How Non-Recursive Folder Settings Affect Inheritance

Non-recursive Folder Settings control both where a Folder Setting applies and how inheritance behaves within a folder hierarchy. Their effect is limited to the same exact Folder Setting and does not influence other, unrelated Folder Settings that may be defined on subfolders.

Understanding how non-recursive settings affect inheritance is important when designing folder structures that rely on predictable scoping and clearly defined boundaries.

Scope of Non-Recursive Folder Settings

When a Folder Setting is defined as non-recursive, it applies only to the folder where it is defined. The setting does not apply to any subfolders.

This scoping rule applies only to that specific Folder Setting. Other Folder Settings defined on subfolders continue to apply independently and are not affected by the non-recursive configuration.

Inheritance Boundaries for Replace-Style Folder Settings

For Folder Settings whose nested effect is Replace, a non-recursive definition also acts as an inheritance boundary.

When a replace-style Folder Setting is defined as non-recursive:

• The setting applies only at the folder where it is defined
• The same Folder Setting defined at a higher level does not propagate beyond that point
• Subfolders do not fall back to a higher-level definition of that setting

Once inheritance is terminated in this way, it does not resume further down the folder hierarchy. This ensures that replace-style Folder Settings remain locally scoped and that a more general definition does not unexpectedly reappear at deeper levels.

Interaction with Combine-Style Folder Settings

Folder Settings whose nested effect is Combine do not act as inheritance boundaries in the same way.

Because combine-style Folder Settings are designed to apply cumulatively, non-recursive definitions limit where the local setting applies but do not block higher-level definitions of the same setting from continuing to apply in subfolders.

As a result, combine-style Folder Settings may still be in effect at multiple levels simultaneously, even when a non-recursive definition is present at an intermediate folder.

Explicitly Disabling an Inherited Folder Setting

In addition to recursion and nesting behavior, Folder Settings support an explicit option to disable an inherited Folder Setting without introducing a new configuration.

When this option is enabled at a folder:

• The inherited Folder Setting of the same type is disabled at that folder
• No replacement Folder Setting is applied at that level

This is useful when a folder should explicitly opt out of a higher-level Folder Setting while leaving subfolders free to define their own configuration.

Relationship to Other Folder Setting Concepts

Non-recursive Folder Settings determine where a Folder Setting applies and, for replace-style settings, where inheritance stops.

Other Folder Setting concepts provide additional context for understanding these effects.

Recursion defines whether a Folder Setting applies only to a specific folder or also propagates to subfolders. See Recursion: Where Settings Apply.

Nested Folder Settings define how multiple definitions of the same Folder Setting interact when their scopes overlap. See Nested Folder Settings.