parentheses on the Commit button. Git Extensions must be stopped and restarted to activate changes to this option. Turn this (and next) off if you experience slowdowns.

Show number of changed files for artificial commits

If artificial commits are enabled in the revision graph, show the pending commits as well as a tool tip with a summary of changes.

Show submodule status in browse window

Show the status for submodules (as well as supermodules) in the dropdown menu in Browse. The status is updated if Show number of changed files for artificial commits is enabled and the number of artificial commits is updated. (Changes in supermodules are not monitored).

Show stash count on status bar in browse window

When you use the stash a lot, it can be useful to show the number of stashed items on the toolbar. This option is turned off by default.

Show ahead and behind information on status bar in browse window

If the current local checkout branch is tracking a remote branch, show the number of commits the branch is ahead (changed locally) and behind (changed on the remote) on the status bar in Main toolbar and for branches on the Left panel.

Check for uncommitted changes in checkout branch dialog

Git Extensions will not allow you to checkout a branch if you have uncommitted changes on the current branch. If you select this option, Git Extensions will display a dialog where you can decide what to do with uncommitted changes before swapping branches.

Limit number of commits that will be loaded at start-up

This number specifies the maximum number of commits that Git Extensions will load when it is started. These commits are shown in the Revision Graph window. To see more commits, then this setting will need to be adjusted and Git Extensions restarted.

Behaviour

Close Process dialog when process succeeds

When a process is finished, close the process dialog automatically. Leave this option off if you want to see the result of processes. When a process has failed, the dialog will automatically remain open.

Show console window when executing git process

Git Extensions uses command line tools to access the git repository. In some environments it might be useful to see the command line dialog when a process is executed. An option on the command line dialog window displayed allows this setting to be turned off.

Use histogram diff algorithm

Use the Git ‘histogram diff’ algorithm instead of the default. This algorithm is useful in situations where two files have diverged significantly and the default algorithm may become ‘misaligned’, resulting in a totally unusable conflict file.

Include untracked files in autostash

If checked, when a stash is performed as a result of any action except a manual stash request, e.g. checking out a new branch and requesting a stash then any files not tracked by git will also be saved to the stash.

Update submodules on checkout

Update the commits for submodules when updating the commit for the current repository.

Follow renames in file history

Try to follow file renames in the file history.

Follow exact renames and copies only

Follow file renames and copies for which similarity index is 100%. That is when a file is renamed or copied and is committed with no changes made to its content.

Open last working dir on startup

When starting Git Extensions, open the last used repository (bypassing the Dashboard).

Default clone destination

Git Extensions will pre-fill destination directory input with value of this setting on any form used to perform repository clone.

Default pull action

The default action for Pull in Main toolbar, see the dropdown list.

Revision grid quick search timeout [ms]

The timeout (milliseconds) used for the quick search feature in the revision graph. The quick search will be enabled when you start typing and the revision graph has the focus.

Telemetry

Yes, I allow telemetry!

Allow that Git Extensions collect anonymous information about usage.

Appearance

This page contains settings that affect the appearance of the application.

General

Show relative date instead of full date

Show relative date, e.g. 2 weeks ago, instead of full date. Displayed on the commit tab on the main Revision Graph window.

Show current branch names in the dashboard and the recent repositories dropdown menu

Also show the branch in Left panel.

Show current branch in Visual Studio

Determines whether or not the currently checked out branch is displayed on the Git Extensions toolbar within Visual Studio.

Auto scale user interface when high DPI is used

Automatically resize controls and their contents according to the current system resolution of the display, measured in dots per inch (DPI).

Truncate long filenames

This setting affects the display of filenames in a component of a window e.g. in the Diff tab of the Revision Graph window. The options that can be selected are:

• None - no truncation occurs; a horizontal scroll bar is used to see the whole filename.

• Compact - no horizontal scroll bar. Filenames are truncated at both start and end to fit into the width of the display component.

• Trimstart - no horizontal scroll bar. Filenames are truncated at the start only.

• FileNameOnly - the path is always removed, leaving only the name of the file, even if there is space for the path.

Author images

Show author's avatar column in the commit graph

If checked, avatar images are downloaded for commit authors and shown in the revision grid.

Show author's avatar in the commit info view

If checked, avatar images are downloaded for commit authors and shown in the commit info view.

