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Options Window - Standard

DAX Studio offers a number of options which users can use to customize their experience.

The options list can either be navigated by clicking on one of the categories on the left hand side

Or you can use the search box to find specific settings

Custom Export Format

SettingDescriptionDefault
CSV DelimiterSpecifies what field delimiter should be used when exporting to CSVDefault List separator character
(from regional settings)
'Other' DelimiterThe delimiter to use when CSV Delimiter is set to Othern/a
Quote String FieldsSets whether string fields should always be quotedtrue

DAX Formatter

SettingDescriptionDefault
Default Format StyleSpecifies whether DAX Formatter should favour Long or Short linesLong Line
Skip space after function nameSpecifies whether a space should be skipped after a function namefalse

Defaults

Benchmark

SettingDescriptionDefault
Cold Cache Runs EnabledSets whether cold cache runs should be executedTrue
Cold Cache RunsSets the default number of cold cache runs when benchmarking5
Warm Cache Runs EnabledSets whether warm cache runs should be executedTrue
Warm Cache RunsSets the default number of warm cache runs when benchmarking5

Defaults

SettingDescriptionDefault
SeparatorsThis setting can either be set to US/UK (commas as the list separator character) style or Other (semi-colons as the list separator character)US/UK
Enable Clear Cache Auto by defaultchecking this option will enable Auto Clear Cache by defaultFalse
Show Username in TitlebarThis option will show the current windows login in the title barFalse

Theme

SettingDescriptionDefault
UI Theme / Mode (Light, Dark, Auto)This setting will change the current app theme. This can also be changed by clicking on the icon in the title barAuto

Editor

These settings control the display and behaviour of the main editor window

SettingDescriptionDefault
Editor Font FamilySets the font used by the Query Editor paneLucida Console
Editor Font SizeSets the default font size (in points)11pt
Show Line Numberscontrols whether line numbers are displayedtrue
Enable Intellisensewhether to display Intellisense options while typing in the query editortrue
Enable Word Wrappingwhether to word wrap the query editor so that the horizontal scroll bar is not usedfalse
Convert Tabs to Spacesif this setting is TRUE hitting the tab key will insert spaces instead of a tab character. The number of spaces inserted is controlled by the Indentation Size setting.False
Indentation SizeThis is the number of spaces to insert if Convert tabs to spaces is set to TRUE.1
Intellisense Widththis option can be used to increase the default size of the intellisense dropdown window100%
Show Getting Started DialogControls whether the Getting Started Dialog is shown when you first connect to a data sourceTrue

Logging

SettingDescriptionDefault
Logging LevelSets the default level of information written out to the log fileWarning

Metadata Pane

Automatic Metadata Refresh

These setting control the bahaviour of the automatic metadata refresh

SettingDescriptionDefault
Prompt before refreshing MetadataControls whether DAX Studio will show a prompt before refreshing metadataFalse

Detect Metadata Changes

These settings control which connection types DAX Studio will automatically check for metadata changes

SettingDescriptionDefault
Local ConnectionsFor any connections to localhost (eg. PowerPivot, Power BI Desktop, SSDT)true
Network ConnectionsFor any connections to SSAStrue
Cloud ConnectionsFor any connections to data sources that start with asazure:// or powerbi://false

Scrollbars

SettingDescriptionDefault
Auto hide vertical scroll barsControls whether the vertical scroll bar will auto hideTrue

Preview Data

SettingDescriptionDefault
Row Limit for Preview DataControls how many rows are returned when you choose the Preview Data option from the right-click menu500

Tooltips

This section controls what additional information is displayed in the tooltips for various metadata objects

SettingDescriptionDefault
Show Basic StatisticsThis will show statistics like min/max/distinct values for a columntrue
Show Sample DataThis will show a sample of 10 values from a given columntrue

Hidden Objects

This section controls the visibilty of hidden objects in the Metadata pane.

SettingDescriptionDefault
Show Hidden columns, tables and MeasuresThis setting allows for the showing of objects that are hidden in the normal report viewstrue

Sorting

This section controls the sorting of objects in the Metadata pane.

