Configure site-wide settings

Global settings live in the Configuration section of the admin navigation. This page shows where to find them, walks through the two you touch first, and explains how to track down the settings a specific feature adds.

Goal

The site name and email address set to real values, the performance options reviewed, and the confidence to find any other setting without hunting through menus.

Prerequisites

• A running Drupal CMS site, from the launcher or DDEV.
• An administrator account.

Steps

Find the global settings

In the admin navigation, open Configuration/admin/config. Drupal CMS groups settings by task: People, Content authoring, System, Development, User interface, and more. Each feature you enable can add its own settings here, so your Configuration page grows with your site and may differ from other installations.

Update the basic site settings

1. Go to Configuration → System → Basic site settings/admin/config/system/site-information.
2. Review Site name (the name you chose during setup; the default theme displays it in the header) and Email address (the sender for automated emails such as password resets).
3. The same form sets the front page and the pages shown for “page not found” and “access denied” errors.
4. Select Save configuration.

Review the performance settings

1. Go to Configuration → Development → Performance/admin/config/development/performance.
2. Review the caching and aggregation options; aggregation combines CSS and JavaScript files so pages load faster. Select or clear the checkboxes; the defaults suit most sites, and the SEO checklist returns here when you optimize for search.
3. Select Save configuration.

Most other configuration pages follow this same pattern: navigate, change fields, save.

Find a feature’s own settings

Many features ship a dedicated settings page under Configuration, Structure, or Reports. Two ways to find one:

• Press Alt + D (Windows) or Option + D (Mac) to open the navigation assistant, then type the feature or setting name.
• Find the module’s row on the Extend/admin/modules page and check whether it offers a Configure link.

Verify

• Your site header shows the site name you saved.
• Configuration → System → Basic site settings shows your email address, and a test password-reset email arrives from it.

Variations

• Per-feature guides: settings for email sending, consent management, SEO, and analytics each have a dedicated page in this guide; see Customize your site and Promote with SEO.

Related

• Getting around Drupal CMS maps the rest of the admin navigation.
• Set up email sending makes the email address you configured actually deliver mail from a real host.