How to Customize and Change Windows Terminal Settings in Windows 11

Windows Terminal runs any type of app having a command-line interface, ranging from Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell, and Azure Cloud Shell.

Despite being a fairly new addition to Windows, Terminal has some amazing features along with an ability to customize a ton of options and tailor the experience according to the user’s preference. Thus, without further ado, let’s get started.

Open Windows Terminal Settings

To change and customize Windows Terminal on your PC, you to open the Windows Terminal Settings interface.

To access the Terminal settings, first, launch Windows Terminal from the Start Menu of your Windows 11 PC.

Once Windows Terminal is open, click on the carat (downward arrow) icon situated on the top bar of the Terminal window. Then click on the ‘Settings’ option from the overlay menu. Alternatively, you can also press the Ctrl+, keyboard shortcut to open Windows Terminal settings.

Now you will be able to see the Settings screen of Windows Terminal.

Well, now you know how to access the Settings screen on Windows Terminal; let’s start learning how to customize it according to your needs.

Change Windows Terminal Startup Settings

Just like any other app, you can customize the startup behavior of Windows Terminal.

To do so, click on the ‘Startup’ option present on the sidebar of the Terminal ‘Settings’ screen.

Then, to change or select a default profile, click on the drop-down menu present under the ‘Default profile’ label.

Now, select your preferred option from the list.

After that, if you want the Terminal to start as soon as you log in to your Windows machine, toggle the switch present under the ‘Launch on machine startup’ label to the ‘On’ position.

Next, from the ‘Launch mode’ section select your preferred choice by clicking on the radio button preceding each option. To provide you a better idea here’s a gist of what behavior each option exhibits:

Default: Default mode will launch the Windows Terminal in windowed mode with all the tabs and tile bar visible.
Maximized: When ‘Maximized’ option is chosen, Terminal will occupy your whole screen with all tabs and title bar still visible.
Full screen: ‘Full screen’ is pretty self-explanatory, however, you will not be able to see tabs and title bar in this mode.
Focus: In ‘Focus’ mode, the Terminal will be launced in windowed mode. However, tabs and title bar will not be visible and you will have to use keyboard shortcuts to open a new tab, or to jump into Terminal Settings.
Maximized focus: Maxmied focus is just as same as the ‘Focus’ mode, though ‘Maximized focus’ will run the terminal in full screen.

After that, to choose the behavior of a Terminal window when a new instance is launched, click on the radio button preceding your preferred option under the ‘New instance behavior’ section.

Now, you can also set a size for the Terminal window when launched in windowed mode. To do so, from the ‘Launch size’ section enter the ‘Columns’ size to adjust the width and enter the ‘Rows’ size to adjust the height of the window.

Once you have changed all the Interaction settings as per your preference, click on the ‘Save’ button situated on the bottom right corner of the Terminal window.

Change Windows Terminal Interaction Settings

Changing Terminal’s interaction properties are pretty straightforward and require almost no effort to tailor them according to your needs.

Click on the ‘Interaction’ tab from the sidebar present on the Terminal ‘Settings’ window.

Next, if you want to automatically copy your selection in Terminal to clipboard, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position that is present under the ‘Automatically copy the selection to clipboard’ label.

After that, select the format of text when copying from the Terminal by clicking on the radio button preceding each option.

Then, if you want to remove the trailing white space when using a rectangular selection, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position present under the ‘Remove trailing white-space in rectangular selection’ label.

Next, to remove or add word delimiters that are the characters used for specifying a boundary between two words in Terminal, click on the text box present under the ‘Word delimiter’ label and remove/ add characters as per your preference.

Now, by default Windows Terminal window will resize its’ height/width according to the characters present on the terminal screen when dragged from an edge of the window. (i.e. Terminal will never display a single word in two rows when dragged to resize, it will snap to the size fit to accommodate the length of word/character.)

If you do not wish to resize your Terminal window according to the word/character length, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position present under the ‘Snap window resizing to character grid.

After that, to change the Tab switching style, click on the radio button to select preceding each option present under the ‘Tab switcher interface style’ label.

Note: The first two options will bring an overlay window referred to here as ‘Tab switcher’ on your screen when switching terminal tabs using the Ctrl+Tab shortcut.

Then, to shift your focus automatically to the pane you hover using your mouse, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position that is present under the ‘Automatically focus pane on mouse hover’.

Next, by default Terminal detects URLs and makes them clickable. If this is something you want to turn off, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position that is situated under the ‘Automatically detect URLs and make them clickable’.

Once you have changed all the Interaction settings as per your preference, click on the ‘Save’ button situated on the bottom right corner of the Terminal window.

Change Windows Terminal Theme and Appearance

For a very long time, users had no option to change the appearance of command-line tools and it is only a recent development that Microsoft has enabled users to change the GUI of command-line tools.