SettingDescriptionDefault
Sort Folders First in metadata paneThis setting will force folders to be sorted first in the metadata panetrue

Privacy

SettingDescriptionDefault
Block All Internet AccessStops DAX Studio from all external access. This option can only be set by an administrator during an 'All Users' install and overrides all the other options below. (and they will show up as disabled when this option has been set)false
Block Version ChecksStops DAX Studio from checking for and notifying of available updatesfalse
Block Crash ReportingStops DAX Studio from sending crash reports to the developer. There is a small chance that the screenshot of the crash could include personal information. Although you can untick the option to include the screenshot in the report if this is the case.false
Block External ServicesStops DAX Studio from accessing external services (such as DaxFormatter.com). We never send any data externally, but there is a small chance that query text might contain personal information if you were writing queries that filtered for specific information like Customer Namesfalse

Proxy

These settings control if/how DAX Studio will use a Proxy server to connect to online services (like DaxFormatter.com and crash reporting)

SettingDescriptionDefault
Use System ProxyIf set to true DAX Studio will attempt to use the Proxy settings from the operating systemtrue
Proxy AddressThe url for your proxy server(blank)
Proxy UserThe username for accessing the Proxy server(blank)
Proxy PasswordThe password for accessing the Proxy server(blank)

Query History

DAX Studio keeps a log of recently executed commands (both successful and failed commands)

SettingDescriptionDefault
History Items to keepby default DAX Studio keeps a limited number of recent queries (Note: setting this number too high can affect the startup time for DAX Studio)200
Show Trace Timings (FE/SE)This setting controls whether any trace timings are also capturd in the query logtrue

Results

These settings change settings for the Results window

SettingDescriptionDefault
Automatic Format ResultsThis setting controls whether the results pane attempts to automatically format numbers and percentagesfalse
Default Date Automatic FormatControls the default date format when Automatic Format Results is enabledyyyy-MM-dd
Font FamilyThis sets the font for the results paneSegoe UI
Font SizeThis is the default size for the results font11pt
Scale Font with EditorWhen this option is selected increasing the zoom factor on the editor will also increase the zoom for the results panetrue

Server Timings

SettingDescriptionDefault
Highlight Vertipaq CallbacksHighlight xmSQL queries containing callbacks that don't store the result in the storage engine cache.true
Replace column ID with nameReplace xmSQL column ID with corresponding column name in data model.true
Replace table ID with nameReplace xmSQL table ID with corresponding column name in data model.true
Simplify SE query syntaxRemove internal IDs and verbose syntax from xmSQL queries.true

Sounds

SettingDescriptionDefault
Play a sound after long running operationsWill play a sound after long running operations (export/benchmark/view metrics/queries)false
Only Play a sound is not activeOnly play a sound if DAX Studio is not the active applicationfalse
Long Operation SoundBeep
Long Query SecondsIf a query takes more than this number of seconds it will trigger the Long Operation Sound10 sec

Timeouts

These settings control the length of various timeouts for potentially long running operations

SettingDescriptionDefault
DAX Formatter Request TimeoutDAX Studio sends a background request https://daxformatter.com this setting controls how long we wait before we consider the request as failed and log an error10 sec
PowerPivot model detection Timeoue (sec)This is the number of seconds DAX Studio will wait for a response from Excel while trying to determine if the active workbook has a data model30 sec
Server Timings End Event TimeoutThe trace events in the tabular engine are raised on a low priority background thread and occasionally if the server is very busy some events can be discarded. This setting controls how long DAX Studio will wait for a queries final QueryEnd event before it gives up and logs a warning. For high latency connections (such as Azure AS and the Power BI XMLA endpoint) you may need to increase this setting.15 sec
Trace Startup TimeoutWhen DAX Studio starts a trace it periodically "pings" the server with an empty command. It then waits until the trace captures one of these requests before it considers the trace to be fully active. This setting controls how long DAX Studio will wait to see one of these "ping" requests before it stops waiting and logs and error. For high latency connections (such as Azure AS and the Power BI XMLA endpoint) you may need to increase this setting.30 sec

Trace

This setting controls the behavours of the various tracing features.

SettingDescriptionDefault
Legacy DirectQuery TraceThis setting controls whether tracing of DirectQuery Events is enabled for connections to servers with a version number earlier then 15.0 (SSAS 2017). For older servers the DirectQuery events do not allow per session filtering on the server so we have capture events from all sessions and apply filtering in DAX Studio. This places much more load on both the client and server which is why this option is off by default. If you need to enable it we recommend keeping any traces running for as short a time as possiblefalse