| Deployment descriptor preferences | They are associated with a deployed portlet, represented by a tag in portlet.xml. They apply to all occurrences of that portlet on all pages for all users. | |
| Administrator preferences | They are associated with a portlet definition, that is a particular copy of a portlet. They apply to all occurrences of that portlet definition on all pages for all users. The administration portlets allow you to create multiple copies of the same portlet with different configurations on the administrator level. | config |
| Shared preferences | They are associated with a particular occurrence of a portlet definition on a page and apply to all users who view the portlet on that page | edit_defaults |
| Personalized preferences | They are associated with a single user and apply only to that particular user who views the portlet on the page. | edit, view, help |
