---
title: "Your settings"
summary: "Change your look, light or dark, how your lists are laid out and sorted, and your name, picture, email and password."
read_when:
  - "you want another color, typeface, background or panel style, or the side menu always open"
  - "you want the dark theme"
  - "you want your maps, data, workflows or projects as a list, or sorted another way"
  - "you want to change your display name, picture, email or password"
  - "you want to know which choices follow you to another browser"
audience:
  - user
checked: none
order: 9
---
Documentation index: https://dezfil.io/llms.txt

![The Appearance tab of Settings: the You and Instance groups in the column on the left, a Preview of a map in the builder above the cards, and the Color and contrast card with a picture for each color, Kelp picked](/docs/images/use/settings-appearance.webp)

Your own settings sit under **You** in **Settings**: **Account**, **API & MCP** and **Appearance**. Your look and your list choices change only what you see.

## Change the look

1. Click **Settings** at the foot of the side menu, then **Appearance**.
2. In the **Color** row, click **Harbor**.

![The Appearance tab after picking Harbor: the side menu, the column, the Preview and the Color and contrast card tinted blue, and Reset to Dezfil's default at the right of the Settings heading](/docs/images/use/settings-look-harbor.webp)

You should see the whole workspace take the new color at once, and **Saved** beside the row for a moment.

Above the cards, **Preview** shows a small builder over a map in your look. It stays in sight as you scroll, so you see what a pick does to the cards and panels over a map.

There is no Save button: each pick is kept the moment you click it. Every row works the same way, and its first choice is Dezfil's default.

| Card | Row | Choices | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Color and contrast** | **Color** | **Kelp**, **Harbor**, **Heather**, **Slate** | The interface's tint: accents, primary buttons, active marks, focus and the background's ink. Never a data color. |
| | **Contrast** | **Standard**, **More contrast** | Borders, dividers and quieter text. **More contrast** makes them stronger in both themes. |
| **Panels and background** | **Panels** | **Glass**, **Liquid**, **Paper** | How cards and panels are drawn: frosted glass, liquid glass with a light on its rim, or opaque paper with no blur. |
| | **Transparency** | **Clear**, **Medium**, **Firm** | Shown while **Panels** is **Liquid**: how much of the map shows through its cards and panels. **Firm** shows the least and reads best over any map. |
| | **Background** | **Atlantic chart**, **Plain**, **Graticule**, **Hex lattice** | The texture behind the workspace and in the header bar. **Plain** has none. |
| **Text** | **Typeface** | **Inter**, **System** | The face of everything you read: Inter, or your computer's own. Identifiers and values keep the mono face. |
| **Layout** | **Corners** | **Rounded**, **Soft** | The rounded edges of cards, fields, buttons and panels. **Soft** is tighter. |
| | **Side menu** | **Opens on hover**, **Always open**, **Icons only** | How the side menu opens: when your pointer or focus rests on it, always open with labels, or icons only. |

To go back, click **Reset to defaults** at the top right of a card. It shows while one of the card's rows differs from the default, and returns every row of the card, **Transparency** too while it is out of sight.

**Reset to Dezfil's default**, at the right of the **Settings** heading, returns every pick at once. It shows while any pick differs from the default.

Either reset turns into **Undo** for six seconds, and stays while your pointer or focus rests on it.

People who open your published maps see Dezfil's default look, whatever you picked.

## Switch between light and dark

Click the theme button at the right of the top bar: a moon while the page is light, a sun while it is dark.

You should see the page switch at once. Dezfil starts light. In the builder, a map on the **Auto** basemap follows the theme.

To find the button from Settings, type `dark` in **Search settings** and choose **Light or dark**. You should see the theme button light up for a moment.

> [!NOTE]
> Switching the theme while your own published map is open in the builder switches the theme its readers see as well.

## Lay out and sort your lists

**Maps**, **Data**, **Workflows** and **Projects** each have a **Sort** menu and two buttons, **Grid view** and **List view**, in the bar above the list.

1. Open **Maps** in the side menu.
2. Click **List view**. You should see your maps as rows, with the columns **Map name**, **Layers**, **Status** and **Last edited**.
3. Under **Sort**, choose **Name A–Z**. You should see the rows in alphabetical order.