Cache images (days)

The number of days to elapse before the avatar image source is checked for any changes to an authors image.

Avatar provider

The avatar provider setting determines the source from which avatar images are requested.

• Default - The default avatar provider loads a user defined avatar images, depending on the email address, from GitHub or Gravatar. If no user defined image could be found, a fallback images is used.

• None - If selected, no user-defined images are loaded and the fallback is evaluated immediately.

• Custom - An advanced mode that allows you to set one or more custom avatar provider services (e.g. Libravatar) by providing URL templates.

URL Template Syntax

The URL template syntax consists of regular URLs to avatar images, that can be enriched with variables, which are substituted before evaluation. Those variables are encoded using curly brackets {} and can be used like this: https://example.avatar.service/u/{email}/avatar.png. If a request fails (http 400 and 500 errors) or does not provide a valid image, the next URL is used. More URLs can be specified by chaining them together with semicolons (“;”) like so: https://provider1.com/{sha1}.png;https://provider2.com/{sha1}.png. If all custom URLs fail to provide an avatar image, the applications internal fallback mechanism will provide one for that user. The variable names are case insensitive. If a variable is not found (for example because of typo or it does not exist), it is substituted with an empty string, so the resulting URL never contains the curly brackets.

The following variables are currently supported:

• name - The name of the commit author (git config user.name). Special characters are URL encoded.

• email - The email address of the commit author (git config user.email). Special characters are URL encoded.

• md5 - A lowercase hex representation of the MD5 hash of the normalized (all characters lowercase) email address (without URL encoding). This hash is compatible with Gravatar and thus compatible with a lot of similar services.

• sha1 - Like the md5 variable but with SHA1 as hash algorithm.

• sha256 - Like the md5 variable but with SHA256 as hash algorithm.

• imagesize - Represents the requested avatar size in pixels.

A complete working configuration might look something like this: https://www.libravatar.org/avatar/{md5}?s={imageSize}&default=404;https://avatar.tobi.sh/{md5}?size={imageSize}

Fallback generated avatar style

The configured fallback determines how authors without a user-defined avatar are presented. Besides Author Initials all other options are provided by Gravatar. Details about their fallback modes can be found here https://en.gravatar.com/site/implement/images/ in the section “Default Image”. Author Initials are generated by the application internally and require no network connection to be displayed.

Clear image cache

Clear the cached avatars.

Language

Language (restart required)

Choose the language for the Git Extensions interface.

Dictionary for spelling checker

Choose the dictionary to use for the spelling checker in the Commit dialog.

Sorting

Sort revisions by

This setting causes commits in the revision grid to be sorted by Git default (commit date), author date or topology. Sorting by other than Git default may delay rendering of the revision graph.

Sort branches by

The sort order for branches in Main toolbar and Left panel in a dropdown.

Order branches

Order the branches within the sorting in Sort branches by.

Prioritized branches

Regex to prioritize branch names in the left panel and commit info. The branches matching the pattern will be shown before the others. Separate the priorities with ‘;’.

Prioritized remotes

Regex to prioritize branch names in the left panel and commit info. The branches matching the pattern will be shown before the others. Separate the priorities with ‘;’.

Colors

This page contains settings to define the colors used in the application.

Revision graph

Multicolor branches

Displays branch commits in different colors if checked. If unchecked, all branches are shown in the same color. This color can be selected.

Draw alternate background

Alternate background colour for revision rows.

Draw non relatives graph gray

Show commit history in gray for branches not related to the current branch.

Draw non relatives text gray

Show commit text in gray for branches not related to the current branch.

Highlight authored revisions

Highlight revisions committed by the same author as the selected revision.

Fill Git ref labels

Fill labels in the revision grid.

Theme

Git Extensions allows that some application colors are changed. A few themes are included.

For more information see the README in the themes folder or GitHub.

Open Theme folder

Open the folder with the themes in Windows Explorer.

Colorblind

Adjust the theme colors for colorblind users (if specified in the theme).

Use system-defined visual style

Use a the system wide visual style (will not look good with all themes).

Fonts

Fonts

Code font

The font used for the display of file contents.

Application font

The font used on Git Extensions windows and dialogs.

Commit font

The font used for entering a commit message in the Commit dialog.

