How to "activate" gpg.conf entries?

[Sam Smith]

I've added the following 3 lines to my gpg.conf file:

1) to use stronger hash when supported by others, I added this line = personal-digest-preferences SHA256

2) to use the SHA256 hash when I Sign a message, I added this line = cert-digest-algo SHA256

3) to change what is used when a new key is generated I added this line = default-preference-list SHA256 SHA384 SHA512 SHA224 AES256 AES192 AES CAST5 ZLIB BZIP2 ZIP Uncompressed


If I am using the wrong command for my intended purpose, please do let me know :)

What procedure should I now do to "activate" or put into effect these preferences? Once done, is there a way to verify that these preferences are in effect, how can I verify?
 		 	   		  
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