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This is the documentation website of FreeCAD. It is written by the community of FreeCAD users and developers, and is continuously being updated and extended. It might therefore contain errors, inaccuracies, or articles that describe functionality that is not yet available on the version you have installed. We try our best to fix these and make this documentation better, don't hesitate to help and contribute!

Discovering FreeCAD


FreeCAD is an open-source general purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler, made for product design, that is, anything you plan to build in the real world. It is mainly made for two categories of users: Professional users from the fields of mechanical engineering and product design but also from a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties, and also hobbyist and casual users who need a tool to model objects they want to build or 3D print.

Modeling for product design is usually a complex task, where precision is important. FreeCAD is therefore also a complex tool with a fair learning curve. This documentation will hopefully help to make this learning phase an interesting and enjoyable experience.

Discovering and installing FreeCAD

 * About FreeCAD: A better and deeper description of the FreeCAD project and application
 * Features list: A list of the main features you will find in FreeCAD
 * Screenshots: A collection of screenshots showing how the FreeCAD application looks like
 * Detailed installation instructions for Windows, Linux and Mac
 * FAQ: The most frequent asked questions. This will help you with frequent problems and questions

First steps

 * Getting started: A quick overview of the FreeCAD application and its typical workflows
 * Navigating in the 3D space: A complete description of the different ways to use the mouse in FreeCAD
 * Working with parametric objects PAGE TO BE EXTENDED/ BETTERED TO REFLECT BETTER HOW PARAMETRIC OBJECTS WORK

Working with workbenches
The FreeCAD interface is based on the concept of workbenches. Workbenches are sets of tools typically designed for a specific task. Switching between these workbenches changes several parts of the FreeCAD interface such as toolbars and menus. Most of the tasks you will do in FreeCAD will take place inside one or more of these workbenches.

Customizing FreeCAD

 * Interface Customization: How to customize the interface, modify and adapt the workbench toolbars and keyboard shortcuts to your needs.
 * Setting user preferences

Python scripting

 * The FreeCAD Document