Monospace font

The font used for the commit id in the revision graph.

Console style

Settings for the ConEmu console tab.

Console settings

Console style

Choose one of the predefined ConEmu schemes. See https://conemu.github.io/en/SettingsColors.html.

Font

Console font size.

Revision Links

You can configure here how to convert parts of a revision data into clickable links. These links will be located under the commit message on the Commit tab in the Related links section.

The most common case is to convert an issue number given as a part of commit message into a link to the coresponding issue-tracker page. The screenshot below shows an example configuration for GitHub issues. You could add this quite generic GitExtensions.settings file to the root of your repository.

Categories

Lists all the currently defined Categories. Click the Add button to add a new empty Category. The default name is ‘new’. To remove a Category select it and click the Remove button.

Name

This is the Category name used to match the same categories defined on different levels of the Settings.

Enabled

Indicates whether the Category is enabled or not. Disabled categories are skipped while creating links.

Remote data

It is possible to use data from remote’s URL to build a link. This way, links can be defined globally for all repositories sharing the same URL schema.

Use remotes

Regex to filter which remotes to use. Leave blank to create links not depending on remotes. If full names of remotes are given then matching remotes are sorted by its position in the given Regex.

Only use the first match

Check if you want to create links only for the first matching remote.

Search in

Define whether to search in URL, Push URL or both.

Revision data

Search in

Define which parts of the revision should be searched for matches.

Note that the branch name is only searchable in the branch heads.

Search pattern

Regular expression used for matching text in the chosen revision parts. Each matched fragment will be used to create a new link. More than one fragment can be used in a single link by using a capturing group. Matches from the Remote data group go before matches from the Revision data group. A capturing group value can be passed to a link by using zero-based indexed placeholders in a link format definition e.g. {0}.

Nested pattern

Nested pattern can be used when only a part of the text matched by the Search pattern should be used to format a link. When the Nested pattern is empty, matches found by the Search pattern are used to create links.

Links: Caption/URI

List of links to be created from a single match. Each link consists of the Caption to be displayed and the URI to be opened when the link is clicked on. In addition to the standard zero-based indexed placeholders, the %COMMIT_HASH% placeholder can be used to put the commit’s hash into the link. For example: https://github.com/gitextensions/gitextensions/commit/%COMMIT_HASH%

Build server integration

This page allows you to configure the integration with build servers. This allows the build status of each commit to be displayed directly in the revision log, as well as providing a tab for direct access to the Build Server build report for the selected commit.

Enable build server integration

Check to globally enable/disable the integration functionality.

Show build result page

Show a page with build information in Tabs.

Build server type

Select an integration target.

AppVeyor

Account name

AppVeyor account name. You don’t have to enter it if the projects you want to query for build status are public.

API token

AppVeyor API token. Required if the Account name is entered. See https://ci.appveyor.com/api-token

Project(s) name(s)

Projects names separated with ‘|’, e.g. gitextensions/gitextensions|jbialobr/gitextensions

Display tests results in build status summary for every build result

Include tests results in the build status summary for every build result.

Azure DevOps

Project URL

Enter the URL of the server (and port, if applicable).

Build definition name

Limit the builds if desired.

Rest API token

Read token for the build server.

Jenkins

Jenkins server URL

Enter the URL of the server (and port, if applicable).

Project name

Enter the name of the project which tracks this repository in Jenkins. Separate project names with “|”. Multi-branch pipeline projects are supported by adding “?m” to the project name.

Ignore build for branch

The plugin will normally display the last build for a certain commit. If Jenkins starts several builds for one commit, it is possible to ignore the non interesting builds if all builds are not interesting.

TeamCity

TeamCity server URL

Enter the URL of the server (and port, if applicable).

Project name

Enter the name of the project which tracks this repository in TeamCity. Multiple project names can be entered separated by the | character.

Build Id Filter

Enter a regexp filter for which build results you want to retrieve in the case that your build project creates multiple builds. For example, if your project includes both devBuild and docBuild you may wish to apply a filter of “devBuild” to retrieve the results from only the program build.

Gitlab

Gitlab server URL

Enter the URL of the server (and port, if applicable).

Project ID

Use Get Project ID from server link to obtain it automatically (required valid access token or public access rights for project). Alternatively, you can enter the Project ID from Gitlab website.

