# General settings

**Settings → General** is the home for organisation-wide behaviour that does not belong to any one
module: how long announcements stay visible, how employee badge IDs are numbered, who can do what,
and how dates and times are displayed.

<div class="bon-video">
<iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zA_LRC0lmtI" title="Find your way around Settings" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA_LRC0lmtI">Find your way around Settings</a></p>
</div>

## What lives here

| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| **Announcement Expiry** | How many days an announcement stays on the dashboard before it drops off. |
| **Employee ID Prefix** | The badge prefix new employee records are numbered from, per company — for example `BOHR` producing `BOHR0022`. Can be turned off if you assign badge IDs a different way. |
| **My Pagination Preference** | How many rows a list shows before it pages, for your own account only — it does not change what anyone else sees. |
| **Employee Permission** | Permissions granted to one specific employee outside of a group — see [Roles and permissions](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/employees/page/roles-and-permissions). |
| **User Group** | Named bundles of permissions applied to several employees at once — see [Roles and permissions](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/employees/page/roles-and-permissions). |
| **Accessibility Restriction** | Accessibility-related access controls. |
| **Date & Time Format** | How dates and times are displayed across the product. |

![Settings → General → General Settings, showing Announcement Expiry, Employee ID Prefix and My Pagination Preference](https://docs.blueonehr.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/xNTsettings-general-general-settings.png)

## The other settings tabs

**General** is one of several top-level tabs under Settings, alongside **Base** (company,
departments, job roles — see [Company, departments and job roles](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/company-settings/page/company-departments-and-job-roles)),
**Recruitment**, **Employee**, **Attendance**, **Leave**, **Payroll**, **Performance**, **Help Desk**,
**Configuration**, and **Mitra**. Each module keeps its own configuration under its own tab rather
than everything being flattened into one long settings page — if you are looking for a leave-type
setting, it lives under the Leave tab, not General.

## Related

- [Company, departments and job roles](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/company-settings/page/company-departments-and-job-roles)
- [Roles and permissions](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/employees/page/roles-and-permissions)