# Preferences

Choose Comic Life->Preferences... to display the Preferences window and customize Comic Life's behavior:

- New Documents
  You can choose whether the template chooser or a blank document should be shown when Comic Life launches.
- Keep Images External to the Document
  Normally, Comic Life copies photos into your comic so that they are always accessible. If you check Keep Images External to the Document, however, Comic Life will refer to the image in its external location rather than copying it in. This can make your comic file much smaller and open and save more quickly, but if the external images move, get deleted, or otherwise become inaccessible, then your comic will be incomplete. Keep Images External to the Document can be a good option if you're mainly using images from your photo library and don't plan to work on this comic on a different computer. If you've been using external images and wish to move your comic to a different computer (or just change your mind and wish to copy the images into the comic), choose File->Consolidate Comic... from the menu.
- Single Panel Comics
  Comics normally have several panels per page. But some users just want to add balloons and captions to a single photo, perhaps for posting to a blog, and Comic Life has a way of making this easy. If you're interested in this feature, choose the "Ask" option, and when you drag a photo into your next comic, Comic Life will offer to help you set up a Single Panel Comic. Choose "Always Create Regular Comics" if you would prefer not to be asked.
- Page Size Units
  You can choose which units Comic Life uses for measurements such as page size.
- Camera
  You can choose which camera Comic Life should use. This is useful if you have more than one camera attached to your computer.
- Editing
  Normally, balloons and lettering are not clipped by panels, because many photos do not have room for them. If you prefer these to be clipped by default (clipping provides a crisper look to the comic) enable the "Clip new non-image elements" checkbox.

  Usually Comic Life plays entertaining sounds while you're editing the comic. If you'd like to turn these off, uncheck "Play sounds while editing."
- iPhoto Import
  If you have gone to the trouble of providing your photos in iPhoto with comments or titles, Comic Life can use that information to add captions automatically.
- Software Update
  Normally, Comic Life checks for updates every time it is launched. This allows you to keep up with new releases as they become available. If you prefer not to get these automatic notifications, uncheck this preference. If you'd like to check manually, choose Check for Updates... from the Comic Life 2 menu.