Api Token

Open Edit Profile -> Access Tokens menu on Gitlab instance website to generate new access token. Required read_api permission. Can be empty for projects with public access rights.

Scripts

This page allows you to configure specific commands to run before/after Git actions or to add a new command to the User Menu. The top half of the page summarises all of the scripts currently defined. If a script is selected from the summary, the bottom half of the page will allow modifications to the script definition. A hotkey can also be assigned to execute a specific script. See Hotkeys.

Add

Adds a new script. Complete the details in the bottom half of the screen.

Remove

Removes a script.

Up/Down Arrows

Changes order of scripts.

Scripts

Name

The name of the script.

Enabled

If checked, the script is active and will be performed at the appropriate time (as determined by the On Event setting).

Command

Enter the command to be run. This can be any command that your system can run e.g. an executable program, a .bat script, a Python command, etc. Use the Browse button to find the command to run. There are some special prefixes which change the way the script is executed:

• plugin:<plugin-name>: Where <plugin-name> is the name of a plugin (refer Plugins). If a plugin with that name is found, it is run.

• navigateTo:<script-path>: Where <script-path> is the path to a file containing the script to run. That script is expected to return a commit hash as the first line of its output. The UI will navigate to that commit once the script completes.

Arguments

Enter any arguments to be passed to the command that is run. The Help button displays items that will be resolved by Git Extensions before executing the command e.g. {cBranch} will resolve to the currently checked out branch, {UserInput} will display a popup where you can enter data to be passed to the command when it is run.

Execute on event

Select when this command will be executed, either before/after certain Git commands, or displayed on the User Menu bar. Since the git pull command includes a fetch, before/after fetch events are triggered on pure fetches as well as on pulls. For the pull command the script execution order ist BeforePull - BeforeFetch - git pull - AfterFetch - AfterPull.

Icon

Select an icon to be displayed in a menu item when the script is marked to be shown in the user menu bar.

Script behavior

Ask confirmation

If checked, then a popup window is displayed just before the script is run to confirm whether or not the script is to be run. Note that this popup is not displayed when the script is added as a command to the User Menu (On Event setting is ShowInUserMenuBar).

Run in background

If checked, the script will run in the background and Git Extensions will return to your control without waiting for the script to finish.

Is PowerShell script

If checked, the command is started through a powershell.exe process. If the Run in background is checked, the powershell console is closed after finishing. If not, the powershell console is left for the user to close it manually.

Script context

Show in RevisionGrid

If checked, the script is added to the context menu that is displayed when right-clicking on a line in the Revision Graph page.

Hotkeys

This page allows you to define keyboard shortcuts to actions when specific pages of Git Extensions are displayed. The HotKeyable Items identifies a page within Git Extensions. Selecting a Hotkeyable Item displays the list of commands on that page that can have a hotkey associated with them. The Hotkeyable Items consist of the following pages

1. Commit: The page displayed when a Commit is requested via the Commit User Menu button or the Commands/Commit menu option.

2. Browse: The Revision Graph page (the page displayed after a repository is selected from the dashboard (Start Page)).

3. LeftPanel: The left panel for Browse with branches etc.

4. RevisionGrid: The list of commits in Browse and other forms.

5. FileViewer: The page displayed when viewing the contents of a file.

6. FormMergeConflicts: The page displayed when merge conflicts are detected that need correcting.

7. BrowseDiff: Diff tab in Browse.

8. RevisionFileTree: The FileTree tab in Browse.

9. Stash

10. Scripts: Shows scripts defined in Git Extensions and allows shortcuts to be assigned. Refer Scripts.

Hotkey

After selecting a Hotkeyable Item and the Command, the current keyboard shortcut associated with the command is displayed here. To alter this shortcut, click in the box where the current hotkey is shown and press the new keyboard combination.

Apply

Click to apply the new keyboard combination to the currently selected Command.

Clear

Sets the keyboard shortcut for the currently selected Command to ‘None’.

Reset all Hotkeys to defaults

Resets all keyboard shortcuts to the defaults (i.e. the values when Git Extensions was first installed).

Shell extension

Windows explorer integration

Enable Git Extensions to add items to the context menu when a file/folder is right-clicked within Windows Explorer. One of these items is Git Extensions from which a further (cascaded) menu can be opened.

