User hub



This area is the main help area for newcomers to FreeCAD.

Please note that like FreeCAD itself, these pages are in continuous development. FreeCAD already features many interesting tools for the final user, and more are continuously added, which is why at the moment there is still missing or outdated documentation for the end user.

But don't feel discouraged, browse the contents of this section, and, if you cannot find the information you need, don't hesitate to ask! Among the developers or in the small but growing FreeCAD users community, there will certainly be someone who can help you. You can leave comments related to this wiki documentation site on the FreeCAD help forum and ask your questions there.

And if you have some information you would like to appear here, why not contribute and help us make this manual grow. Head to the Help FreeCAD page, that will help you to get started.

If you would like to know how the development of FreeCAD has started years ago visit the History page.

Introduction

 * Application Overview: A general overview of FreeCAD
 * Installing: How to install FreeCAD on Windows, Unix/Linux and Mac
 * Getting started: A quick overview of the available tools
 * FAQ: Frequently asked questions
 * Tutorials covering different parts of FreeCAD

Basic Application

 * Mouse Model: The use of the mouse to navigate in the 3D space
 * Document structure: How is a FreeCAD document organized
 * Preferences and Customization: How you can configure FreeCAD to your needs
 * Properties: How objects properties work in FreeCAD
 * Workbench Concept: How the FreeCAD interface is organized
 * Macros: How to easily automate often repeated tasks
 * File formats: The different file formats that FreeCAD can read and write

Workbenches
These are the base workbenches bundled with every installation of FreeCAD:

External Workbenches
Power users have extended FreeCAD with various custom external workbenches, that are not integrated into the FreeCAD source code, but are easy to install on an existing FreeCAD installation. See here for an overview of the already available workbenches. For instructions how to install these workbenches refer to the tutorial How to install additional workbenches.

Macros
Power users have written various macros to enhance FreeCAD with more capabilities for a list of the macros refer to the page macros recipes. For instructions how to install the macros refer to the tutorial How to install macros.

Reference

 * Commands Reference: A complete list of the available FreeCAD commands.

Online Help
This is the official FreeCAD online help. Please note that the whole online help system is currently in rework. It will be used to generate a .CHM file, that will be distributed with the binary packages of FreeCAD. At the moment the online help summarizes some of the most complete sections of this wiki.
 * Online help system - Table of Contents

More

 * The Power users hub is the place to go if you would like to see more advanced use of FreeCAD
 * David is a very low cost 3D scanning system that can already work well with FreeCAD
 * Architecture workflow : An example of how FreeCAD can begin to have its preliminary place in an architecture workflow...
 * If you would like to help FreeCAD, head to the Help FreeCAD page.
 * The FreeCAD Community Portal lists projects made by community members around FreeCAD.
 * Don't understand a term or phrase as used in FreeCAD? Try the Glossary page.