Interface options are accessible under Options menu (mainly in Options | Environment... menu) and some of them are accessible also in context menus, which are activated by right-clicking on the object(s) that the options are related to.

General

Allow only one instance If the option is on, then only one application instance can exist at a time. When the application is already started, and you will try to start another instance, it fails, then the previous instance is activated, and command line data (if any) will be redirected to the first instance.
Show tasks on startup Set this option to show Tasks dialog each time the application starts.
Automatically check for new version Set this option to allow the application to automatically check for existing of newer Database Tour version. Internet connection is required.
Online Help Set this option to use the online Help system instead of the local Help file. Internet connection is required. Alternatively, you can download the Help file from Database Tour website, unpack it to the program folder and turn off this option to force the application to use the local Help. In the latter case, you might need to update the local file from time to time to keep it actual (for example, when a new software version is published).
Default character set Specify the char set for newly created text objects in reports and for printing tables or table structure.
Maximum database history count Specify the maximum count of entries in the list of registered databases. When the database count in the list exceeds this value, then the oldest database is removed from the list and the new one is added.
When long operation ends  
Beep Beep sound after long operations (e.g. after arithmetic calculating etc.).
Move to top Database Tour is moved to stay over all other applications after long operations (e.g. after arithmetic calculating etc.).
Copying tables to clipboard  
With column titles

If this option is on, then the column titles are also included when copying data to clipboard.
Include MEMO

If this option is on, then the contents of MEMO fields (long text) will be also included, when copying. This sometimes may cause the problems when pasting the data (for example, if MEMO data contains carriage return characters etc.).

View

Window background color Specify background color for all Database Tour windows.
Tables Table view options
Buttons Button view options

Data View (in tables)

Show column hints Specify whether the hint should appear for column titles. The hint consists of the field name and field type.
Show data hints Specify whether the hint should appear for data cells, if the data does not fit within cell. The hint contains the data cell text.
Null values Specify text and text color to highlight the null values. If the text not specified, the corresponding cell remains empty.
Dates Specify conditional formatting for Date and DateTime values
Numbers Specify formatting and conditional formatting for numeric values
Text Specify conditional formatting for text / string values
Graphic Specify view for graphic data
Boolean Specify view for boolean (logical) data
Long Text Specify view for Memo (long text) data

See also

Conditional Formatting

Database

Trim trailing spaces Specify either to trim trailing spaces and control characters when working with data aware controls (e.g. grids). This option affects only text (char, varchar etc.) data.
Allow edit tables after opening If this option is on, the application will always try to open table data for editing. If it fails, or the option is off, then application opens table data in READ ONLY mode.
Use editable queries, if possible Editable ("live") queries allow to edit result data set, returning by the SELECT query (you should also use only one physical table for it and should not use aggregate functions in the SQL expression).
If the option is on and the application cannot open a query for editing, or the option is off, then application opens a query in READ ONLY mode.
If you changed this option while query is opened, then you must reopen it to take effect of these changes.
Asynchronous query execution Asynchronous execution means ability to run more than one query at the same time (you open several SQL windows and run a query from each of them) or work with the application interface while query (queries) still executing. When this option is off, you need to wait for completing the query in order to work with the application interface or run another query. Please note that if this option is on, the application uses more operating memory.
Use server output Specify either to use server output (FD connections only). Server output is supported by several DBMS (e.g. Oracle or PostgreSQL). Note: for some DBMS, using server output may require additional server round trips.
Always show deleted records This option concerns unpacked dBase/FoxPro tables (BDE connections only). Check this option to always see previously deleted records in such tables (deleted records is highlighted by gray font). If the option is off, you still can temporarily (while the table is open) show those records by choosing Table | Show Deleted Records.
Fetch size For datasets, specifies the count of records to fetch at a single fetch operation (FD connections only). This option affects the dataset opening time and the speed of exporting or reporting. Try to play with it to find the optimal performance for your task.
Table filtering options  
Case sensitive If this option is on, then the case of symbols is taken into consideration in filtering. This option does not work for ADO connections.
Partial compare If this option is on, partial comparison of strings is allowed in filtering. For example, if the filter is first_name='Da*', then only those records, where first_name field value begins at Da, will be shown in the table grid. Meaningful for text fields only. This option does not work for ADO connections.
Quick search options  
Case sensitive If this option is on, then the case of symbols is taken into consideration in quick search. Meaningful for text fields only. This option does not work for ADO connections.
Partial compare If this option is on, partial comparison of strings is allowed in quick search. The search is executed to the first text that begins with searched text. Meaningful for text fields only. This option does not work for ADO connections.
Transaction Control  
Without Autocommit If this option is on, all database changes are done inside transaction, until the user explicitly terminates it by commit or rollback. Please note, that not all databases support transactions and, thus, this mode.
Autocommit and manual transactions If this option is on, each successful database change is committed immediately without ability to rollback. But it is possible to change this behavior by starting transactions manually (if the current database supports this) using the corresponding buttons or menu items from main window.

