How to save theme settings and restore it later?

Question

I have changed base theme and made also some modifications (change fonts, sizes, icons sets etc)

I would like to save all and test some other themes and restore them back.I'm using 12.04.

Is this possible ?

Answer 1

I have found a way to save and restore theme settings. Actually It restores all your personalized settings.

To Backup

Open a terminal and do this

cp ~/.config/dconf/user  ~/settings-backup
cp -r ~/.gconf/apps/metacity ~ 

This will copy the user settings in your home directory in a file named settings-backup. The window manager theme (window framing) will be stored in a folder named metacity in the home folder

To Restore

Open a terminal and do this (I assume your backup file is in your home folder with the name settings-backup)

cp ~/settings-backup ~/.config/dconf/user
cp -r -v ~/metacity ~/.gconf/apps

This will restore the theme settings and the window manager settings. (Note that, If you delete a theme, it can't restore that theme)

Logout and Login again, to see all your settings are restored.

Answer 2

All your configuration and preferences are store in your /home folder, as a hidden folder. If you backup your home folder you'll be able to restore to your previous configuration. For example, I use Lubuntu 12.04 and have a hidden folder in ~/.config/openbox with some of my system settings.

Related: How to migrate user settings and data to new machine?