Grafana preferences are basic settings. They control the Grafana UI theme, home dashboard, time zone, and so on.
Preferences are sometimes confusing because they can be set at four different levels, listed from highest level to lowest:
- **Server -** Affects all users on the Grafana server. Set by a [Grafana server admin]({{< relref "../roles-and-permissions/#grafana-server-administrators" >}}).
- **Organization -** Affects all users in an organization. Set by an [Organization admin]({{< relref "../roles-and-permissions/#organization-roles" >}}).
- **Team -** Affects all users assigned to a team. Set by an Organization Admin or Team Admin. To learn more about these roles, refer to [Teams and permissions]({{< relref "../roles-and-permissions/#teams-and-permissions" >}}).
- **User account -** Affects the individual user. Set by the user on their own account.
The lowest level always takes precedence. For example, if a user sets their theme to **Light**, then their visualization of Grafana displays the light theme. Nothing at any higher level can override that.
If the user is aware of the change and intended it, then that's great! But if the user is a Server Admin who made the change to their user preferences a long time ago, they might have forgotten they did that. Then, if that Server Admin is trying to change the theme at the server level, they'll get frustrated as none of their changes have any effect that they can see. (Also, the users on the server might be confused, because _they_ can see the server-level changes!)
## Change Grafana name and email
In Grafana, you can change your names and emails associated with groups or accounts in the Settings or Preferences. This topic provides instructions for each task.
Some tasks require certain permissions. For more information about roles, refer to [Roles and permissions]({{< relref "../roles-and-permissions/" >}}).
- **Name -** Edit this field to change the display name associated with the team.
- **Email -** Edit this field to change the email address associated with the team.
1. Click **Update**.
### Change user name or email
To learn how to edit your user information, refer to [Edit your profile]({{< relref "../user-management/user-preferences/#edit-your-profile" >}}).
## Change Grafana UI theme
In Grafana, you can modify the UI theme configured in the Settings or Preferences. Set the UI theme for the server, an organization, a team, or your personal user account using the instructions in this topic.
Some tasks require certain permissions. For more information about roles, refer to [Roles and permissions]({{< relref "../roles-and-permissions/" >}}).
The theme affects how Grafana displays graphs, menus, other UI elements.
#### Default
**Default** is either the dark theme or the theme selected in a higher level. For example, if an Organization administrator set the **Light** theme, then that is the default for all the teams in that organization.
As a Grafana server administrator, you can change the default Grafana UI theme for all users who are on the server by setting the [default_theme]({{< relref "../../setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#default_theme" >}}) option in the Grafana configuration file.
By default, Grafana uses the timezone in your web browser. However, you can override this setting at the server, organization, team, or individual user level. This topic provides instructions for each task.
Some tasks require certain permissions. For more information about roles, refer to [Roles and permissions]({{< relref "../roles-and-permissions/" >}}).
Grafana server administrators can choose a default timezone for all users on the server by setting the [default_timezone]({{< relref "../../setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#default_timezone" >}}) option in the Grafana configuration file.
The home dashboard you set is the one all users will see by default when they log in. Click the Grafana icon or **Home** in the breadcrumb to return to it. You can set the home dashboard for the server, an organization, a team, or your personal user account. This topic provides instructions for each task.
Some tasks require certain permissions. For more information about roles, refer to [Roles and permissions]({{< relref "../roles-and-permissions/" >}}).
Users with the Grafana Server Admin flag on their account or access to the configuration file can define a JSON file to use as the home dashboard for all users on the server.
#### [Optional] Convert an existing dashboard into a JSON file
1. Navigate to the page of the dashboard you want to use as the home dashboard.
1. In the Export tab, click **Save to file**. Grafana converts the dashboard to a JSON file and saves it locally.
#### Use a JSON file as the home dashboard
1. Save your JSON file somewhere that Grafana can access it. For example, in the Grafana `data` folder of Grafana.
1. Update your configuration file to set the path to the JSON file. Refer to [default_home_dashboard_path]({{< relref "../../setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#default_home_dashboard_path" >}}) for more information about modifying the Grafana configuration files.
```ini
[dashboards]
# Path to the default home dashboard. If this value is empty, then Grafana uses StaticRootPath + "dashboards/home.json"
Grafana server administrators can change the default Grafana UI language for all users on the server by setting the [default_language]({{< relref "../../setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#default_language" >}}) option in the Grafana configuration file.