Computer aided design on this page means drawing parts and models on this Windows PC with a local program. Install FreeCAD with winget or FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe from GitHub Releases, open a new file, sketch a profile, and save it here. Skip Softonic, CNET, and unofficial wrappers. This site does not host the installer.

This article is the CAD job. You want a part with real sizes on this machine: a bracket, a plate, a simple housing, a block you can measure. You draw it here. You save it here. Installing the Windows program as the whole search sits on CAD programs. 2D drawing sits on Drafting software. A browser product comparison sits on CAD software vs Tinkercad. The short install sits home.

This is FreeCAD. LGPL-2.1. The FreeCAD team publishes it. We did not make it. Official files live on GitHub Releases. The repo is FreeCAD/FreeCAD. This site does not host the installer. Skip Softonic, CNET, and unofficial wrappers.

The button on this page goes to Install on the home page. Trust notes sit on Cad software download safe.

Install so you can use computer aided design on this PC

Paste this into Windows Terminal or Command Prompt:

winget install -e --id FreeCAD.FreeCAD

Copy

If winget is missing, install App Installer from Microsoft, then paste again. Official Microsoft links only. The id is FreeCAD.FreeCAD. Do not paste a lookalike id from a comment thread. GitHub Releases is the other path. For most PCs take FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe. A 7z also sits on that release if you want a 7z: FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311.7z. Live tag observed: V1.1.3, 25 July 2026. Match the file name on the list. File notes sit on Cad software releases. LICENSE sits on Cad software GitHub.

Run the installer on the same machine you will draw on. Files stay on GitHub. If SmartScreen warns on a first run, read the publisher. Prefer the GitHub asset over a renamed copy from search. PowerShell accepts the same winget line. After setup, Settings, Apps should list FreeCAD. A reboot is rarely required. If the Start menu still hides the app, sign out and sign in, then open it once.

UAC may ask for consent. Read the prompt. Elevate only if you meant to install. A standard user without permission cannot finish the exe. Ask the person who administers the PC, or wait until you control the account. Do not fetch a portable zip from a random blog to dodge that prompt. The honest objects are winget and the GitHub installer.

How to use computer aided design tool FreeCAD

Install FreeCAD with the command on this page, or take FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe from GitHub Releases. A 7z also exists on that release if you want a 7z.
Open FreeCAD on this Windows PC. You should get a desktop window, not a website that asks you to upload a model.
Start a new file and open Part Design. Use the workbench list the window actually shows. A new Body is the usual start for a solid.
Sketch a profile, pad it into a solid, and look at the 3D view. Constrain the sketch with sizes you mean. Use pad, pocket, or the other Part Design tools the panel actually shows.
Save the file on this PC. Stay here. Open the folder and confirm the file is real, then close when you are done.

That list is the CAD path on this PC. You are drawing a part that lives on this disk. You are not treating a browser tab as the whole job. The named vs sits on CAD software vs Tinkercad. After the five steps, keep going through the check. Opening the saved file tomorrow is part of the job, not a bonus.

What computer aided design is on this PC

Computer aided design is a program that lets you draw a part with sizes, then keep that part as a file. A paint file is a picture of a part. A CAD file is the part: edges, faces, a history you can edit. FreeCAD is one LGPL-2.1 program that does that in a desktop window on Windows. You install it, you sketch, you pad, you save.

People type computer aided design when they want the work, not only a package name. The work is a model on this PC. Home on this site is the short install. This URL stays on meaning and the first solid. Stay here when you have a size in mind and you want that size in a file you can open later.

The app does not invent the part for you. If you have no size in mind, pick a simple block first. A first file that is a 40 mm square pad is honest. A first file that tries to be a whole machine is a bad place to start. Finish one body. Then add a hole, a pocket, or a second sketch if you still want to.

Open Part Design and pick a plane

Part Design is the usual solid path in this program. Switch to it from the workbench list. Start a Body if the window asks for one. Create sketch. Pick a plane the dialog actually lists: XY, XZ, or YZ is the ordinary set. If you click the wrong plane, delete that sketch and start another. Guessing later with a rotated pad is how a first part goes sideways.

The sketch is a 2D profile that will become a solid. It is not the drawing sheet. The drawing sheet job sits on Drafting software. Here you stay in the sketch until the outline is closed and sized, then you leave the sketch and pad.

We will not invent extra toolbar captions. Use Create sketch, or the Tasks item the window shows for a new sketch. If the workbench list on your build names Part Design differently, use the list you have. Live tag observed: V1.1.3, 25 July 2026.

