Setting Preferences

The Preferences window features five panes full of customizable settings.

The General Pane

Figure 1: The General pane

In the General Pane, you can specify what kind of saving you want SaveMe to perform by default. If you choose Save All from the top pop-up menu, for example, SaveMe will automatically try to use Save All for whatever program is active. That way, if you want several programs to automatically save all their documents, you need only select the option once (in the Preferences window), rather than selecting the option individually for each program (in the Inspector). Of course, if a program doesn't support Save All, this trick won't do you any good.

Second, you can specify how often you want SaveMe to perform saves by default. If you're working on absolutely critical documents, you can specify an interval as short as 30 seconds, so that SaveMe saves your work twice a minute. This, again, saves you from having to specify the option inside the Inspector for each program individually.

If you turn on "Launch SaveMe When I Log in to Mac OS X," you'll never have to remember to even open SaveMe yourself. Every time you turn on your Mac, restart your Mac, or log in, SaveMe will launch automatically.

You can also choose whether you want a Quit dialog box to appear whenever you choose Quit SaveMe from the menubar. If you turn off "Ask for Confirmation when I Quit SaveMe," SaveMe will quit without presenting an "Are you sure you want to quit?" dialog box.

The Key Bindings Pane

The Key Bindings pane lets you specify keystrokes to trigger SaveMe's most common menu items. With a single press of the F4 key, for example, you can bring forward the Inspector—and then dismiss it with the very same key.

Figure 2: The Key Bindings pane

Use the top pop-up menu to specify the keystroke for showing and hiding the Inspector, and use the bottom pop-up menu to specify the keystroke for opening and closing the Preferences window. (You can even set more complicated keystrokes, like Shift-Command-F5, by holding down modifier keys like Shift and Command while a pop-up menu is open.)

Note that you can't set both pop-up menus to the same keystroke. Also note that Mac OS X reserves certain keystrokes (like Control-F3) for its own use, but you can change these in System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts tab.

The Alerts Pane

Figure 3: The Alerts pane

The Alerts pane serves a single purpose: to you choose how to be alerted when SaveMe shows a dialog box prompting you to save.

You have three options: to have SaveMe alert you silently, to have SaveMe play the regular Mac OS X beep (which you've set in System Preferences -> Sound -> Sound Effects tab), or to have SaveMe play a sound of your choosing.

The Software Update Pane

Figure 4: The Software Update pane

The checkbox in the Software Update pane lets you decide whether you want SaveMe to check for updates every time you launch the program. (Leave this option on if you'd like to have the most recent versions of SaveMe when they're released.)

If you ever want to check for updates by yourself, just click "Check Now."

The Advanced Pane

Figure 5: The Advanced pane

The Advanced pane contains a single option, and it's one you'll probably never use. Just in case, though, the button in the Advanced pane lets you clear out your entire database of program-specific saving preferences, allowing you to start from the beginning with the saving settings of each of your programs.