settings

There are a few RStudio settings (reference) that should be changed for reproducibility, and several more that I suggest for ease of use.
You can set them manually (see below) or run this script:

source("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brry/course/master/set_rstudio_prefs.R")

I also suggest to set several keyboard shortcuts with the rskey quick setup,
or a few manually at Tools -> Modify Keyboard Shortcuts (search with part of the name):

  • “toggle soft wrap mode”: set to e.g. ALT + W (Windows) or control + W (Mac)
  • “paste last yank”: remove CTRL + Y so it means “redo” as in other programs
  • “set working directory to current document’s directory: set to e.g. CTRL + H

To manually change RStudio settings if you don’t want to run the script,
go to Tools -> Global Options:

  • -> General -> Basic
    • OFF: Restore .Rdata into workspace at startup
    • Save workspace to .RData on exit: NEVER
    • OFF: Always save history (even when not saving .RData)
    • Rather restore the results of long computations manually if needed.
  • -> Code-> Display
    • ON: Highlight R function calls
    • ON: Use rainbow parentheses
  • -> Code-> Saving
    • Default Text Encoding: UTF-8
    • ON: Ensure that source files end with newline
  • -> Console
    • ON: Show syntax highlighting in console input
  • -> Packages -> Development
    • ON: Save all files before building a package
  • -> R Markdown
    • Show output preview in: Viewer Pane
  • not in menu, only per code:
# Hide hidden files (.git, .Rproj.user, ...) when "Show hidden files" is off:
rstudioapi::writeRStudioPreference("always_shown_extensions", list())
rstudioapi::writeRStudioPreference("always_shown_files", list())

matter of taste:

  • -> Appearance
    • Editor theme: Cobalt

my preferences, skip if unsure:

  • -> General -> Advanced
    • set a project user data directory - if you work in Dropbox etc, see issue & solution
  • -> Code-> Editing
    • OFF: Auto-indent code after paste - if you have a custom indenting scheme
    • OFF: Enable Code snippets - if they annoy you
  • -> Code-> Saving
    • Line ending conversion: posix (LF) - compatible across OS platforms
  • -> Sweave
    • Weave Rnw files using: knitr - for Rnw documents (use quarto instead now)
  • -> Spelling
    • OFF: Use real time spell-checking - if it annoys you
  • -> Terminal (Windows only)
    • New terminals open with: Windows PowerShell - to enable CTRL + V in the terminal
  • not in menu, only per code:
# Keep the "Background jobs" tab open to check results later:
rstudioapi::writeRStudioPreference("jobs_tab_visibility", "shown")