The table below lists the X resource names that Emacs recognizes. Note that some of the resources have no effect in Emacs compiled with various X toolkits (GTK+, Lucid, etc.)—we indicate below when this is the case.

alpha (class Alpha)

Sets the alpha frame parameter, determining frame transparency (Frame Parameters).

alphaBackground (class AlphaBackground)

Sets the alpha-background frame parameter, determining background transparency (Frame Parameters).

background (class Background)

Background color (Colors).

bitmapIcon (class BitmapIcon)

Tell the window manager to display the Emacs icon if on; don't do so if off. Icons X, for a description of the icon.

borderColor (class BorderColor)

Color of the frame's external border. This has no effect if Emacs is compiled with GTK+ support.

borderWidth (class BorderWidth)

Width of the frame's external border, in pixels. This has no effect if Emacs is compiled with GTK+ support.

cursorBlink (class CursorBlink)

If the value of this resource is off or false or 0 at startup, Emacs disables Blink Cursor mode (Cursor Display).

cursorColor (class Foreground)

Text cursor color. If this resource is specified when Emacs starts up, Emacs sets its value as the background color of the cursor face (Faces).

font (class Font)

Font name for the default face (Fonts). You can also specify a fontset name (Fontsets).

fontBackend (class FontBackend)

Comma-delimited list of backend(s) to use for drawing fonts, in order of precedence. For instance, the value x tells Emacs to draw fonts using the X core font driver, falling back on the Xft font driver if that fails. Normally, you should leave this resource unset, in which case Emacs tries using all available font backends.

foreground (class Foreground)

Default foreground color for text.

fullscreen (class Fullscreen)

The desired fullscreen size. The value can be one of fullboth, maximized, fullwidth or fullheight, which correspond to the command-line options -fs, -mm, -fw, and -fh (Window Size X). Note that this applies to the initial frame only.

geometry (class Geometry)

Window size and position. The value should be a size and position specification, of the same form as in the -g or --geometry command-line option (Window Size X). The size applies to all frames in the Emacs session, but the position applies only to the initial Emacs frame (or, in the case of a resource for a specific frame name, only that frame). Be careful not to specify this resource as emacs*geometry, as that may affect individual menus as well as the main Emacs frame.

horizontalScrollBars (class ScrollBars)

If the value of this resource is off or false or 0, Emacs disables Horizontal Scroll Bar mode at startup (Scroll Bars).

iconName (class Title)

Name to display in the icon.

internalBorder (class BorderWidth)

Width of the internal frame border, in pixels.

lineSpacing (class LineSpacing)

Additional space between lines, in pixels.

menuBackground (class Background)

The background color of the menus in non-toolkit versions of Emacs. (For toolkit versions, see Lucid Resources, also see Motif Resources, and see GTK resources.)

menuBar (class MenuBar)

If the value of this resource is off or false or 0, Emacs disables Menu Bar mode at startup (Menu Bars).

minibuffer (class Minibuffer)

If none, Emacs will not make a minibuffer in this frame; it will use a separate minibuffer frame instead.

paneFont (class Font)

Font name for menu pane titles, in non-toolkit versions of Emacs. (For toolkit versions, see Lucid Resources, also see Motif Resources, and see GTK resources.)

paneForeground (class Foreground)

Foreground color for menu pane titles, in non-toolkit versions of Emacs. (For toolkit versions, see Lucid Resources, also see Motif Resources, and see GTK resources.)

pointerColor (class Foreground)

Color of the mouse cursor. This has no effect in many graphical desktop environments, as they do not let Emacs change the mouse cursor this way.

privateColormap (class PrivateColormap)

If on, use a private color map, in the case where the default visual of class PseudoColor and Emacs is using it.

reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)

Switch foreground and background default colors if on, use colors as specified if off.

screenGamma (class ScreenGamma)

Gamma correction for colors, equivalent to the frame parameter screen-gamma.

scrollBar (class ScrollBar)

If the value of this resource is off or false or 0, Emacs disables Scroll Bar mode at startup (Scroll Bars).

scrollBarWidth (class ScrollBarWidth)

The scroll bar width in pixels, equivalent to the frame parameter scroll-bar-width. Do not set this resource if Emacs is compiled with GTK+ support.

selectionFont (class SelectionFont)

Font name for pop-up menu items, in non-toolkit versions of Emacs. (For toolkit versions, see Lucid Resources, also see Motif Resources, and see GTK resources.)

selectionForeground (class SelectionForeground)

Foreground color for pop-up menu items, in non-toolkit versions of Emacs. (For toolkit versions, see Lucid Resources, also see Motif Resources, and see GTK resources.)

selectionTimeout (class SelectionTimeout)

Number of milliseconds to wait for a selection reply. If the selection owner doesn't reply in this time, we give up. A value of 0 means wait as long as necessary.

synchronous (class Synchronous)

Run Emacs in synchronous mode if on. Synchronous mode is useful for debugging X problems.

title (class Title)

Name to display in the title bar of the initial Emacs frame.

toolBar (class ToolBar)

If the value of this resource is off or false or 0, Emacs disables Tool Bar mode at startup (Tool Bars).

tabBar (class TabBar)

If the value of this resource is on or yes or 1, Emacs enables Tab Bar mode at startup (Tab Bars).

useXIM (class UseXIM)

Disable use of X input methods (XIM) if false or off. This is only relevant if your Emacs is built with XIM support. It might be useful to turn off XIM on slow X client/server links.

inputStyle (class InputStyle)

This resource controls how preview text generated by X input methods is displayed. Its value can be on of the following: @table @samp

callback

Display the contents of the preview text in the current buffer.

offthespot

Display the preview text inside a separate area of the display provided by Emacs.

overthespot

Display the preview text inside a popup window at the location of point in the current window.

none

Let the input method decide how to display itself. This is usually equivalent to overthespot, but it might work with more input methods.

native

Use the toolkit for handling input methods. This is currently implemented only on GTK.

root

Use some location on display specific to the input method for displaying the preview text.

@item synchronizeResize (class SynchronizeResize) If off or false, Emacs will not try to tell the window manager when it has finished redrawing the display in response to a frame being resized. Otherwise, the window manager will postpone drawing a frame that was just resized until its contents are updated, which prevents blank areas of a frame that have not yet been painted from being displayed. If set to extended, it will enable use of an alternative frame synchronization protocol, which might be supported by some compositing window managers that don't support the protocol Emacs uses by default, and causes Emacs to synchronize display with the monitor refresh rate when a compatible compositing window manager is in use. @item verticalScrollBars (class ScrollBars) Give frames scroll bars on the left if left, on the right if right; don't have scroll bars if off (Scroll Bars). @item visualClass (class VisualClass) The visual class for X color display. If specified, the value should start with one of TrueColor, PseudoColor, DirectColor, StaticColor, GrayScale, and StaticGray, followed by -/depth/, where depth is the number of color planes. @end table You can also use X resources to customize individual Emacs faces (Faces). For example, setting the resource /face/.attributeForeground is equivalent to customizing the foreground attribute of the face face. However, we recommend customizing faces from within Emacs, instead of using X resources. Face Customization.