Getting Started and Basic Settings
Included in this tutorial
Launching QGIS
Accessing Global and Project Settings
Creating and Saving a New Project
Software version in examples: QGIS-LTR 3.34.14-Prizren (MacOS)
Credits: Ruju Joshi and L. Meisterlin (2025)
Launching QGIS
Run the QGIS application. (If you have not already done so, you may be prompted to configure your QGIS settings or install additional plugins.)
By default, QGIS opens with the main QGIS interface, displaying the map canvas and layers panel. (If you see a blank canvas, type "world" in the coordinate box at the bottom, and you will see a similar map pane as shown in the screenshot below.)
QGIS map interface
Within the QGIS interface, you can open a recent project or create a new project. You can also choose to use or skip templates (project templates in QGIS provide starting points for various workflows, such as specific map layouts, data types, or analysis setups).
Accessing Global and Project Settings
Click through Settings > Options in the menu at the top to access QGIS's global settings. The Options dialog will appear, containing global settings for both the QGIS application and the current project.
accessing global settings in QGIS
NOTE: Options in QGIS are categorized between Application and Project. Changes to Application options apply universally across all projects in QGIS, while changes made to Project options apply only to the current project.
Creating and Saving a New Project
The Start page of QGIS will always create a new “untitled project” for you. You can change this through Settings > options > project file > open project on launch > welcome page / new / …
Otherwise, there are three ways to create a new project from the QGIS interface:
Select the New Project option from the Attributes Toolbar,
Press ctrl+N, or
Click through Project > New Project.
creating a new project
Name your new project and choose a location to save it. (Browse to a new folder or directory if necessary).
saving a new project
TIP: For specific projects, it is often a good practice to create a new folder for associated data (e.g., shapefiles, raster files). This is helpful in maintaining data links if you move your project and its associated layers between machines. To keep these organized together in a new folder, create your new project (.qgs) within a new folder where you can save the other files related to the project.
TIP: You can set a default location to save new projects in QGIS by going to Settings > Options and navigating to the General tab, where you can adjust the default save location for new projects.