# General settings: store information, theme, SEO, security and PDF

Configuration

The **General** settings page holds the settings that belong to the store as a whole: its logo and time zone, whether it is open, which theme it uses, the default SEO title and description, CAPTCHA protection, the PDF invoice layout and the items in the top menu. It is usually the first page you visit after installation.

### Where to find it

Go to **Settings → General**. The page has five tabs: **Store information**, **SEO settings**, **Security settings**, **PDF settings** and **Top menu items**. One **Save** button saves all tabs.

![The Store information tab of the General settings page with time zone, logo, store closed, theme cards, social links, contact us and sitemap switches](https://grandnode.com/Plugins/Theme.GrandNodeCom/Content/kb/configuration/settings-general.webp)

**Settings → General**, tab **Store information**.

### Store information

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Default store time zone** | The time zone used to display dates in the storefront and admin (order dates, reports). Dates are stored in UTC and converted for display. |
| **Logo** | The logo shown in the storefront header. Upload a file or drop it on the upload box. |
| **Store closed** | Closes the storefront. Visitors are redirected to a "store closed" page. Customers in a group with the *Access closed store* permission (administrators by default) can still browse, and pages marked *Accessible when store closed* stay reachable - useful for a legal notice or contact page. |
| **Default store theme** | The storefront theme. Every installed theme appears as a card with a preview; pick one. See [Themes and layouts](https://grandnode.com/configuration-themes-layouts). |
| **Allow customers to select a theme** | Lets visitors switch between installed themes; their choice is kept in a cookie. |
| **Allow to select admin theme** | Lets staff switch the look of the admin panel. |
| **Display cookie information** | Shows the cookie notice bar. Its text is the translation resource `cookie.description2`, editable under **Configuration → Languages**. |
| **Display Privacy Preference** | Shows the privacy preference (consent) dialog in the storefront. |
| **Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram / LinkedIn / Pinterest page URL** | Links rendered as social icons in the storefront footer. Leave empty to hide an icon. |
| **Contact us page - store requests in the database** | Keeps every contact form message under **Content** so it is not lost if email delivery fails. |
| **Contact us page. Use system email** | Sends contact form messages from the store's email account instead of the visitor's address, which avoids spam filtering. |
| **Allow to select store from dropdown list** | On multi-store installations, shows a store switcher in the storefront. |
| **Sitemap enabled** and the **Include … in sitemap** switches | Control the storefront HTML sitemap page and what it lists. |

### SEO settings

![The SEO settings tab with page title separator, default title, meta keywords and description, custom head, URL character options and Open Graph settings](https://grandnode.com/Plugins/Theme.GrandNodeCom/Content/kb/configuration/settings-general-seo.webp)

Tab **SEO settings**.

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Default title**, **Default meta keywords**, **Default meta description** | Used on pages that do not define their own. Products, categories and pages have their own SEO fields that take priority. |
| **Page title separator** and **Page title SEO adjustment** | How the page title and the store title are joined, and in which order. |
| **If not provided, generate product META description automatically** | Builds a product meta description from its short description when none is entered. |
| **Custom head** | Markup inserted into the `<head>` of every storefront page, e.g. a site verification tag. |
| **Convert non-western chars** and **SEO char conversion** | Transliterates characters when generating URL names, using pairs such as `ą:a;ę:e;ó:o`. |
| **Allow Unicode Chars in URLs**, **Allow to use slash char** | What characters generated SEO names may contain. |
| **Enable canonical URLs** | Adds a canonical link tag so search engines index one URL per page. |
| **Twitter META tags**, **Open Graph META tags**, **Open Graph/Twitter Store Picture** | Social sharing previews and the fallback image used for them. |

### Security settings and CAPTCHA

![The Security settings tab with the admin area allowed IP field, CAPTCHA enabled, reCAPTCHA version, keys, score and the pages where CAPTCHA is shown](https://grandnode.com/Plugins/Theme.GrandNodeCom/Content/kb/configuration/settings-general-security.webp)

Tab **Security settings** with CAPTCHA switched on.

- **Admin area allowed IP** - a comma-separated list of IP addresses. When it is not empty, only requests from those addresses can open the admin panel, the store panel and the admin API. Enter your own address first, or you will lock yourself out.
- **CAPTCHA enabled** - turns on Google reCAPTCHA. Choose the **reCAPTCHA version** (V2 checkbox or V3 invisible score), paste the **reCAPTCHA public key** and **reCAPTCHA private key** from the Google reCAPTCHA console, and for V3 set the minimum **reCAPTCHA v3 Score** (0.5 is a common start). Then switch on the pages where it should appear: login, registration, password recovery, contact us, product reviews, blog and news comments, apply for vendor account and others.

If you enable CAPTCHA without both keys, saving shows the error "Captcha is enabled but the appropriate keys are not entered". Security and CAPTCHA settings are always saved for all stores.

### PDF settings

![The PDF settings tab with PDF logo upload, disable PDF invoices for pending orders, invoice header and footer text](https://grandnode.com/Plugins/Theme.GrandNodeCom/Content/kb/configuration/settings-general-pdf.webp)

Tab **PDF settings**.

Set the **PDF logo** printed on invoices and packaging slips, and optional **Invoice header text** and **Invoice footer text** - typically your company registration and bank details. **Disable PDF invoices for pending orders** stops customers downloading an invoice before the order is confirmed. Attaching invoices to order emails is set in [Sales settings](https://grandnode.com/configuration-sales-customer-settings).

### Top menu items

![The Top menu items tab with switches for Home page, New products, Search, My account, Blog and Contact us](https://grandnode.com/Plugins/Theme.GrandNodeCom/Content/kb/configuration/settings-general-menu.webp)

Tab **Top menu items**.

Switches that add fixed links to the storefront's main menu: **Display "Home page"**, **"New products"**, **"Search"**, **"My account"**, **"Blog"** and **"Contact us"**. Categories and pages appear in the menu based on their own "include in menu" options.

### Tips and common mistakes

- Use **Store closed** while you prepare the store; as an administrator you can still see everything.
- With several stores, pick the store in **Multi-store configuration for** before editing: the logo, theme and SEO defaults are typical per-store values. Remember that saving for one store copies the whole group for it - see [Stores and multi-store](https://grandnode.com/configuration-stores-multi-store).
- Test CAPTCHA keys on the registration page in a private browser window before enabling it on login.

### Related

- [Configuration overview](https://grandnode.com/configuration-overview)
- [Themes and layouts](https://grandnode.com/configuration-themes-layouts)
- [Content: pages, blog and news](https://grandnode.com/docs-content)

- [Web page](https://grandnode.com/configuration-general-settings)