Preferences

The Project Notes Preferences dialog allows you to configure application-wide settings that affect how Project Notes operates and communicates with team members and clients.

Accessing Preferences

To open the Preferences dialog:

  1. From the File menu, choose Preferences... (or press Preferences button if available)
  2. The Preferences dialog will open with all available settings

Project Manager

The Project Manager setting identifies you as the primary project manager for your organization. This setting is used to:

  • Exclude you from communications — When sending emails or generating reports, Project Notes may exclude the project manager from recipient lists to avoid sending information to yourself
  • Track meeting attendance — Some meeting scheduling features use this setting to determine if you should be included in meeting invitations
  • Filter report recipients — Ensures that internal communications don't accidentally include the wrong people

To set the Project Manager:

  1. Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu
  2. Click the Project Manager dropdown
  3. Select your name from the list of people in your database
  4. Click OK

Note: The project manager list is populated from the People data in your database. If you don't see your name in the list, add yourself as a person first (see People List Page).

Managing Company

The Managing Company setting specifies your organization or company. This setting is used to:

  • Identify internal communications — Project Notes distinguishes between internal-only communications and communications that include clients
  • Exclude your company from client communications — When generating client-facing documents, your company information may be filtered differently than client information
  • Organize team members — Helps Project Notes understand the structure of your organization vs. client organizations

To set the Managing Company:

  1. Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu
  2. Click the Managing Company dropdown
  3. Select your company name from the list of clients in your database
  4. Click OK

Note: The managing company list is populated from the Clients data in your database. If you don't see your company in the list, add it as a client first (see Client List Page).

Automatically Check for Updates

Project Notes can keep itself up to date by checking GitHub for newer releases. The Updates section of the Preferences dialog controls this behavior with a single checkbox: Automatically check for updates.

When enabled (the default), Project Notes quietly checks for a newer version in the background. If a newer release is found, it offers to download and install it for you; the installer runs automatically and Project Notes relaunches itself when it finishes. When no update is available, the background check stays silent so it never interrupts your work.

You can also check at any time from the Help menu by choosing Check for Updates…. A manual check always reports its result — including telling you when you are already running the latest version. See the Help Menu for more on manual update checks.

To turn automatic update checks on or off:

  1. Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu.
  2. Under Updates, check or uncheck Automatically check for updates.
  3. Click OK.

Note: Unlike the Project Manager and Managing Company settings, the update preference is stored in your local OS profile (not the database), so it applies to this installation only and is not shared through cloud sync.

How Preferences Are Used

In Communications

When you use plugins to send emails or schedule meetings, Project Notes uses your preferences to:

  • Determine recipients — The project manager is often excluded from internal emails to avoid duplicating communication
  • Filter content — Internal items and notes marked as "Internal" may be excluded from client-facing communications based on your preferences
  • Personalize messages — Your project manager setting may be used to automatically populate your name in email signatures or meeting invitations

In Reports

When generating reports (such as meeting minutes or tracker item reports), Project Notes:

  • Filters recipients — Excludes the project manager from the "Send to" list by default
  • Marks internal items — Uses the managing company setting to identify which notes and items are internal vs. client-facing

In Filtering

When you use the Filter Tool or View Menu filtering options:

  • Client filtering — You can filter data by the managing company to see only your organization's data
  • Internal item visibility — The "Show Internal Items" option works in conjunction with your project manager setting to determine what should be hidden when presenting to clients

Where Preferences Are Saved

The Project Manager and Managing Company settings are saved in the application_settings table inside the Project Notes database (ProjectNotes.db). This means they travel with the database — if you share a database or copy it to another machine, your preferences move with it. They are also included in cloud sync when synchronization is enabled.

See Plugin Settings — Where Settings Are Stored for a complete breakdown of what is stored in the database versus your local OS profile across all features and plugins.