# Override existing user preferences
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [3월 13, 2016, 1:11오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966 "2016-03-13T13:11:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@alehandrof](https://meta.discourse.org/u/alehandrof)
#### Post date: [3월 13, 2016, 1:11오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/1 "2016-03-13T13:11:28Z")
There’s an option in Admin UI to override new user preferences.
Is there a way of overriding existing user preferences?
I’d like to set all users’ settings to these:
And also to add a category (`Announcements`) to their Watched category list.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [3월 13, 2016, 1:32오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/2 "2016-03-13T13:32:54Z")
Yes, search Admin \> Settings area for the word ‘default’
Note: This only applies to new user signups, current users will not have their preferences changed.
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### Author:  [@alehandrof](https://meta.discourse.org/u/alehandrof)
#### Post date: [3월 13, 2016, 1:45오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/3 "2016-03-13T13:45:05Z")
As I say in the original topic:
> [@alehandrof](#):
>
> Is there a way of overriding existing user preferences?
Edit: I revised the title of the topic to make my question more clear.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [3월 13, 2016, 2:22오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/4 "2016-03-13T14:22:06Z")
Console App. You can Run a command in the Rails Console, @zogstrip has provided a few examples in other topics on how to do it.
Here is one such instance
[https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-watched-tracked-by-default/34680/7?u=cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-watched-tracked-by-default/34680/7)
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [3월 13, 2016, 6:33오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/5 "2016-03-13T18:33:52Z")
The ability to use the UI to push down a setting to all current users, one time, would make implementing new features So Much Better.
from
> [@Configuring whether previous replies are included in notification emails](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-control-previous-replies-in-emails/39834/):
>
> bookmark This is a guide for configuring whether previous replies are included in your notification emails. person_raising_hand Required user level: Users & Administrators When Discourse sends out email notifications, it can include a block of “Previous Replies”. Summary This guide will cover how to configure your email notification settings to include or exclude previous replies. Configuring email settings in user profile You can control whether previous r…
to
[https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-control-previous-replies-in-emails/39834/9](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-control-previous-replies-in-emails/39834/9)
An option in the admin UI to “apply to all” could help all existing Discourse communities, especially ones which are Hosted, where admins don’t have access to the rails console at all.
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [3월 13, 2016, 7:09오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/6 "2016-03-13T19:09:26Z")
Though I can see where such a feature could be helpful, IMHO this is dangerous territory.
I have no problems with default values for new users.
BUT - if I have set a preference option and it changed
- at best I would think it was a fluke, likely a mistake I made
- I might think it was a bug in the app and hope it was transient and / or since fixed
- at worse I would be aggravated that others had hijacked my settings trying to force them on me
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [3월 13, 2016, 9:36오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/7 "2016-03-13T21:36:15Z")
Good points @Mittineague but where I need this is in cases where:
- there is a new feature in discourse and I need to set its value for everyone retroactively
- if I add a new Category and want it to be in everyone’s Watch list by default (they can unfollow if they want)
- if we are generally changing how the forum works for whatever internal politicking reason.
In all of these cases, the need here is to be able to Fix Our Forum for our users. If I expected to have to use this feature regularly on the same setting, I’d be asking for a way to lock the preference in place.
If I were starting a discourse now, I may not need this as much, at least not until I added a new category, or the next new feature in discourse was added) As it stands, the 4 Discourse I manage all had many users were created before we (as discourse admins) even had a chance to set the desired defaults.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [12월 27, 2018, 2:28오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/8 "2018-12-27T14:28:41Z")
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### Author:  [@j.jaffeux](https://meta.discourse.org/u/j.jaffeux)
#### Post date: [12월 27, 2018, 3:43오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/override-existing-user-preferences/40966/9 "2018-12-27T15:43:04Z")