First, click on the ‘Appearance’ tab from the options present on the sidebar of the Terminal Settings screen.

Now, under the ‘Theme’ section, click on the radio button preceding each option to change the theme for Terminal to use the system default, Light theme, or Dark theme.

Note: When the ‘Use Windows theme’ option is selected, Terminal will change its theme according to the system default theme in Windows.

Then, if you do not wish to see the ‘tab bar’ until you open a new tab, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position present under the ‘Always show tabs’ label.

Next, if you want to see the Title bar of the window, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position present under the ‘Hide the title bar’ option.

Note: The title bar will appear above the tab bar when enabled, also you would need to restart Terminal after choosing this option to let the changes take effect.

When the Title bar is enabled, Windows Terminal will show the active terminal’s title on it. If you do not want that, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position present under the ‘Use active terminal title as application title’ label.

Note: When toggled ‘Off’ the Title bar will display ‘Windows Terminal’.

If you wish to keep the Windows Terminal window always on top of your desktop, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position present under the ‘Always on top’ label.

Then, to set tab width, click on the radio button preceding the ‘Equal’ option to keep the tab width equal, click on the ‘Title length’ to adjust the tab size according to the title length, and click on the ‘Compact’ option to show only icons on the non-active open tabs.

Next, under the ‘Pane animations’ section, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position to turn all animations off for the Windows Terminal app.

Once you have changed all the Appearance settings as per your preference, click on the ‘Save’ button situated on the bottom right corner of the Terminal window.

Change Windows Terminal Color Scheme

Windows Terminal provides you with 9 presets of color schemes to customize the command-line tools according to your taste. That being said, you can also create your own color scheme if you require.

Next, click on the ‘Color schemes’ tab from the sidebar present on the Terminal ‘Settings’ screen.

Now, to select an existing color scheme, click on the drop-down menu present on the screen.

Then, choose your preferred option from the overlay menu.

To create your own color scheme, click on the ‘+ Add new’ button.

Then click on the ‘Rename’ button to give it an appropriate name.

Once renamed, click on the ‘Tick’ icon button to confirm.

Next, choose your choice of colors by clicking on the color tile situated right beside the individual option from the ‘System colors’ column.

Then, pick a color by clicking inside the color picker and adjust the hue of the color by dragging the slider present underneath the color picker.

Alternatively, if you have a hex code for your preferred color, you can enter it on the text box situated right under the hue slider. once you have set your preferred color, click on the main Terminal window to confirm.

Once adjusted according to your preference, click on the ‘Save’ button from the bottom right corner of the window.

To delete a color scheme, select your desired color scheme from the drop-down menu and scroll down to the end of the page. Then, click on the ‘Delete color scheme’ button.

Change Windows Terminal Rendering Settings

You can also change some rendering settings for the Terminal, however, if you are an average joey you might not need to tinker with them.

Click on the ‘Rendering’ option from the sidebar in the Windows Terminal settings screen.

Windows terminal by default renders only the updates to the screen, if you wish to redraw the entire screen between each frame, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position present under the ‘Redraw entire screen when display updates’ label.

Then, to use Software rendering instead of a hardware one, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position present under the ‘Use software rendering’ label.

After adjusting the options according to your preference, click on the ‘Save’ button from the bottom right corner of the window.

Change Windows Terminal Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows Terminal keyboard shortcuts are called ‘Actions’ in the Terminal settings. The terminal provides you with a list of the currently bound keys and also provides you an option to re-configure them according to your preference.

To reconfigure the keyboard shortcuts in Windows Terminal, click on the ‘Actions’ tab present on the sidebar of the Terminal ‘Settings’ screen.

Then, you will be able to see the list of all currently bound keys on the right section of the window. To change these ‘Actions’ you would need to open and edit a JSON file. To do so, click on the ‘Open JSON file’ option present on the screen.

In case you do not have a JSON editor, click on the ‘Look for an app in the Microsoft Store’ from the overlay window and click ‘OK’. Then download a preferred app from the Microsoft Store.

After the file has been opened in a JSON editor, you can bind the actions to your preferred keys and save the file to confirm and apply.

Change Settings for Individual Command Line Tools

You can also change settings for individual command-line tools and keep other profiles unaffected by the changes.

Now, select your preferred profile from the ‘Profiles’ section present on the sidebar of the Terminal ‘Settings’ screen.

Then on the right section of the Terminal window, you will be able to see the individual profile settings mainly categorized into three tabs – General, Appearance, and Advanced.

General Settings for Each Command Line Tool

Then click on the ‘General’ tab from the right section of the window. Next, click on the text box present under the ‘Name’ label to change the name of the command-line app,

After that, to change the executable file for the profile click on the ‘Browse’ button present under the ‘Command line’ label. Similarly, to change the starting directory, click on the ‘Browse’ button present under the ‘Starting directory’ label.

