Setting Patching preferences

The Patching category of the Max Preferences window contains a listing of parameter settings related to how Max behaves as you use it to create patches.Max's behavior as you patch (e.g. segmented patch cords, enabling Assistance in a patcher, etc.), and settings that control how the Max interface responds to you (e.g., auto fix width, autocompletion, etc.)

Preferences for working with Max object boxes

There are several preferences you can set that will control the way that Max object boxes behave while you're creating them, and how you'd like them to behave while you edit the box content and type text into them (in both patching and Presentation Mode.

You can enable or disable autocompletion by clicking in the Object Box Autocompletion checkbox in the Patching pane of the Preferences Window.

You can change the way that Max behaves when you click on an object so that you can begin editing the text in a box as soon as you click on an object by clicking the Edit Text on Box Click and Typing Automatically Edits Selected Box checkboxes in the Patching pane of the Preferences Window. You can enable or disable these features independently for both patcher and Presentation Mode.

When Edit Text on Box Click is enabled, clicking on a text object box selects it immediately for editing. When disabled, clicking on a text object box selects the entire box instead of selecting the text inside.

When Typing Automatically Edits Selected Box is enabled, typing begins to edit an entirely selected box immediately. When disabled, typing does not affect an entirely selected box until you click it again to select the text.

Real-time patching behavior settings

You can choose to use straight, segmented, or curved patch cords as a default setting as you patch with Max. Max uses curved and unsegmented patch cords by default.
In addition, you can also avail yourself of the entertaining feature that lets you control the rate at which objects appear and disappear from an unlocked patcher window as you add or remove them, and also control similar timing for scrolling automation.