Sketch a profile with sizes

Draw lines, a rectangle, or a circle with the Sketcher tools the sketch actually shows. Close the outline. An open chain will not pad into a solid you can trust. Add a length constraint on a side you care about. Add a diameter if you drew a hole as a circle. The number in the constraint is the CAD fact. The 3D view is only a picture of that fact.

Fully constrained is a goal, not a ritual for the first afternoon. A rectangle with width, height, and a lock to the origin is enough to prove the loop. Construction geometry is optional. If a constraint turns the sketch red or the solver complains, undo. Remove one constraint. Try again. Do not stack conflicting sizes.

Units follow what the document uses. Match millimetres if you already think in millimetres. Match inches if that is the shop language. Mixing a millimetre sketch with a number you meant as inches will still pad. The shop will not forgive the mix. Glance at the unit the window shows before you type 10 and walk away.

Pad the profile and look at the solid

Leave the sketch. Pad. Type a thickness. Confirm. The profile should become a solid in the 3D view. Rotate it. Pan. Zoom. If a face is missing, the sketch was open, or the pad went the wrong direction. Edit the pad, or edit the sketch, then look again. The history is in the tree. That is the point of a parametric file. You change a size, the solid follows.

Pocket cuts material from a solid you already have. Fillet and chamfer live on edges once a solid exists. Hole tools the workbench actually shows can wait until a plate exists to put a hole in. A first run that tries every toolbar icon before a single save is how people lose the afternoon. Pad. Look. Save.

If the solid looks paper thin, the pad distance was tiny. If it looks like a wall that went the wrong way, reverse the pad. If nothing appeared, you may still be inside the sketch. Close the sketch. Select it in the tree. Pad from there.

Save the model on this disk

File, Save, or Save As. Pick a folder you control: Documents, a project folder on D:, a disk that will still be here tomorrow. The native file is an .FCStd. That is the file you reopen to edit the history. Checking Explorer is part of the job. A model you cannot find is not done.

Keep the .FCStd even if you later export. An export is a snapshot. STEP or STL, if the File menu actually lists them, are for sending a shape. They are not a substitute for the native file if you still want to change a sketch. We will not invent a format the menu does not list. Read the export dialog. Pick a type it shows. Open the result in a viewer you already have, then keep the .FCStd.

Save early. Save after the first pad. Save before you pocket a hole you might regret. A crash, a sleep, or a full disk can take the afternoon. The convert of a CAD session is the file on disk, not the picture in the 3D view. Confirm Date modified in Explorer after you save.

Change a size later

Open the same .FCStd tomorrow. Double-click the sketch, or the pad, in the tree. Change the number. Recompute if the window asks. Look at the solid again. That loop is computer aided design on this PC. A picture you cannot edit is a screenshot. A CAD file you can edit is the job.

If the change breaks a later pocket, read the tree from the top. The sketch is the parent of the pad. The pad is the parent of later features. Fix the early number, then walk down. Do not delete the whole Body because one pocket failed. Delete the failed feature if you must, then rebuild that step.

A second Body in the same file can wait. Finish one part. When changing a size feels ordinary, add another Body or an assembly the program actually offers. An empty assembly with no finished part is a folder with a name. Computer aided design on this page is the finished first solid.

A number you can measure

CAD is useful when a number matters. A hole that must be 6 mm. A plate that must be 3 mm thick. Put those numbers in the sketch. Do not eyeball a critical size and hope the 3D view looks right. Print a screenshot only after the file holds the number.

If you do not know a size yet, still pick one and write it in the sketch. You can change it. That is cheaper than a picture with no number at all. Write the intended size on a scrap of paper if you need a reminder. Then type it into the constraint. Then pad.

Calipers on a real part are a fair source. Measure the object, type the number, pad. Guessing from a photo of a part is a weaker source. You can still start. Mark the guessed sizes so you know which numbers to replace when you get a real measurement.

Stay on this PC while you draw

The point of local computer aided design is the file. You can copy it to USB. You can keep it offline. You can send a STEP later if you choose. The program does not need a tab to exist. If a search result wants the model uploaded before you can sketch, that is a different product. Official Tinkercad can sit first for its own name. Let it. We point at FreeCAD.

Airplane mode can stay on. A captive portal at a cafe does not matter for the sketch. Updates, mail, and OneDrive can still move bytes later if you let them. The draw step itself runs in a desktop window. Task Manager can show FreeCAD. That is expected.

OneDrive Files On-Demand can trick you. A placeholder .FCStd that has not been hydrated is a thin stub. Keep the file on this device, wait until it is a real object, then open it. Prefer a local folder you own if the model matters. BitLocker volumes must be unlocked first.

Skipping Softonic

Skip Softonic. Skip CNET. Skip unofficial wrappers. Those portals wrap an installer in extra offers. The filename changes. The publisher you wanted is no longer the publisher Windows shows. SmartScreen then has a harder story to tell, and so do you.

