Display appearance settings include the elements that compose the scene in the graphics area, such as visual style, ground plane, ground reflection, lighting style, and shadows.
Document Settings, or Application Options, control the parameters for model display appearance. Some parameters define how the model appears in the graphics window when you open it. Others define how the model looks in the environment. Generally, the same parameters exist in the document as in the application options. However, when the Use Document Settings option is active, each document can open with a specific visual style, ground plane, lighting style, and so on.
When you open non-migrated legacy documents, the default settings come from the Application Options appearance settings.
For new and migrated legacy documents, the display appearance settings also exist in the document. You can display documents differently without changing application option appearance settings.