Next, to change the icon for the profile, click on the ‘brose’ button present under the ‘Icon’ label. Otherwise, you can also type the location of the file in the text box given adjacent to the ‘Browse’ button.

Next, to change/set a default tab title, enter an appropriate name in the textbox present under the ‘Tab title’ label.

You can also choose not to include the profile in the tab bar drop-down menu, to do so, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position present under the ‘Hide profile from the dropdown’ label.

Custom Appearance Setting for each Command Line Tool

You can also change the individual profile appearance setting from the ‘Appearance’ tab.

First, click on the ‘Appearance’ tab present right next to the ‘General’ tab.

Now, to change the color scheme for the profile, click on the drop-down menu present under the ‘Color scheme’ label.

Then, choose your preferred option from the overlay menu.

Similarly, to change the font face, click on the drop-down menu present under the ‘Font face’ label and select your preferred option.

Next, change the font size by entering your preferred size in the textbox present under the ‘Font size’ label. After that, to make fonts bolder or thinner, click on the drop-down menu present under the ‘Font weight’ label and select your preferred option.

Then, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position present under the ‘Retro terminal effects’ to enable retro terminal effects such as glowing text and scan lines.

After that, if you wish to change your cursor shape, click on the individual radio button preceding your preferred choice present under the ‘Cursor’ section.

Next, to set an image as a background of your Terminal, click on the ‘Browse’ button present under the ‘Background image’ label. Else, you can also use your desktop background by clicking on the checkbox preceding ‘Use desktop wallpaper’.

Then, to turn your terminal window translucent, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position present under the ‘Enable acrylic’ label. You can also adjust the opacity of the window by dragging the slider under the ‘Acrylic opacity’ option.

After that, drag the slider present under the ‘Window’ section to adjust the window padding. Next, if you want to hide the scrollbar, click on the radio button preceding the ‘Hidden’ option present under the ‘Scrollbar visibility’ option.

Advanced Settings

Some more advanced settings for the profile can be changed from the ‘Advanced’ tab.

First, click on the ‘Advanced’ tab from the right section of the Terminal window.

Then, if you do not want messages from the application to override your default tab title, toggle the switch to the ‘On’ position present under the ‘Suppress title changes’ option.

Then, to change text antialiasing in the renderer, click on the radio button preceding your preferred option present under the ‘Text antialiasing’ section.

Note: You will have to restart Windows Terminal to let this setting take effect.

Next, if you do not want the Terminal to treat Ctrl+Alt as an alias for the AltGr key, toggle the switch to the ‘off’ position present under the ‘AltGr aliasing’ option.

Similarly, if you do not want the terminal to scroll to input when you start typing, toggle the switch to the ‘Off’ position present under the ‘Scroll to input when typing’ option.

After that, if you want to change the number of lines you want to scroll back to in a Terminal window, enter your desired number of lines in the text box present under the ‘History size’ section.

Then, to change when a Terminal Window should close automatically, click on the radio button preceding your preferred option present under the ‘Profile termination behavior’ section.

Next, to control Terminal behavior when the app emits a BEL character, click on the checkbox preceding your preferred option present under the ‘Bell notification style’ section.

Note: You can either select a combination of all options, a single option, or even select none of them as per your preference.

Once you are done configuring the profile as per your preference, click on the ‘Save’ button to confirm the changes.

Add a New Command Line Tool or Duplicate an Existing Tool

Along with the existing command-line tools, Terminal allows you to add more tools or either duplicate a profile.

To do so, click on the ‘Add a new profile’ option present on the sidebar of the Terminal ‘Settings’ screen.

Then, click on the ‘New empty profile’ button to add a new profile.

Otherwise, to duplicate a profile, click on the radio button preceding your preferred profile from the ‘Duplicate a profile’ section and click the ‘Duplicate’ button.

After clicking the ‘New empty profile’ button, enter a suitable name for your profile in the textbox present under the ‘Name’ label.

Then, browse the .EXE file of your command-line tool by clicking on the ‘Browse’ button present under the ‘Command line’ label.

Next, to choose the starting directory for the new profile, click on the ‘Browse’ button under the ‘Starting directory’ label. Else, click on the checkbox preceded by ‘Use parent process directory’ to set the starting directory of the new profile the same as Windows Terminal.

After that, choose the icon for your profile by clicking on the ‘Browse’ button present under the ‘Icon’ label and locate the file using File Explorer. Alternatively, you can also type your image directory in the text box adjacent to the ‘Browse’ button.

Then, provide a default title for the profile tab by entering a suitable tile in the text box present under the ‘Tab title’ label.

In case you do not want the new profile to show up in the dropdown menu of the tab bar, toggle the switch present under the ‘Hide profile from dropdown’ label to the ‘Off’ position.

After that, you can change the ‘Appearance’ and ‘Advanced’ settings for the new profile by clicking on their respective tabs same as we did in the previous section.