FAQ

Auto update does not work

Version 0.9.6.20090923 and 0.9.6.20090927 are broken and will not auto update to future releases. You can fix this simply by ticking and unticking the "Prompt for test release updates" box in preferences. Alternatively, download a newer version directly from this site.
I get blank windows, or transparent windows in expose.

Try turning off blur in your terminals. Unfortunately Apple has yet to create a public API for this functionality, and the undocument API we use at the moment has glitches. Namely it doesn't work at all on some older Macs (eg, PowerPC iBook G4s), also on Snow Leopard it causes windows to disappear during expose.
I don't like the way that iTerm renders bold fonts
Try pressing CMD-I and unchecking the Bold option. If you like the result then press "Update" to save it.

Try running this command to see the difference between the two behaviours:
```
printf '\e[0;31mplain\n\e[1;31mbold\n'\
'\e[0;91mhighlight\n\e[1;91mbold+highlight\n\e[0m'
```
With bold off, the last three appear the same, with bold on they are all distinct.
My iTerm is too slow. What can I do to improve its performance?

First of all, upgrade to the latest version. We are constantly updating the program to improve its performance. The latest version should run at least as fast as Apple's Terminal.app. Secondly, there are a couple of things you can tweak. Avoid using a big scrollback buffer. This would use a lot of memory especially if you have lots of tab open. Keeping windows geometry and font size small helps too. Disable transparency and anti-aliasing does have a minimal effect on speed. Turning off blur can improve performance dramatically for users with older computers. There is also an option to allow users to adjust the display refresh rate. Fast refreshing rate means more CPU usage, and it might decrease performance when there is a lot of scrolling.
How do I make new tabs open in the same directory as previous ones?

This is a new feature, so make sure you're running one of the test releases. First you need to change your bookmark command to run /bin/bash -li, then remove any working directory from the bookmark. The user interface for this will be improved soon.
Why my arrow/HOME/END keys are not working?

In one of the old versions, there was a Terminal Profile called "Xterm (OS X)". That one CAN CAUSE this problem. Please remove it if you still have it.

When the terminal type of your sessions is set to one of those "xterm" types, iTerm handles the arrow keys, the home key, and the end key in a special way. The escape sequences generated by these keys depend on if your session is in the normal mode or the cursor application mode. For the normal mode, iTerm generates ESC [ sequences. For the cursor application mode, iTerm generates ESC O sequences.

These two modes are respected by many console programs. Most shells are good with the normal mode. Full screen applications such as vi and emacs usually use cursor application mode. Termcap and terminfo are written for full screen applications, so they will report the cursor application mode sequences.

In any case, if your keys are not working, first check if iTerm is set to correct terminal type. The terminal type set in the terminal profile should match the TERM variable in your session environment. Scripts like bashrc may change the terminal type and create some problem. Secondly, check if there's any customized key bindings for these keys. These settings will override the default behavior. And lastly, check if you have set up your console application correctly. In some system, vi by default works in the original vi mode, which does not support arrow keys.

If everything else fails, you can fire up another terminal program that works for you, check the escape sequences generated by arrow keys in those program, and go back to iTerm, type these key sequences in your keyboard profile.
I can't input Chinese/Japanese/Umlauts/Accents, why?
First of all, make sure your encoding settings is correct. For example, there are several encoding standards for Chinese, you need to know which one is used on your system. If you are running a local session, unicode is the standard of Mac OS X. To enable inputing unicode characters in your shell, put this in your ~/.inputrc
```
set meta-flag on
set input-meta on
set output-meta on
set convert-meta off
```
If you are running a telnet session, be sure you turned on the 8-bit data path. Try using "telnet -8 yourhost" in your command.
My preferences are lost after I upgraded!

Please quit your iTerm. Then go to ~/Library/Preferences/, and copy or rename iTerm.plist to net.sourceforge.iTerm.plist.
Where does iTerm store its settings?

Preferences, including profiles and bookmarks are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/net.sourceforge.iTerm.plist. If something goes wrong, you can try deleting this file and iTerm will generate a new settings file that should always work.
My settings of bookmarks do not seem to always work. Why?

For various reasons, most size settings such as numbers of row/col, fonts, etc. need to be the same among all the tabs within a window. Therefore, only the settings of first tab in the window will be honored. You can however specifiy different terminal types, different colors, etc.
Does iTerm require mono-space fonts?

Versions before 0.8 require monospace fonts. New version no longer requires monospace fonts. All fonts will be displayed in correct alignment.
The fonts are looking weird. What should I do?

iTerm lets you to specify two fonts. If you only use English or western european languages, you probably only need to set the font for ASCII characters. For other languages, you need to specify a font that works with your language as the Non-ASCII font. You need to make sure the size (height) of two fonts do not differ greatly, so iTerm won't display a mess of mixed glyphs.
Characters on screen are not aligned correctly.

Check the option for "use double width for Non-ASCII characters".
Can I completely hide the toolbar?

Yes, you can. The oblong button on the top right corner of the window does the trick.
Why can't I set my session's shortcut key to CTRL-COMMAND-D

That key is used by OS X's dictionary program.
Why the mouse cursor look funny?

That's a lazy solution to get it visible on both bright and dark background. Sorry guys, I have more important things to do!

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