Cascaded context menu

This settings page determines which items will appear on that cascaded menu and which will appear in the main context menu. Items that are checked will appear in the cascaded menu.

To the right side of the list of check boxes is a preview that shows you how the Git Extensions menu items will be arranged with your current choices.

By default, what is displayed in the context menu also depends on what item is right-clicked in Windows Explorer; a file or a folder (and whether the folder is a Git repository or not). If you want Git Extensions to always include all of its context menu items, check the box Always show all commands.

Advanced

This page allows advanced settings to be modified. Refer Confirm actions.

Checkout

Always show checkout dialog

Always show the Checkout Branch dialog when swapping branches. This dialog is normally only shown when uncommitted changes exist on the current branch

Use last chosen "local changes" action as default action.

This setting works in conjunction with the ‘Git Extensions/Check for uncommitted changes in checkout branch dialog’ setting. If the ‘Check for uncommitted changes’ setting is checked, then the Checkout Branch dialog is shown only if this setting is unchecked. If this setting is checked, then no dialog is shown and the last chosen action is used.

General

Don’t show help images

In the Pull, Merge and Rebase dialogs, images are displayed by default to explain what happens with the branches and their commits and the meaning of LOCAL, BASE and REMOTE (for resolving merge conflicts) in different merge or rebase scenarios. If checked, these Help images will not be displayed.

Always show advanced options

In the Push, Merge and Rebase dialogs, advanced options are hidden by default and shown only after you click a link or checkbox. If this setting is checked then these options are always shown on those dialogs.

Use Console Emulator for console output in command dialogs

Using Console Emulator for console output in command dialogs may be useful the running command requires an user input, e.g. push, pull using ssh, confirming gc.

Auto normalise branch name

Controls whether branch name should be automatically normalized as per git branch naming rules. If checked, any illegal symbols will be replaced with the replacement symbol of your choice.

Commit

Push forced with lease when Commit & Push action is performed with Amend option checked

In the Commit dialog, users can commit and push changes with one click. However, if changes are meant to amend an already pushed commit, a standard push action will be rejected by the remote server. If this option is checked, a push action with --force-with-lease switch will be performed instead. The --force-with-lease switch will be added only when the Amend option is checked.

Updates

Check for updates weekly

Check for newer version every week.

Check for release candidate versions

Include release candidate versions when checking for a newer version.

Confirmations

This page allows you to turn off certain confirmation popup windows by unchecking the checkboxes.

Confirm actions

Commits

Amend last commit

Display the popup warning about the rewriting of history when you have elected to amend the last committed change.

Undo last commit

Display the warning when undoing (resetting) the commit for the current branch in Main toolbar.

Commit when no branch is currently checked out

When committing changes and there is no branch currently being checked out, then GitExtensions warns you and proposes to checkout or create a branch.

Rebase on top of selected commit

Rebase context menu command popup in revision graph.

Branches

Fetch and prune all

Browse fetch/prune popup.

Push a new branch for the remote

Warning when pushing a new branch that does not exist on the remote repository.

Add a tracking reference for newly pushed branch

Warning when you push a local branch to a remote and it doesn’t have a tracking reference, you are asked to confirm whether you want to add such a reference. If this setting is unchecked, a tracking reference will always be added if it does not exist.

Delete unmerged branches

Display the warning when deleting a branch that has not been merged to the current branch (use –force).

Stashes

Apply stashed changes after successful pull

In the Pull dialog, if Auto stash is checked, then any changes will be stashed before the pull is performed. Any stashed changes are then re-applied after the pull is complete. If this setting is unchecked, the stashed changes are applied with no confirmation popup.

Apply stashed changes after successful checkout

In the Checkout Branch dialog, if Stash is checked, then any changes will be stashed before the branch is checked out. If this setting is unchecked, then the stashed changes will be automatically re-applied after successful checkout of the branch with no confirmation popup.

Drop stash

Popup when dropping a stash.

Rebase / conflict resolution

Resolve conflicts

If unchecked, then when conflicts are detected GitExtensions will start the Resolve conflicts dialog automatically without any prompt.

Commit changes after conflicts have been resolved

Uncheck this option to start the Commit dialog automatically after all conflicts have been resolved.

