Let’s have a quick Azure Portal Settings and Preferences Walkthrough. In this post, you will learn about available customizations in Azure Portal Settings and how you can change the default settings of the Azure portal to meet your own preferences. These most of the settings are available from the Settings menu in the global page header of Azure Portal.
Azure Portal Settings
- Sign in to the Microsoft Azure portal.
- Here you can change the default settings of the Azure portal to meet your own preferences. To configure Default mode for Menu, navigate to Portal Settings and choose the General Tab.

Choose Default View – Azure Portal
- To quickly switch between Home and Dashboard view. By default, when you sign in to the Azure portal for the first time, the default view will Home. Here you can change the page that opens by default. Selected change is automatically applied when you sign in to the Azure portal.

- Azure Home -This is the default view when you sign in to the Azure portal for the first time.
- Azure Dashboards – This is a customized dashboard view of your choice.

Choose Default Mode – Azure Portal
- The default mode for the portal menu controls how much space the portal menu takes up on the page. To configure the Default mode for the Azure Portal Menu, Choose your default mode for the portal menu and then select the default option between Flyout or Docked.

Flyout Mode– When the portal menu is in Flyout mode, it’s hidden until you need it. Select the menu icon to open or close the menu. This option will be helpful when you are on a small resolution.

Docked Mode– If you choose Docked mode for the portal menu, it’s always visible. You can collapse the menu to provide more working space.

Choose a Theme or Enable High Contrast – Azure Portal
The theme that you choose affects the background and font colors that appear in the Azure portal. You can select from one of four preset color themes Azure, Blue, Light, and Dark. Select each thumbnail to find the theme that best suits you.

Alternatively, you can choose one of the high contrast themes White or Black to make the Azure portal easier to read for people who have a visual impairment.
Note – If you choose a high contrast theme, White or Black, they override all other theme selections. By default, it’s set to None.

Here we have set the White high contrast theme.

Enable or Disable pop-up notifications – Azure Portal
Notifications are system messages related to your current session. They provide information like your current credit balance, when resources you just created become available, or confirm your last action, for example.
To enable or disable pop-up notifications, check or uncheck Enable pop-up notifications.
When pop-up notifications are turned on, the messages briefly display in the top corner of your screen.

Change the inactivity timeout setting – Azure Portal
The inactivity timeout setting helps to protect resources from unauthorized access if you forget to secure your workstation. After you’ve been idle for a while, you’re automatically signed out of your Azure portal session. As an individual, you can change the timeout setting for yourself. If you’re an admin, you can set it at the directory level for all your users in the directory.
Change your individual timeout setting (user)
- In Azure Portal settings, under General tab. Select the drop-down under Sign me out when inactive. Choose the duration after which your Azure portal session is signed out when you are idle or inactive.

Change the directory timeout setting (admin)
Admins in the Global Administrator role can enforce the maximum idle time before a session is signed out. The inactivity timeout setting applies at the directory level. The setting takes effect for new sessions. It won’t apply immediately to any users who are already signed in.
If you’re a Global Administrator, and you want to enforce an idle timeout setting for all users of the Azure portal, follow these step-
- Select Settings from the global page header. Select the link text Configure directory level timeout.

- On the Configure directory level inactivity timeout page, select Enable directory level idle timeout for the Azure portal to turn on the setting.
- Next, please enter the Hours (The value must be between 0 and 23) and Minutes (The value must be between 0 and 59) for the maximum time that a user can be idle before their session is automatically signed out. Select Apply.

- To confirm that the inactivity timeout policy is set correctly, select Notifications from the global page header. Verify that a success notification is listed.
Note – The setting takes effect for new sessions. It won’t apply immediately to any users who are already signed in.

Restore Default Settings – Azure Portal
- You can quickly Restore Default Settings for Azure Portal. If you have made changes to the Azure portal settings and discard them, select Restore default settings.
Note – Any changes you’ve made to the Azure portal settings view, theme, menu docking will be lost. This option doesn’t affect dashboard customizations.

- Once you selected the option, A Warning confirmation dialog will appear if you want to reset the dashboard to default settings, Select Yes to confirm. It will reset the Azure Portal Settings.

Export User Settings – Azure Portal
Information about your custom settings is stored in Azure. You can export the following user data –
- Private dashboards in the Azure portal.
- User settings like favorite subscriptions or directories and last logged-in directory.
- Themes and other custom portal settings.
It’s a good idea to export and review your settings if you plan to delete them. Rebuilding dashboards or redoing settings can be time-consuming. To export your portal settings, select Export all settings.

- Export settings automatically download the settings.json file with all configurations.

Delete User Settings and Dashboards – Azure Portal
Information about your custom settings is stored in Azure. You can delete the following user data:
- Private dashboards in the Azure portal
- User settings like favorite subscriptions or directories, and last logged-in directory
- Themes and other custom portal settings
It’s a good idea to export and review your settings before you delete them. Rebuilding dashboards or redoing custom settings can be time-consuming.

Change Language and Regional Settings – Azure Portal
There are two settings that control how the text in the Azure portal appears:
- The Language setting controls the language you see for text in the Azure portal.
- Regional format controls the way dates, time, numbers, and currency are shown.
To change the language used in the Azure portal, use the drop-down to select from the list of available languages. The regional format selection changes to display regional options for only the language you selected.
- To change that automatic selection, use the drop-down to choose the regional format you want. Select Apply to update your language and regional format settings.

Resources
- Manage Azure portal settings and preferences
- How to Setup Azure AD Company Branding
- Validate Azure AD Dynamic Group Rules | Intune
- Learn How to Collect Windows 10 Diagnostics Information from Intune Portal | Endpoint Manager
- EndPoint Portal Walkthrough Intune Admin Related Activities Stop Using Azure Portal
- How to Check Intune Service Release Version | Endpoint Manager
- How to Export All Devices Data from Intune Portal | Endpoint Manager