How to customize General Preferences

This article applies to:

Revu 21
Revu 20
Revu 2019
Revu 2018

This installment of Customizing Bluebeam Revu covers the General section of the Revu Preferences dialog.

For complete documentation of the General Preferences, please refer to the Revu Help Guide.

This article focuses on the changes you can make to the interface’s appearance under the Options subsection. To get to these settings:

From the Menu Bar, click Revu > Preferences (Ctrl+K).
From the list on the left side of the Preferences dialog box, go to General.
Select Options from the top row of tabs.

Themes

Depending on the type of environment you work in or the monitor you are using, you may find dark colors or light colors preferable. This is why Revu has a Dark theme and a Light theme. By default, Revu uses the Dark theme.

Generally, dark colors are better for dark environments, while light colors are better for bright environments; and dark colors are better for high-contrast monitors, while light colors are better for low-contrast monitors.

To change the display of your main workspace in Revu 21, see View your workspace in Dark Mode.

Show full-screen crosshair

When selected, whenever your cursor is in a workspace, a large crosshair that reaches the edges of the workspace will appear. This crosshair makes it easier to align markups and see exactly where you are clicking.

Document tab truncation

This option determines how file names that appear in document tabs will be shortened.

Start – Shortens the tab name from the beginning of the file name.
End – Shortens the tab name from the end of the file name.

Startup mode

These options determine the default mode Revu will start in.

Last Used – Selects the mode that was in use when Revu was last closed.
View – Allows you to view PDFs, but disables all editing features (including markups and overwriting documents).

In Revu 20 and below, this mode is mainly intended for unregistered users who only need to view and measure PDFs. Switching from Markup to View mode will also free up a seat for users on Enterprise or Open licensing.
Markup mode – Allows you to use Revu without restrictions.

Other versions of this article

Revu 2017 and older

This part of our FAQ series on Customizing the Revu User Interface covers the General page of the Revu Preferences dialog window, where you can change the menu behavior and color of the interface.

Before Revu 10, the Revu interface was a lighter color and the menus worked in the “drop-down” style traditionally used in older versions of the Windows operating system. However, with the introduction of the Command Bar, we’d added options to the General section of the Bluebeam Revu Preferences (Ctrl+K) that let our customers have some or all of the look and feel of our previous releases.

A list of Revu keyboard shortcuts is available in the Revu Help menu and on our website.

Brightness

This setting lets you lighten or darken the color of the Revu interface, while using the newer Command Bar layout

Classic mode

Clicking this checkbox changes the color of the User Interface and behavior of the Command Bar, to what was used before Revu 6. In this mode, the menus use the classic Windows layout, where they “drop down” over the top of the rest of the Revu interface.

Classic Menu

The Classic Menu option retains the darker background introduced in Revu 10, while the using the classic Windows menu layout.

If you’d like additional information about customizing Bluebeam Revu, please use the links listed below to access the rest of the series, and watch a tutorial video on Revu customization:

Introduction	Panels and Tabs
Main Workspace and Command Bar	Navigation and Status Bars
Toolbars	Revu Customization

How-To

Revu 21

Revu 20

Revu 2019

Revu 2018

Revu 2017 & Below

Preferences

Learn how you can customize the appearance and functionality of the Revu interface using the General Preferences options.