Confirm for the second time to abort a merge

When aborting a merge, rebase or any other operation that caused conflicts to be resolved, an user is warned about the consequences of aborting and is asked if he/she wants to continue. If the user chooses to continue the aborting operation, then he/she is asked for the second time if he/she is sure that he/she wants to abort. Uncheck this option to skip this second confirmation.

Submodules

Update submodules on checkout

When you check out a branch from a repository that has submodules, you will be asked to update the submodules. If this setting is not checked, the submodules will be updated without asking.

Worktrees

Switch Worktree

Switch worktree popup.

Detailed

This page allows detailed settings to be modified.

Push window

Get remote branches directly from the remote

Git caches locally remote data. This data is updated each time a fetch operation is performed. For a better performance GitExtensions uses the locally cached remote data to fill out controls on the Push dialog. Enable this option if you want GitExtensions to use remote data received directly from the remote server.

Merge window

Add log messages

If enabled, then in addition to branch names, git will populate the log message with one-line descriptions from at most the given number actual commits that are being merged. See Git merge <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-merge#Documentation/git-merge.txt—logltngt>.

Email settings for sending patches

SMTP server name

SMTP server to use for sending patches.

Port

SMTP port number to use.

Use SSL/TLS

Check this box if the SMTP server uses SSL or TLS.

Browse repository window

General

Default shell

Choose one of the predefined terminals in Console tab and browser popup.

Show file history in the main window

Open file history in Browse Repository window instead of the deprecated File history window.

Show blame in diff view

Show blame in the diff view tab Diff instead of switching to File tree tab.

Tabs

Show the Console tab

Show the Console tab in the Browse Repository window.

Show GPG information

Show tab for GPG information if available.

Commit dialog

This page contains settings for the Git Extensions Commit dialog. Note that the dialog itself has further options.

Behaviour

Provide auto-completion in commit dialog

Enables auto-completion in commit dialog message box. Auto-completion words are taken from the changed files shown by the commit dialog. For each file type there can be configured a regular expression that decides which words should be considered as candidates for auto-completion. The default regular expressions included with Git Extensions can be found here: https://github.com/gitextensions/gitextensions/blob/master/GitExtensions/AutoCompleteRegexes.txt You can override the default regular expressions by creating an AutoCompleteRegexes.txt file in the Git Extensions installation directory.

Show errors when staging files

If an error occurs when files are staged (in the Commit dialog), then the process dialog showing the results of the git command is shown if this setting is checked.

Ensure the second line of commit message is empty

Enforces the second line of a commit message to be blank.

Compose commit messages in Commit dialog

If this is unchecked, then commit messages cannot be entered in the commit dialog. When the Commit button is clicked, a new editor window is opened where the commit message can be entered.

Number of previous messages in commit dialog

The number of commit messages, from the top of the current branch, that will be made available from the Commit message combo box on the Commit dialog.

Remember 'Amend commit' checkbox on commit form close

Remembers the state of the ‘Amend commit’ checkbox when the ‘Commit dialog’ is being closed. The remembered state will be restored on the next ‘Commit dialog’ creation. The ‘Amend commit’ checkbox is being unchecked after each commit. So, when the ‘Commit dialog’ is being closed automatically after commiting changes, the ‘Amend commit’ checkbox is going to be unchecked first and its state will be saved after that. Therefore the checked state is remembered only if the ‘Commit dialog’ is being closed by an user without commiting changes.

Show additional buttons in commit button area

Tick the boxes in this sub-group for any of the additional buttons that you wish to have available below the commit button. These buttons are considered additional to basic functionality and have consequences if you should click them accidentally, including resetting unrecorded work.

Diff viewer

Settings for Diff.

Remember the 'Ignore whitespaces' preference

Remember in the GitExtensions settings the latest chosen value of the ‘Ignore whitespaces’ preference. Use the remembered value the next time GitExtensions is opened.

Remember the 'Show nonprinting characters' preference

Remember in the GitExtensions settings the latest chosen value of the ‘Show nonprinting characters’ preference. Use the remembered value the next time GitExtensions is opened.

Remember the 'Show entire file' preference

Remember in the GitExtensions settings the latest chosen value of the ‘Show entire file’ preference. Use the remembered value the next time GitExtensions is opened.