Search ads for cad software download often sit above GitHub. The ad copy can reuse the project name. The landing page can screenshot the real UI. The setup can still be a bundle. If the URL is not github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD, stop. If the file is not FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe (or the 7z on that same release), stop and read the release page. Trust notes sit on Cad software download safe.

Winget already listed FreeCAD.FreeCAD. That id is the honest package path on Windows. A comment thread that tells you to paste a different id is not a release. This site does not host the installer either. We point. Hash notes, if any, live on GitHub Releases. Compare there if you want a checksum. We will not paste a fake digest here.

First run

After install, make one boring solid before you hunt a second CAD program. Rectangle. Pad. Save. If the window never opens, the install did not finish, or you launched an old shortcut from an earlier unpack. If Part Design is missing from the workbench list, use the list you have and read Help inside the program, or the repo docs on GitHub.

Windows may show a SmartScreen prompt on a first exe. Read the publisher. Prefer GitHub Releases. Winget skips some of that path because Microsoft already listed the package. If winget is missing, the exe is still honest. Do not fetch a setup from search that wraps the name.

Updates live on GitHub Releases and on winget when the package updates. Live tag observed: V1.1.3, 25 July 2026. Read the release page. Usual Windows pick is still FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe. An arm laptop may need a different asset if the project publishes one. Read the release list. If only the x86_64 installer is present, that is the usual Windows pick we already named.

When the solid looks wrong

An open sketch will not pad cleanly. Close the outline. A pad distance of zero is not a solid. Type a real thickness. A sketch that sits far from the origin can look empty until you zoom to fit. Try a view-fit command the window actually shows.

A file still named .crdownload is not a model. Wait until the GitHub asset has a real name, then install. A model still in a chat you never stored is not a file yet. Save it, then open it. This page will not repair a damaged .FCStd. If a copy in email still opens on another machine, save a fresh copy here.

Sharing violations happen when another FreeCAD window already has the file. Close the extra window. Path too long, illegal characters, and reserved names are old Windows traps. Shorten the tree. Rename to a simple ascii label, then save again. A full disk will fail the write. Free some space, then save.

School PCs, labs, and uninstall

A lab image may block winget and unknown exe files. Then this CAD job is closed for that hour. Do not fetch a wrapper to get around policy. Use a tool already on the image, or wait until you control the PC. Group Policy, AppLocker, and a frozen image are all the same practical answer: you cannot install FreeCAD this sitting.

A borrowed laptop you return in twenty minutes is a bad place to leave FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe. Use what is already on the machine, or do not install. If you must draw, use a PC you own, save the .FCStd there, and copy the file back.

Uninstall is Apps in Windows, or the project uninstall. Closing the 3D view is not uninstall. If you only wanted the meaning, you can read this page without installing. If you install on a machine other people use, tell them. Fetch again from GitHub Releases or winget, not from a wrapper.

What this article will not do

It will not host the installer. It will not be a star rating. Files stay on GitHub. GitHub Releases is the Windows installer host. Fetch the exe from that page or use winget. The install pointer is Install on the home page.

It will not be a catalog of every Windows CAD product. That install job sits on CAD programs. It will not walk a 2D drawing sheet. That sits on Drafting software. It will not clone a browser CAD product. That map sits on CAD software vs Tinkercad.

It will not sell a key. It will not require a login on this page. It will not keep your models. There is nothing to keep: the work happens on your disk, in a desktop window, with a sketch and a pad.

How do I use computer aided design on this PC?

Install with winget install -e --id FreeCAD.FreeCAD or FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe from GitHub Releases. Open FreeCAD. Start a new file. Open Part Design. Sketch a profile with sizes. Pad it. Look at the 3D view. Save the .FCStd on this PC. The install pointer is Install on the home page.

Is computer aided design a browser tab?

This page is the local CAD job. The model stays here. A named browser product comparison sits on CAD software vs Tinkercad. They can both live in your life. They are different articles. Official Tinkercad can sit first for its own name. We still draw here when the part should live on this disk.

Why will my part not take shape?

The sketch may still be open, empty, or not closed. The pad distance may be zero. You may still be looking at the sketch grid instead of the 3D view. Close the sketch. Select it. Pad. Fit the view. If the program never opened, the install did not finish, or you fetched a wrapper. Uninstall that wrapper and start from GitHub Releases or winget. If you needed a 2D sheet of a finished solid, that sits on Drafting software.

Did you make this computer aided design program?

No. The FreeCAD team publishes FreeCAD under LGPL-2.1. Official files live on GitHub Releases. This site only points at that page. We do not host the installer.