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Documentation about the LyX user directory
The user directory holds local settings and additional/locally modified files used by LyX. If you want to add layout files, modules, etc., this is the place to put them (unless you are a system administrator). Note that files in the user directory will take precedence over files in the global system directory, so you can "overwrite" global settings by placing modified versions of a file here.
The location of the LyX user directory depends upon the system LyX is installed on. Some common locations are below.
- Linux and other Unix-like systems: usually found at
~/.lyx, where ~ is your home directory.
- Mac OS X:
~/Library/Application Support/LyX-<VERSION>/
- Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 10: usually at
C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\lyx<VERSION>\ (note: this is if you installed LyX for all users)
- Windows 2000/XP: usually at
C:\Documents and Settings\[your username]\Application Data\lyx<VERSION>\
- Windows 95/98/ME:
C:\Program Files\lyx\Resources\lyx\ (note: needs to be confirmed - this looks a bit like the SystemDir)
The Help→About LyX dialog contains information about where your user directory is:
The user directory can principally contain the same subdirectories and files as the system directory, but in practice it usually contains only a subset. If a specific subdirectory or file is missing, you can manually add it (but not all make sense).
It can contain the following subdirectories:
bind/- files defining KeyboardShortcuts
clipart/- stock graphics
commands/- configuration file for the "call" lyx function (cf. this explanation)
doc/- local LyX manuals, if you feel like it
examples/- example documents for various text classes
fonts/- fonts needed by LyX (e.g. to display math)
images/- icons and other images needed by the User Interface
kbd/- keyboard maps (see sec. 4.2 of the Customization manual)
layouts/- modified and additional layout files and modules (see Concepts)
lyx2lyx/- the lyx2lyx scripts that converts/reverts between different versions of LyX. Only useful if you hack on these scripts.
scripts/- various (python) helper scripts used by LyX. Only useful if you hack on these scripts.
templates/- user template files (set templates path in Tools→Preferences→Paths to access these with File→New from Template)
tex/- nonsensical in the user directory
ui/- modified user interface (menu and toolbar) definition files
and the following files:
bibFiles.lst- a list of all bibtex databases found by the TeX search interface (displayed in Tools→TeX Information)
bstFiles.lst- a list of all bibtex style files found by the TeX search interface (displayed in Tools→TeX Information)
clsFiles.lst- a list of all LaTeX classes found by the TeX search interface (displayed in Tools→TeX Information)
configure.log- a log file documenting the latest reconfiguration of LyX.
encodings- modified specifications for the encodings supported by LyX
external_templates- local specifications for the external inset (cf. Insert→File→External Material)
languages- modified specifications for the languages supported by LyX
lyxmodules.lst- a list of all the installed modules (see Concepts)
lyxrc.defaults- default preferences as determined by the configuration.
packages.lst- a list containing those natively supported packages that are installed on the current system.
preferences- the actual preferences as set in Tools→Preferences
session- various session informations (list of recently used files, bookmarks, etc.)
styFiles.lst- a list of all LaTeX style files found by the TeX search interface (displayed in Tools→TeX Information)
symbols- modified information for the display of math characters/symbols
textclass.lst- a list containing those natively supported document classes that are installed on the current system.
unicodesymbols- a modified list of the supported unicode characters, defining how they should be handled by LyX
Customization