Remember the 'Number of context lines' preference

Remember in the GitExtensions settings the latest chosen value of the ‘Number of context lines’ preference. Use the remembered value the next time GitExtensions is opened.

Remember the 'Show syntax highlighting' preference

Remember in the GitExtensions settings the latest chosen value of the ‘Number of context lines’ preference. Use the remembered value the next time GitExtensions is opened.

Omit uninteresting changes from combined diff

Includes git –cc switch when generating a diff. See git diff-tree <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff-tree#Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt—cc>

Enable automatic continuous scroll (without ALT button)

For file status lists like in Diff and Commit it is possible to scroll continuously to the next (or previous) file with the mouse wheel and ALT button. This setting allows scrolling to the next file with only the mouse wheel.

Open Submodule Diff in separate window

If enabled then double clicking on a submodule in the Diff file list opens a new instance of GitExtensions with the submodule as the selected repository. If disabled, the File history window is opened for the double clicked submodule.

Show file differences for all parents in browse dialog

The Diff can show more than one diff, depending on the selections in Revision graph.

• For a single selected commit, show the difference with its parent commit.

• For a single selected merge commit, show the difference with all parents.

• For two selected commits with a common ancestor (BASE) or two ranges described below, show the difference between the commits as well as the difference from BASE to the commits. See below for more details about icons and range diffs.

• For multiple selected commits (up to four), show the difference for all the first selected with the last selected commit.

• For more than four selected commits, show the difference from the first to the last selected commit.

Common BASE icons

If the selected commits have a common BASE, the icons in the file list has an overlay on the icon with information where the file has been changed.

• A Change done in first (A) commit.

• B Change done in selected (B) commit. (Last selected commit.)

• = Same change in both commits.

• ! Unequal changes are done in the commits.

Range diff

git range-diff <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-range-diff> shows the difference between two versions of a patch series with a common BASE. The command can require a lot of resources and it is possible to define the ranges for Git .

• If two commits are selected, all commits from BASE to selected (B) and first (A) are included. With Git this is written as A…B, BASE A B or BASE..A BASE..B.

  Example where one commit differs for two branches (but the branches have identical information).

  

• If two ranges are selected with four selected commits (where the number indicates the click order) A1..A2 B3..B4 where BASE is parent to A1 and B3 as well as A1 is a parent to A2 and B3 is a parent to B4. Note that A2 is considered as first selected commit in the diff.

  Example where only two of the commits are compared.

  

Show all available difftools

Git Extensions uses the default Git GUI diff and merge tool in Config. This setting enables a submenu for many diff and merge tool menus with all tools known by Git. This enables use of specific tools in certain situations like using TortoiseGitIDiff specifically for images.

Note for WSL Git

For Notes for WSL Git the Windows Git version is always used for diff and merge tools so the same tools is available in WSL as in Windows.

Vertical ruler position

Position for ruler in TextEditor controls. Set to 0 to disable. (This should be moved to the TextEditor context menu.)

Blame viewer

Settings for blame in File tree and Diff.

Blame settings

Ignore whitespace

See git blame -w.

Detect move and copy in this file

See Git blame -M.

Detect move and copy in all files

See Git blame -C.

Display result settings

Various settings for the blame viewer.

SSH

This page allows you to configure the SSH client you want Git to use. Git Extensions is optimized for PuTTY. Git Extensions will show command line dialogs if you do not use PuTTY and user input is required (unless you have configured SSH to use authentication with key instead of password). Git Extensions can load SSH keys for PuTTY when needed.

Specify which ssh client to use

PuTTY

Use PuTTY as SSH client.

OpenSSH

Use OpenSSH as SSH client.

Other ssh client

Use another SSH client. Enter the path to the SSH client you wish to use.

Configure PuTTY

For PuTTY, the paths to the executable must be specified.

Path to plink.exe

Enter the path to the plink.exe executable.

Path to puttygen

Enter the path to the puttygen.exe executable.

Path to pageant

Enter the path to the pageant.exe executable.

Automatically start authentication

If an SSH key has been configured, then when accessing a remote repository the key will automatically be used by the SSH client if this is checked.

Git

The settings that are used by Git are stored in the configuration files of Git. The global settings are stored in the file called .gitconfig in the user directory. The local settings are stored in the .git\config file of the repository.