![The Maps screen in List view, sorted Name A–Z: three maps as rows with their Map name, Layers, Status and Last edited, one of them Published, under the Sort menu and the Grid view and List view buttons](/docs/images/use/settings-maps-list.webp)

Each screen keeps its own layout and sort. The next time you open it, it opens the same way.

| Screen | Sort choices | Starts with |
|---|---|---|
| **Maps** | **Recently edited**, **Recently created**, **Name A–Z** | **Grid view**, **Recently edited** |
| **Workflows** | **Recently edited**, **Recently created**, **Name A–Z** | **Grid view**, **Recently edited** |
| **Data** | **Recently updated**, **Name A–Z**, **Row count**, **Size** | **Grid view**, **Recently updated** |
| **Projects** | **Recently updated**, **Name A–Z**, **Largest** | **Grid view**, **Recently updated** |

## Change your name or email

1. Click your picture or initials at the foot of the side menu. **Settings** opens on **Account**.
2. Change **Display name** (up to 80 characters) or **Email**. **Save** and **Cancel** appear while a field differs from what is saved.
3. For a new email, also type your password in **Current password to change email**.
4. Click **Save**. You should see **Saved** beside the field.

You sign in with the new email from then on.

Your **SQL name** stays as it is. Other people's queries name your datasets with it, as [Query with SQL](/docs/use/sql/#other-peoples-datasets) shows.

## Set your picture

1. On **Account**, click **Change** beside your initials.
2. Choose a JPEG, PNG or WebP image of up to 10 MB. You should see your picture in place of your initials, on the card and in the side menu.

There is no Save button: the picture is kept the moment you choose it. A name, email or password you are typing stays as you left it, unsaved, and **Cancel** leaves the picture.

Dezfil crops the picture to a square from its middle and keeps its own copy, without the camera, place or time the photo recorded. Everyone signed in to your Dezfil sees it wherever Dezfil shows you, such as **Users**, **Share** and your work in their lists. People who open your published maps never see it.

To go back to your initials, click **Remove**.

## Change your password

![The Account tab: the round picture showing the initials beside Change and the note that pictures are cropped to a square, then Display name, the SQL name beneath it, Email, and Change password opened with Current password and New password fields](/docs/images/use/settings-account.webp)

1. On **Account**, click **Change password**.
2. Fill in **Current password** and **New password**. The line under **New password** names the fewest characters it needs.
3. Click **Change password**. You should see **Password changed**.

Your other browser sessions end, so those browsers ask you to sign in again. Your API tokens keep working.

## The other tabs

- **API & MCP** holds **API / MCP tokens** and the **MCP server** card. The [API quickstart](/docs/api/quickstart/) and [Connect an AI agent](/docs/api/mcp/) show how to use them.
- Under **Instance**, **General** shows the instance's name and its sign-in settings. Only admins change them; [Configuration](/docs/self-host/configuration/) covers the tabs an admin sees.
- **Search settings**, at the top of the column, finds any setting by its name.

## Where your choices are kept

| Choice | Where you change it | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| Your look | **Settings** › **Appearance** | With your account, in every browser you sign in on |
| Layout and sort of a list | **Maps**, **Data**, **Workflows**, **Projects** | With your account, for each screen |
| SQL source grouping | **By person** or **By project** in **SQL**, as [Query with SQL](/docs/use/sql/#other-peoples-datasets) shows | With your account |
| Light or dark | The theme button in the top bar | In this browser only |
| Name, picture, email and password | **Settings** › **Account** | With your account |

Your SQL draft and query history stay in each browser too, as [Query with SQL](/docs/use/sql/) explains.

## Troubleshooting

**"Enter your current password to change your email." shows under the password field.** You changed **Email**. Type your password in **Current password to change email**, then click **Save**.

**The card says "An account already uses this email address."** Another account has that email. Choose another one, or ask an admin.

**The card says "Enter your current password."** The current password you typed is wrong. Type it again.

**The card says "Too many wrong current passwords. Try again later."** After too many wrong current passwords, Dezfil pauses your password and email changes. Wait up to 15 minutes.

**The card asks for more characters, or says "This password is too common. Choose a different one."** Choose a longer password that is less common.

**Another browser shows another theme or look.** The theme belongs to each browser: click the theme button there. A page already open takes your new look when you reload it.

**The card says "The file is an SVG image. Choose a still JPEG, PNG or WebP image."** Dezfil keeps still JPEG, PNG and WebP pictures only, never an SVG, a GIF or an animated image. Save the picture as a JPEG or PNG and choose it again. Your picture stays as it was.

**The card says "The file is over the 10 MB limit for a picture, which is fixed."** Choose a smaller file. [Limits](/docs/api/limits/) lists the picture's limits.

**You forgot your password.** Ask an admin to open your account in **Users** and click **Reset password**. They get a sign-in link to pass to you. [Users](/docs/self-host/users/) has the details.

## Next steps

- Build on what you see: [Build a map](/docs/use/build-a-map/).
- Query your datasets and other people's: [Query with SQL](/docs/use/sql/).
- Read and change the same preferences from a script with `GET /api/settings` and `PATCH /api/settings`: the [operation reference](/docs/api/reference/system/#get-api-settings).