Essential OsiriX Settings

OsiriX and Horos Course · Introduction and Basics

In this video I share practical tips for configuring OsiriX through Preferences, focusing on what really helps in day-to-day use. I go through the General (Basic) and Database menus, showing what is worth adjusting, what is better left at default, and which options save you headaches (especially with importing and organizing studies). 1) Accessing Preferences Path: OsiriX → Preferences You will see groups such as Basic, Display and Sharing. Here I focus on Basic and then on Database. 2) Basic → General: what I recommend Padlock (admin lock): locks the preferences and prevents other people from changing settings (useful on a shared computer). Sync preferences: this is advanced; useful if you have several OsiriX installations on several computers and want everything standardized by an administrator. Display notifications: controls the notifications that appear on screen. DICOM system: keep it on DCMTK (there is no practical reason to change it). JPEG in DICOM: remember that JPEG is lossy compression. It is important to be able to open studies like this, but: Never recompress files that already came compressed (so as not to degrade the quality further). Plugin and version updates: you can leave it on, but, depending on your workflow, the frequent update messages can be annoying. Allow editing of DICOM metadata: I suggest leaving it off, because there is usually no reason to edit patient/study data. Languages: choose the languages OsiriX will allow. 3) Database: settings that affect your daily routine Database location Usually left at the default (Documents Database). Only change it if you want to keep the database on another disk (for example, an external one). Import DICOM only The “Import DICOM File Format Only” option: I like to leave it off so I can import JPEG/TIF and other images when needed. Validate files Can be useful to check whether the files are well-formed DICOM. Copy vs. link imported files (critical point) “Always copy files to the database” or “always ask”: My recommendation: pick one default and stick with it, because mixing “copy” and “link” can make you lose the source and break the link → the study may then fail to open. 4) Data format and display Date/time format: set it to the Brazilian standard. Font and age: show current age and/or age at the study date (in the video, I keep both). 5) Database Autocleaner (automatic cleanup) Used to save space, especially on laptops: Delete studies according to criteria (for example, when disk space is low). Options related to deleting original/linked files (be careful here: this is precisely for controlling storage). 6) Reports You can choose which editor will open the reports: Pages, Word, TextEdit, LibreOffice, etc. 7) CD/DVD: when inserting a disc Useful settings: Copy all content to the database Eject the disc when copying is finished Search for DICOM: instead of relying only on the “DICOMDIR”, it can be useful to have OsiriX search the disc for files, because many imaging labs in Brazil burn CDs that do not follow the standard. Burn CD Avoid “prefer JPEG”, because it loses quality. You can include an extra folder (e.g., material from your practice), if it makes sense. 8) Protocols and Hotkeys Protocols: I don't go into detail here. Hotkeys: shows useful shortcuts to speed up your work.