Paths

This page contains the settings needed to access git repositories. The repositories will be accessed using external tools. For Windows usually “Git for Windows” is used. Git Extensions will try to configure these settings automatically.

Git

Command used to run git (git.cmd or git.exe)

Needed for Git Extensions to run Git commands. Set the full command used to run git (“Git for Windows”). Use the Browse button to find the executable on your file system. (Cygwin Git may work but is not officially supported.)

Path to Linux tools (sh).

A few Linux tools are used by Git Extensions. When Git for Windows is installed, these tools are located in the bin directory of Git for Windows. Use the Browse button to find the directory on your file system. Leave empty when it is in the path.

Environment

Change HOME

This button opens a dialog where the HOME directory can be changed. The global configuration file used by git will be put in the HOME directory. On some systems the home directory is not set or is pointed to a network drive. Git Extensions will try to detect the optimal setting for your environment. When there is already a global git configuration file, this location will be used. If you need to relocate the home directory for git, click the Change HOME button to change this setting. Otherwise leave this setting as the default.

Notes for WSL Git

For Git repos stored in \\wsl$ or \\wsl.localhost directories, Git Extensions executes the WSL Git executable where possible to improve performance. WSL Git is several times faster than Windows Git (native) application.

The paths internal to Git Extensions are always in Windows format. Therefore, paths in both inputs and outputs for WSL Git commands must be translated. For instance \\wsl$\Ubuntu\repo to /repo and c:\repo to /mnt/c/repo.

The Git Extensions Windows (native) Git executable is still used for the following:

• All handling and settings related to Git in Settings. This includes display of Git version as well. However, if the WSL Git version is too old to be supported, Git Extensions will report this in a popup.

• Custom merge implementation in FormResolveConflicts.

• Custom difftool/mergetool list, see Note for WSL Git.

• ScriptRunner and some built-in plugins like FindLargeFiles always use Windows Git.

Some notes: - Git repos accessed in \\wsl.localhost will be displayed as \\wsl$ (so only one occurrence in recent lists etc). - Git repos mapped to a drive letter will not use the special WSL handling but Windows Git. - Files modified in WSL are not reported by Windows FileSystemWatcher, so the GitStatusMonitor will only report issues at explicit refresh and every minute. - The WSL executable occasionally fail (for instance when the WSL machine is busy) which will be seen as a Git failure that will result in a popup. You may have to ignore the popup, refresh or even reopen the application to recover from these failures.

See also Worktrees for Git limitations.

Config

This page contains some of the settings of Git that are used by and therefore can be changed from within Git Extensions. If you change a Git setting from the Git command line using git config then the same change in setting can be seen inside Git Extensions.

If you change a Git setting from inside Git Extensions then that change can be seen using git config --get. Git configuration can be global or local configuration. Global configuration applies to all repositories. Local configuration overrides the global configuration for the current repository.

User name

User name shown in commits and patches.

User email

User email shown in commits and patches.

Editor

Editor that git.exe opens (e.g. for editing commit message). This is not used by Git Extensions, only when you call git.exe from the command line. By default Git will use the built in editor.

Mergetool

Merge tool used to solve merge conflicts. Git Extensions will search for common merge tools on your system.

Path to mergetool

Path to merge tool. Git Extensions will search for common merge tools on your system.

Mergetool command

Command that Git uses to start the merge tool. Git Extensions will try to set this automatically when a merge tool is chosen. This setting can be left empty when Git supports the mergetool (e.g. kdiff3).

Difftool

Diff tool that is used to show differences between source files. Git Extensions will search for common diff tools on your system.

Path to difftool

The path to the diff tool. Git Extensions will search for common diff tools on your system.

DiffTool command

Command that Git uses to start the diff tool. This setting should only be filled in when Git doesn’t support the diff tool.

Path to commit template

A path to a file whose contents are used to pre-populate the commit message in the commit dialog.

Line endings

Checkout/commit radio buttons

Choose how git should handle line endings when checking out and checking in files. Refer to https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/getting-started-with-git/configuring-git-to-handle-line-endings

Files content encoding

The default encoding for files content.

Advanced

Various settings for Git.

Plugins

Plugins provide extra functionality for Git Extensions. Please refer to Plugins.