Settings

Menu bar

Setting	Default	What it does
Show Strata in the menu bar	On	The icon and its panel. Turned off, Strata lives only in its window.
Beside the icon	Free space	Tick Free space, CPU, Memory, Network and Battery in any combination. Each is read only while it is shown.
Panel look	Dashboard	Dashboard or Cards. The panel's footer also switches between them in one click.

The menu bar describes both looks.

Notices

Setting	Default	What it does
Tell me when the disk is almost full	On	A notice when the startup disk has less free than the share below, once a day; once it is under 5% too, every hour, with a sound, saying how much to clear to get back to 5%. Clicking one opens the Overview. Under 2%, a warning drops from Strata's icon in the menu bar instead (at the top right when Strata is not in the menu bar), over every app and on every Space, with a sound: how much is left, how much to clear, and the Trash, Junk Files and the Space Map, each a click away (Junk Files needs Strata Pro or the trial). It comes again every hour while space stays that low, and closes by itself once the disk is back above 2%.
Almost full means under 10% free	10%	The share of the startup disk under which it counts as almost full, from 2% to 20%, with what that comes to on this Mac: under about 100 GB of a 1 TB disk at 10%.
Remind me weekly when junk has built up	Off	Once a week, Strata looks for junk as Junk Files does, and says so only when a gigabyte or more could go. Clicking it opens Junk Files; nothing moves until you say so, and clearing it needs Strata Pro or the trial.
Remind me before my Strata Pro trial ends	On	Shown only during the trial. The first comes when five to three days are left, the second when two or one, each once, on a day Strata is open, between 9 AM and 9 PM. Strata looks for junk as Junk Files does, and each says what it found that can go and what the trial has moved, from a gigabyte up. It also says when the trial ends or, if Strata found more than the trial can still move, how much that is. Clicking it opens the Licence room.

All three notices are worked out on this Mac while Strata is open, in its window or the menu bar, so turn on Open Strata at login to be warned from the start. They come as macOS notifications: the first time one is due, macOS asks whether Strata may show them. The warning under 2% free is Strata's own and needs no permission. Turn them off here, or the notifications in System Settings > Notifications.

Permissions

The same rows as the card Strata shows when it opens: Full Disk Access, marked On or Off, with Open Settings… while it is off; and the administrator password, which Strata never asks for. Permissions explains both.

Login

Open Strata at login is off until you turn it on. Turn it on if you keep any of Apple's apps closed, so they stay closed after a restart, or if you want the menu bar readouts from the moment you log in, or the disk warnings under Notices, which come only while Strata is open. If macOS asks you to approve it, System Settings opens at Login Items & Extensions (Login Items on macOS 13 and 14).

Updates

Update Strata automatically is on by default. Every hour Strata asks its own update server whether there is a new version, downloads it in the background, and installs it when you quit, when you choose Update Now, or by itself while you are away: after a minute with no Strata window open, or fifteen minutes with one open. Nothing about your files or your licence is sent. Turned off, Strata looks only when you choose Check Now.

When an update is waiting, this section says which version, with Update Now and what is new in it.

Appearance

Setting	Default	What it does
Theme	Dark	Dark, for everyone, or Night, a near-black theme with a violet accent, with Strata Pro or the trial. When the trial ends, Night goes back to Dark.
Translucent window	On	A see-through title bar and window background. Turn it off for a solid window, which some people find easier to read on a busy desktop.

Licence

The second tab is the same as the Licence room in the window: your licence or the trial's days left, a field to paste a key, and Remove From This Mac. Free, the trial and Strata Pro has the details.

Choices kept elsewhere

Many rooms remember how you left them: the Space Map's view and list order, each list's sort order, the Monitor's time range and the Overview's tabs. Keeping an app closed is switched on in the Uninstaller. All of it is stored in Strata's preferences on this Mac.