6 Ways to Customize the Windows Terminal
Compared to Command Prompt and PowerShell, Windows Terminal is highly customizable. You can change it in many ways to make working with it easier or just make it look pretty so it matches your tastes. And you can do most of it within the terminal emulator itself, which makes it very user-friendly when it comes to customization.
We’ll show you six ways to customize Windows Terminal, so keep on reading.
How to Customize the Windows Terminal in Six Ways
All the actions you do from now on will take place in the settings ofWindows Terminal, and here’s how you can access them. Right-clickStartand selectWindows Terminal (Admin). Then, click thedropdown arrowin the title bar of Windows Terminal and selectSettings.
Now, you’re ready to customize Windows Terminal.
1. Change the Starting Profile
By default,PowerShellis the starting command-line profile for Windows Terminal, but you can change this so it starts with something else, such asCommand Promptor Azure Cloud Shell.
To do that, Open Windows Terminal and head toSettings. On the left side menu, make sure you’ve selectedStartup. Expand the dropdown next toDefault profile, select another command-line profile from the list, and hit theSavebutton in the bottom right corner.
Now, whenever you launch Windows Terminal, it will have a different starting profile.
2. Customize the Appearance of a Particular Profile
To change the appearance of a profile, open Windows Terminal and go toSettings. On the left side menu, after the heading that saysProfile, click the command-line profile you want to change the appearance of. Then, scroll down until you get toAdditional settingsand click onAppearance.
Here, you can change how the profile looks by tweaking things like the color scheme, font face, font size, cursor shape, and background image.
Don’t forget to hit theSavebutton in the bottom right corner to save the changes when you’re done customizing the profile.
3. Change the Starting Directory
If you want a command-line profile to start in a different directory, launch Windows Terminal, head toSettings, and select the profile on the left side menu. Expand theStarting directorysection and clickBrowse.
Navigate to a different folder from the default one and hit theSelect Folderbutton once you land on the one you want the profile to start from. Click theSavebutton in the bottom right corner to apply the changes.
Now whenever you open that profile in Windows Terminal, it will open from the folder you just set.
4. Create New Actions and Edit Existing Ones
Actions are essentially another name for shortcuts in Windows Terminal, and they help you quickly navigate around it. you’re able to add a new Action or edit an existing one.
To create a new Action, go to Windows Terminal’s settings and clickActionon the left side menu. Then, click theAdd newbutton at the top, and a dropdown will appear below it.
Expand the dropdown and select an Action from the list of available ones.
Then, click on the text box next to the dropdownand press the button combination you want to use for that Action, for example,Ctrl + B. After that, click theblue checkmarkbutton to lock in that Action.
no attribution required – author screenshot
To edit an existing Action, hover over it to reveal thepencil iconon the right, and then click it.
Next, click inside the text box, enter the new button combination, and click theblue checkmarkbutton to lock it in.
Finally, hit theSavebutton in the bottom left corner to save the changes.
5. Create a Multi-Pane Layout
In Windows Terminal, you can split the pane to the right by pressingAlt + Shift + Plus. You can also split it downwards by pressingAlt + Shift + Minus.
Doing this allows you to create multi-pane layouts easily.
6. Add a Git Bash Profile
To add a Git Bash profile to Windows Terminal, you first need toinstall Git Bash for Windowson your computer.
Next, you’ll need the file path to Git Bash’s shortcut. PressWin + Sto open Windows Search. Typegit bashin the search box, and when the app shows up in the search results, right-click on it and selectOpen file location.
This will open the location where the Git Bash shortcut is, and it will be selected by default. Right-click it and selectProperties. In theShortcuttab, copy the text in the portion highlighted in the screenshot below. For our example, it isC:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe(yours might be different).
Now, open Windows Terminal and head to theSettings. Next, clickAdd a new profileon the left side menu towards the bottom. Then, clickNew empty profileat the top.
Click theNamesection to expand it and enterGit Bashin the text box. Then, expand theCommand linesection as well and paste the file path for the Git Bash shortcut in there.
Next, expand theIconsection and clickBrowse. Usually, you can find the icon for Git Bash by navigating toC: > Program Files > Git > mingw64 > share > gitfolder (your location might be different). Then, double-click ongit-for-windows.icoto add the icon to the Git Bash profile.
Next, scroll down a little, expandTab titleand enterGit Bashin the text box to give the tab a name. Turn on the toggle forRun this profile as administratoras well while you’re at it. When you’re done, click theSavebutton in the bottom right corner.
Now, click the dropdown arrow for selecting a new profile.
As you can see, you can now select Git Bash from the list of profiles.
How to Reset Windows Terminal Back to Default Settings
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you’ve customized Windows Terminal too much and want a clean slate, you can just reset the settings back to default.
To do that, open Windows Terminal, head toSettings, and clickOpen JSON filein the bottom left corner of the screen. If you get a prompt asking you to choose a program to open the settings file with, chooseNotepadfrom the list.
In Notepad, select all the text inside it by pressingCtrl + A, and then delete it by pressingBackspace.
PressCtrl + Sto save the file.
Now close Windows Terminal and reopen it. The app will then realize that the settings file is empty and will fill it with default entries (this file can’t be blank).
Making Windows Terminal Your Own
There are many more ways you can customize Windows Terminal – we’ve only scratched the surface on how much customization you can do here. So, explore the rest of the settings to see how you can make Windows Terminal your own. And if you make a mistake, just change that setting back to the way it was originally or reset all of them in Notepad.
They look similar, but under the hood, Windows Terminal and PowerShell act very differently.
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