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Aspect Settings Window

The Aspect Settings window defines what an aspect is for one chart type: its name, the orb it is matched within, the angles it covers, and the color its chords are drawn in. Aspects are defined per chart type, so you can keep tight orbs for transit work and wider ones for a natal reading.

The window's title names the chart type it is editing. Each type has its own editor instance: reopening a type brings its window forward, while different types' editors sit side by side.

Your edits preview live into open charts of that type as you make them.

In This Window​

  • Aspect Definitions List: the master list on the Aspects tab, holding this chart type's aspect definitions in the order you set.
  • Aspect Definition Editor: the detail pane beside the list, where the selected aspect's name, orb, angles, and color are set.
  • Parallel Aspect Settings: the Parallels tab, which defines the two declination aspects, Parallel and Contraparallel.

Aspect Settings window on its Aspects tab, its title naming the chart type.

Opening, Saving, and Closing​

The window has an Aspects tab and a Parallels tab, with Reset at the bottom left and two buttons at the bottom right, Save and Close.

To open the editor for a chart type:

  1. Open the Edit Menu.
  2. Click Aspect Settings in the Edit menu.
  3. Click the chart type in the Aspect Settings submenu: Mundane, Natal, or Transit.

The window opens on its Aspects tab with the chart type named in its title, or an editor already open for that type is brought forward.

The Edit menu open in the macOS menu bar with the Aspect Settings submenu expanded.

tip

The aspect-settings dropdown button on the main toolbar offers the same three types. The aspect-settings button on a chart window's toolbar skips the choice entirely and opens the editor for that window's own chart type.

To keep your edits so future sessions start with them:

  • Click the Save button.

Save is unavailable while nothing has changed.

To discard this chart type's definitions and start again from the built-in ones:

  • Click the Reset button.

Reset asks you to confirm first. Confirm, and Compass replaces both the aspect definitions list and both parallel kinds with the built-in defaults, and open charts of that type recolor to match.

To put the editor away:

  • Click the Close button.

If you have unsaved edits, Compass prompts you first. Abandon them and it reverts your changes, so open charts return to the saved settings.