System Preferences: Overview¶

System Preferences control how your version of Movie Magic Budgeting will present information.

Opening System Preferences¶

Open a budget
Select Setup > Budget Preferences from the app menu / file menu
The system will display the Budget Preferences window
Click to open the System Prefs tab
To return to your budget, close the Budget Preferences window

You can also access Budget Preferences with the keyboard shortcut CMD + 9 on a Mac or CTRL + 9 on a PC.

Budgeting Grid Display¶

These options control how the grid will display in your application.

Option	Description
Alt Row Shading	This turns on or off the light grey shading on alternating rows
Horiz. Lines	This turns on or off horizontal lines between each row

Suppression Bar on Detail Lines¶

Detail lines suppressed by a Group can display two ways. Use the Suppression Bar on Detail Lines toggle in the SYSTEM PREFS tab to choose:

On (default): suppressed lines show a gray background bar and gray text
Off: suppressed lines show gray text only, as in MMB7

The setting applies to every budget, updates the grid immediately, and persists across sessions.

Screenshot: MMB Suppression Bar on Detail Lines toggle in System Prefs

Numerical Display Preference¶

A toggle in System Preferences controls how numerical values display in the Amount and Multiplier columns. In its default state, fractions you type stay in fraction form (for example, 1/3 remains 1/3). Switching the toggle converts fractions to their decimal equivalents on commit (for example, 1/3 displays as 0.3333).

The preference applies to all open budgets and persists across sessions. The underlying value used in calculations is unchanged; only the display format changes.

Decimal Display on Totals¶

By default, totals and subtotals display as whole numbers. Turn on decimal display to show cents on your totals, which helps when reconciling or exporting to Excel.

Screenshot: MMB decimal display on totals

Open the Totals options in System Preferences
Turn on decimal display and choose the number of decimal places to show

The setting is off by default and applies at the Topsheet, Account, and Detail levels, the same way the Rate column handles decimals. You can turn decimals off for an individual report in Report Setup, and the Excel export follows whatever this setting shows.

Grid Zoom Default¶

Set the default grid zoom for budgets that do not have their own saved zoom level. A zoom level saved on an individual budget takes precedence over this default.

The Help & Tutorials window and the F1 shortcut were removed in 10.32.8 while the video tutorials are rebuilt. The Movie Magic Budgeting Manual is now available from the application's Help menu, and the Keyboard Shortcuts reference opens with SHIFT + F1 and can be repositioned anywhere on screen. See Getting Help for details.