The Preferences option is located in the Start menu.  Just click Start>Preferences and the window will appear.

The Preferences window is organized by a series of tabs that cover different sections of the application.  Just navigate to the tab, set your preferences, and click the Save button at the bottom of the window.  The next time you search, your new preferences will be enabled.  

In the Searching tab above, note that you can change your Default Search Options. Whatever options you set here will be the default when you click the Restore Search Options button on the main Search window (see below). So if you change your search options for a particular search, you can easily return them to the default. Clicking the Restore Search Options button is also a good habit to get into whenever you log into AcclaimIP, in case you have changed anything the day before, and didn't remember.

Note:  If you click the Close button before you click the Save button, any changes you made will not be saved. This is true for all Preferences tabs.

The Result Grids tab allows you to set which columns appear by default when you execute a search.  AcclaimIP gives you over 70 different default columns (depending on your membership plan) that you can set.  To reduce clutter, you will want to pick only the most useful columns, depending on the type of search you are doing.  Most searchers prefer about 6 to 8 different columns, but certainly your needs and preferences may differ.

The box on the left contains the available field codes (and will vary depending on the type of plan you purchased).  If you want them to appear in your search results by default, you can add them into the selected field set (the box on the right) by dragging and dropping them into the space you want, or by highlighting the field you want and using the arrow keys in the middle.  You can add more than one at a time by using the shift or control key to highlight more than one before you add them.  Within the selected field set, you can change the order in which the columns appear by dragging and dropping the individual field codes into the order you want, or by using the arrow keys once you have highlighted the field code you want to move.  You must click Save in order for the changes you have made to your defaults to take effect.  Clicking Close without saving your new preferences will keep your previous preferences intact (i.e., will not save any changes you have made).

Steps for setting default columns:

1. Open the Start>Preferences>Result Grids tab.
2. Drag and drop the columns from the Available field set to the Selected field set.
3. Click Save.

If your account has Custom Fields enabled, the fields you defined, and to which you have rights, will appear in the Custom Fields section in the Preference window.  If you do not have Custom Fields enabled, then this section will not appear in your Preferences.

Note:  You can always add and remove columns on the fly in the Search Results window after your search results have rendered (see Adding Columns on the Fly).

If you click Restore Defaults, the most commonly used set of columns will be applied by default.  Be sure to click Save after you update your Preferences.