Abstract: A GUI software development system that executes in a multitasking environment is enhanced with the addition of a property setting manager program that provides a means whereby a programmer may readily store and retrieve one of a plurality of program object property sets for a particular program object, be the object a visual control or a non-visual object that provides a distinct added functionality to the program. The property setting manager program provides functionality to extract current property settings of a control or object and save those settings as a predefined property set for future use. Predefined property sets are automatically made available to the programmer upon detection of an event indicating a corresponding control or object is being added to a computer program under development. Multiple unique predefined property settings for a particular programming object or control are stored for later recall so that the programming effort required to establish initial property settings is minimized.