Where Does Scribus Store Preferences?
Scribus preferences folder on Windows, Mac and Linux, and which versioned files to copy for a backup.
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Scribus keeps preferences outside your documents, in the platform's standard per user settings location. The folder holds the main preferences file, custom shortcuts, color settings and scrapbook contents. File names include version numbers, so a 1.5 era file will not match a 1.6 install.
Linux users coming from older releases should note the move. Scribus 1.6 relocated preferences to the XDG config directory, replacing the old ~/.scribus folder. If your settings seem to vanish after an upgrade, the old folder is probably still sitting there untouched.
Where Scribus stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\Scribus
Look for versioned files such as scribus150.rc or prefs150.xml, depending on release. Close Scribus before editing anything by hand, since it rewrites these files on exit.
~/Library/Preferences/Scribus
Same versioned file names as Windows. The in app help (F1) documents the exact file for your release if the folder holds more than you expect.
~/.config/scribus
Current 1.6 and later location. Very old installs used ~/.scribus instead, so check there if this folder is empty after an upgrade from a 1.3 or 1.4 era build.
Frequently asked questions
how do i move scribus settings to a new computer
Copy the whole Scribus preferences folder to the same path on the new machine with Scribus closed. File names carry version numbers, so only restore between identical Scribus versions.
how do i reset scribus to default settings
Quit Scribus, rename the preferences folder, and relaunch. Scribus rebuilds every file with factory defaults, which fixes off screen palettes and broken shortcuts.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.