# Enable TikZ

TikZ is the only language disabled out of the box, because rendering it means running a full TeX engine. That is heavier than every other renderer here, and most sites never need it.

If your site writes papers, theses or scientific documentation, turn it on.

---

## When you would change this

* Scientific, mathematical or academic documentation.
* Teams already writing LaTeX who want the figures in Confluence.
* Publication-quality figures that nothing else here can produce.

---

## What you can set

| **Setting** | **What it does**                                            |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| Where       | Site settings, alongside the other language toggles.        |
| Who         | A Confluence administrator.                                 |
| Effect      | TikZ appears in the editor picker for everyone on the site. |

---

## A few things that catch people out

* TikZ renders more slowly than anything else. Expect a noticeable wait on complex figures.
* Errors come from TeX, so they read like TeX errors rather than diagram errors.
* The language page has worked examples and the useful libraries. See [Reference](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/reference.html).

---

## Related

[Global shape librariesOne shape vocabulary for the whole site.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/global-shape-libraries.html)

[Global template libraryStarting points, kept in one place.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/global-template-library.html)

[ExamplesWorking diagrams you can copy.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/examples.html)

---

_Set it once, in the right place._