> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usenash.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Display preferences

> How the Portal decides which language, timezone, formats, and units to show you, and how to override your organization's defaults for yourself.

Every date, duration, weight, distance, dimension, and price in the Portal is rendered in a format somebody chose. Your organization sets the defaults everyone starts from, and you can override any of them for yourself. None of it changes what Nash stores or what the API returns. Only what you read changes.

## When to use this

* You work from a different timezone than the organization you belong to, and you want your own clock without changing what your colleagues see.
* One team reads weights in kilograms and a partner team reads pounds, and both are looking at the same orders table.
* You want the Portal in your own language.
* You're setting up a new organization and want sensible defaults before anyone signs in.

Don't reach for this to change what the API accepts or returns. That stays canonical no matter what you pick here. See [What this doesn't change](#what-this-doesnt-change).

## How it works

Nash resolves each preference on its own, taking the first layer that has a usable value:

1. **Your setting**, on your Account page.
2. **Your organization's default**, under Organization settings.
3. **Nash's own default** for that field.

Because the layers resolve per field, you can keep your organization's currency and still use your own timezone. Each preference is either *inherited* or *overridden*. Set one back to inherited and it follows the organization again, including any later change to that default.

A value Nash can't use is treated as unset rather than applied. A timezone the browser doesn't recognize, a currency Nash doesn't support, or a language with no Portal translation falls through to the next layer, at both the personal and the organization level. That means a bad organization default can't propagate to everyone: it falls through to Nash's default instead.

On the screens you see before you're inside an organization, including sign-in and sign-up, Nash reads your browser's language and timezone and falls back to English and UTC.

### What you can set

| Preference     | What it controls                                                            |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Language       | The language of Portal labels, menus, and messages.                         |
| Timezone       | The zone every timestamp renders in, including exports and event timelines. |
| Date format    | How calendar dates are written.                                             |
| Time format    | Whether times read on a 12- or 24-hour clock.                               |
| Currency       | How prices and fees are formatted.                                          |
| Weight unit    | Kilograms or pounds.                                                        |
| Distance unit  | Kilometers or miles.                                                        |
| Dimension unit | Centimeters or inches.                                                      |

## Set your own preferences

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open your account">
    Select your avatar in the Portal and choose **Account**. Every signed-in role has it, and it sits above the organization **Settings** entry.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Override what you want to change">
    Each preference starts on your organization's default. Choose a value to override it for yourself, or set it back to inherited to follow the organization again.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check a screen you actually use">
    Open a page you read every day, such as the orders table, a delivery timeline, or a report, and confirm it reads the way you expect. Preferences apply everywhere at once, so one screen is a fair test.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Your Account page is also where you keep your own profile details, like your display name. The email you sign in with is shown there but isn't editable.

## Set your organization's defaults

Organization defaults live in the Portal under **Organization settings**, in the **Organization Defaults** card. They're what a new member inherits on their first sign-in and what anyone who hasn't overridden a field continues to see.

Changing a default moves everyone who inherits that field. It doesn't disturb anyone who has already overridden it; an override is a deliberate choice and Nash keeps it.

## What this doesn't change

Display preferences are exactly that. They don't touch the wire:

* The API takes and returns canonical units, including kilograms, centimeters, and money as integer cents, whatever the Portal is showing you. To send pounds or inches, declare them on the order with `weightUnit` or `lengthUnit` and Nash converts on ingest. See [Order validations](/api-reference/order/order-validations).
* Timestamps in API responses and webhooks are unaffected.
* A currency preference formats an amount. It does not convert between currencies; an order priced in one currency stays priced in it.

One place the preference does reach into work in progress: if you switch your weight or dimension unit while an order form is open, the values already typed are converted rather than reinterpreted. Ten kilograms becomes 22.05 pounds, not ten pounds.

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Order validations" icon="check" href="/api-reference/order/order-validations">
    How units, formats, and datetimes are validated when you create an order.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Nash API overview" icon="code" href="/reference/nash-api-overview">
    The canonical shapes and units the API reads and writes.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>