Object Browser

Sort by This option is meaningful for table list only. When sorting by name, then table type is ignored, otherwise the tables are first sorted by table types, then by names. For local file databases, the table type is determined by the file extension; for other databases, the table types are: regular tables, views, external (foreign) tables.
Show table partitions in table list Specify either to show PostgreSQL table partitions in the list of tables. In PostgreSQL databases, table partitions (declarative partitioning) are functioning like separate tables, so sometimes it could be useful to see them in the table list for easier access.
Show system objects This option concerns server databases with system objects (tables, procedures etc.) inside database. If this option is on, then you can see also system objects in the objects' lists.
Original object type names If this option is on, the object type names are not translated to interface language, i.e. you will see Tables, Procedures, Triggers and so on even if your interface language is not English.
Use alternate color to distinguish objects from different schemas This option is meaningful for databases, which support schemas. If this option is on, the database objects from neighboring (in the list order) schemas will be highlighted by different background color.
Multi-line tabs If this option is on, the Object Browser tabs will be divided on several lines if the tabs overlap the browser width. Otherwise, the tabs will be placed on one line with ability to scroll them horizontally.

SQL Editor

Field names completion After you entered a table name followed by a period in an SQL editor the list of the table field names will be displayed. You can select the field name to be automatically pasted in SQL text.
SQL completion When you type the first word in SQL editor, the word is automatically completed when it begins as one of the basic SQL keywords. Initial SQL text appears in blank SQL editor when it receives input focus.
Clear SQL text after query execution If this option is on, then SQL text in SQL editor will be cleared every time the query successfully executed. Anyway, that text can be accessed by Previous SQL button.
Show query results on a separate page If this option is on, then SQL query results are shown on a separate Result page of SQL window. Otherwise, they are shown on Edit page, below SQL Editor window.
Show line numbers Turns on/off showing line numbers in SQL editor.
Maximum SQL history capacity Specify the maximum count of SQL statements of executed queries, which the application should keep for each SQL window.
Initial SQL text Initial SQL text appears in blank SQL editor when it receives focus. This works only if SQL completion option is set.
Query execution by timer Here, you can specify some options which affect query execution initiated by Execute by timer button of SQL window.
SQL hyperlinks Here, you can specify either to use hyperlinks for some kinds of tokens in SQL text or not.
SQL token hints Here, you can specify either to show hints for some kinds of tokens in SQL text or not.
Font and Color Background color, font and SQL syntax highlighting settings.

Reports

Report creating settings

These settings are applied when the report is created automatically by the application. In Report Builder, you can edit the automatically created reports.

Author Default report author. It can be changed in Report Builder.
Create objects only within visible page area If the option is on then only those objects will be automatically created, which fit in page area.
Automatically create 'dataset_sum()' expression for float fields Each time the report is created, the 'dataset_sum()' expression will be automatically generated for each numeric field in the report Totals band.
Automatically create 'report_file_name' expression Each time the report is created, the 'report_file_name' expression will be automatically generated in the Page Footer band. In the case, when report template was loaded from the file or saved to file, it shows the report template file name when previewing or printing the report.
Schema Default report style schema. It can be changed in Report Builder.
Default title Each time the report is automatically filled, the report title is automatically created. You may specify either it should be a standard title (text like TableName) or your own expression.

Report changing settings

These settings are applied when you are editing the report.

Changed by Default report modifier. It is applied only when the report modifier is not specified yet. You can change existing report modifier manually in Report Builder.

File Associations

See File Associations

Confirmations

Closing data source If this option is on, a confirmation appears when user closes active database.
Closing object browser If this option is on, a confirmation appears when user tries to close the object browser. The object browser occupies the left part of the main window; it contains lists of database objects like tables, views, functions etc. and some important functionality to work with database objects through its tool buttons and context menus. So, it is recommended to close it only temporary to make the right part of the application wider. That's why the confirmation appears by default.
Quick reconnection If this option is on, a confirmation appears when user tries to log as another user by double-clicking User line from database properties on General page.
Auto-adjusting column widths If this option is on, a confirmation appears when user double-clicks the right edge of the data grid column title to adjust its width by the column values. Adjusting the column width requires analyzing all records in the dataset, so it can take some time.
Opening report data source If this option is on, a confirmation appears when user opens report preview from Report Builder window, but the report data source is closed. In most cases, users work with Report Builder having the data source already opened, and can be surprised when the report preview loading time exceeds expected time in the case when the data source needs to be opened yet.
Saving SQL text If this option is on, and the SQL text was changed in SQL editor, but not saved yet, a saving prompt appears when the database is closing.
Creating schema for text table If this option is on, and the user tries to open text or CSV table without the schema of field definitions, a prompt appears asking whether to create the schema. When the user chooses to create the schema, a new dialog appears where the schema settings can be set.
Using 'Create_Or_Replace' export mode If this option is on, and the user chooses 'Create_Or_Replace' export mode in Export window, a prompt appears asking whether user really want to export only structure without data.
Committing / Rolling back transaction If this option is on, a confirmation appears when user tries to commit or rollback the active transaction using the corresponding buttons or menu items from main window.
Replacing all in all windows If this option is on, a confirmation appears when user chooses to replace some text in all open windows. Such replacement can potentially make the implicit changes to many open SQL windows, which can be not desirable, especially when the action was chosen mistakenly.

Other (available in Options menu)

Language Language of the application interface and help files.
Status line If this option is on, then the status line of the main window will be shown.