# Preferences

Use the Window > Preferences dialog pages to set how you want Eclipse to operate.

You can browse the Preferences dialog pages by looking through all the titles in the left pane or search a smaller set of titles by using the filter field at the top of the left pane. The results returned by the filter will match both Preference page titles and keywords such as "appearance" and "java". However, to find specific functions you may have to search the online help instead.

The arrow controls in the upper-right of the right pane enable you to navigate through previously viewed pages. To return to a page after viewing several pages, click the drop-down arrow to display a list of your recently viewed preference pages.

The preferences dialog displaying the General preferences:

Preference pages contributed by plug-ins are included in this dialog.

Workbench window layout