Appending tab in Tools : Options provides options affecting the way new elements are added to a collection:

• Default item template - name of the template that is used to create new items added with AddNew or Edit : Add a new item (Ctrl+A). If you want to change the appearance of newly added items, you can change this template. The default template affects only on the currently selected knowledge category (each category has its own template). The simplest way to change templates assigned to particular categories is:
  1. choose Tools : Categories
  2. double click the Template field belonging to a given category
  3. select the template in the template registry
  4. choose Apply

  If you want to change the default item template for a single category, you can also select this category in the category combo-box on the toolbar and change Default item template in Tools : Options : Appending

• Default topic template - name of the template that is used to create new topics added with Edit : Add a new topic
• Current hook - place in the knowledge tree where items are added with AddNew or Edit : Add a new item (Ctrl+A). This is the so-called hook node of the currently selected knowledge category (each category has its own hook node)
• Default font - font used in text components for which no font was created or linked (when you first start SuperMemo, it will use only one font: the default font)
• Children limit per contents node - for performance reasons, SuperMemo makes it possible to limit the number of elements that can be children of a single element in the contents window. If you keep this number in the range 20-100, you can be sure your collection is easy to review and browsing it is significantly faster than for larger tree nodes
• Automatic category hook node change - if you attempt to add more elements to a single node than the number specified in Children limit per contents node (above), SuperMemo will prompt you with Category change dialog box and ask you to select a new hook for appending items. In this dialog you can ask SuperMemo to always select a hook automatically for you. In such a case, you have two options:
  1. Change To terminal branches will pick the furthest node at the bottom of the knowledge tree growing from the root node. If the last node already contains more children than the desired limit, its last child will be considered, and so on. Until some room for new elements can be found. Changing to terminal branches makes it easier to track the history of adding new items but causes an overload of the bottom of the tree and increases the number of levels in the knowledge tree
  2. Change To sparsiest branches will pick this child of the root node that has fewest children. If all children have already been filled out, it will pick the branch with the fewest descendants and scan its children for empty slots. Changing to sparsiest branches builds an optimally structured knowledge tree; however, you will not be able to see the sequence in which items were added. They will be dispersed in the structure in a difficult to predict manner. To sparsiest branches is the default option

  To help you manage the growth of knowledge tree, SuperMemo provides an option Tools : Arrange in folders on the contents window pop-up menu. This option makes it possible to create a selected number of folders in a given branch and equally spread all items between those folders. A folder here is just an empty dismissed element that serves as a placeholder for other items

• Confirm category hook change - decide if SuperMemo should prompt you with Category change dialog box each time a branch overflow occurs