If I want to create a setting which only affects data inputted or outputted in future, and not data already in the system, is there a term for this kind of setting?
An example of this type of setting would be “log level”. Changing your log level does not generally result in messages being removed from past log files.
An example of a type of setting which is not like this would be the page size in a wordprocessor. Generally, that results in the document contents being reflowed for the new page size.
Non-retroactive, with the opposite being retroactive.