Reset Site Designer preferences

If Site Designer is crashing on startup, panels are not opening, the interface is stuck in an unexpected state, or preferences from a previous installation are causing conflicts, resetting preferences to factory defaults often fixes the problem.

When to reset preferences

Consider a preferences reset when:

• Site Designer crashes on startup (before any project is loaded).
• A panel or pane does not open or is permanently stuck.
• The app behaves correctly after a reinstall but breaks again shortly after — this often indicates a corrupted preferences file.
• You’re working through a support ticket and the support team asks you to reset.

What resetting does — and doesn’t — affect

Windows: reset preferences

1. Close Site Designer completely

   Make sure Site Designer is not running. Check the system tray and Task Manager to confirm.

2. Navigate to the preferences folder

   Press Windows + R and type:

   %APPDATA%\CoffeeCup Software\Site Designer
   

   Press Enter.

3. Rename or delete the preferences file

   In the folder that opens, find the preferences file (typically named preferences.json or similar). Rename it (e.g., add .bak to the end) rather than deleting it outright — this preserves the old file in case you need to restore it.

4. Relaunch Site Designer

   Open Site Designer. It will create a fresh preferences file with factory defaults on startup. Enter your license key when prompted.

macOS: reset preferences

1. Close Site Designer completely

   Quit Site Designer (⌘Q). Check Activity Monitor to ensure no background process is running.

2. Delete the preferences file

   Open Terminal and run:

   mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.coffeecup.sitedesigner.plist \
      ~/Library/Preferences/com.coffeecup.sitedesigner.plist.bak
   

   Or navigate in Finder to ~/Library/Preferences/ and rename the file manually.

3. Clear the preferences cache

   macOS caches preference files. Clear the cache by running in Terminal:

   killall cfprefsd
   

4. Relaunch Site Designer

   Open Site Designer. It will regenerate the preferences file with defaults and prompt you to activate your license.

If a reset doesn’t fix the problem

A preferences reset resolves issues caused by corrupted settings. If the problem persists after a reset:

• Try a full reinstall: uninstall Site Designer, download the latest installer from coffeecup.com, and reinstall.
• Check if the issue is project-specific (create a new blank project — if it works, the problem is in the project file, not the preferences).
• Contact CoffeeCup support at coffeecup.com/help with the details covered in Reporting a bug.