User hub

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

Please note that these pages are in early stage of development. At the moment there is still not much documentation for the end user, since FreeCAD itself is still in early stage of development, and doesn't currently feature many interesting tools for the final user.

But FreeCAD is doing great, and this situation is expected to evolve soon. So, 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 relate dto this wiki documentation site on the User hub talk page, or head directly to the FreeCAD help forum and ask your questions there.

And if you have some information you would like to appear here, why not help us make this manual grow and insert your information here? Editing wiki pages is easy, This page will help you to get started.

Using FreeCAD

Introduction

• Application Overview: A general overview of FreeCAD
• Installing FreeCAD: How to install FreeCAD on Windows and Unix/Linux
• Mouse Model: How to navigate in the FreeCAD 3D space

Basic Application

• Getting started: What can you do with FreeCAD at the moment?
• Document structure
• Preferences
• Properties
• Workbench Concept

Workbenches

• Mesh: Deals with triangulated meshes
• Image
• Points
• Raytracing
• Part: Deals with BREP objects
• Draft: A basic 2D drawing workbench

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

Helping FreeCAD

If you like FreeCAD and would like to help in its development, there are many things you can do, even if you are not a programmer. For example:

• Help us to build, correct and extend this documentation
• Translate FreeCAD in your own language
• Find interesting uses for FreeCAD, and document it (with screenshots for example)
• Report bugs, if you find some
• Suggest new features
• If you know a bit of python language, program some useful scripts

Applications

Here some Workflows where FreeCAD can be Useful:

• David is a very low cost 3D scanning system
• Architecture workflow : An example of how FreeCAD can begin to have its preliminary place in an architecture workflow...

User documentation

• Getting started
• Installation: Download, Windows, Linux, Mac, Additional components, Docker, AppImage, Ubuntu Snap
• Basics: About FreeCAD, Interface, Mouse navigation, Selection methods, Object name, Preferences, Workbenches, Document structure, Properties, Help FreeCAD, Donate

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• Help: Tutorials, Video tutorials
• Workbenches: Std Base, Arch, Assembly, CAM, Draft, FEM, Inspection, Mesh, OpenSCAD, Part, PartDesign, Points, Reverse Engineering, Robot, Sketcher, Spreadsheet, Start, Surface, TechDraw, Test Framework, Web

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• Addons: Addon Manager, External workbenches, Scripting and macros

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• Hubs: User hub, Power users hub, Developer hub