Drafting software on this page means making a 2D drawing of a part on this Windows PC. Install FreeCAD with winget or FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe from GitHub Releases, open TechDraw, put a view on a page, and save the file here. Skip Softonic, CNET, and unofficial wrappers. This site does not host the installer.

This article is the 2D drawing job. You already have a part, or you can pad a simple one, and you want a sheet with views and sizes on this machine. You are not hunting a second product for lines on paper. The 3D CAD meaning sits on Computer aided design. Installing the Windows program as the whole search sits on CAD programs. 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 draft 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. 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. 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. Files stay on GitHub. If SmartScreen warns on a first run, read the publisher. Prefer the GitHub asset over a renamed copy from search. After setup, open the program. TechDraw is a workbench inside that window. It is not a second download.

How to use drafting software 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 drawing.
Open or make a 3D part. If you have none, use Part Design: sketch a profile, pad it, look at the solid. A sheet needs something to project.
Switch to TechDraw. Insert a page (Insert Default Page, or Insert Page using Template). Select the part in the tree. Insert a view. Use the projection options the task panel actually shows.
Add dimensions the toolbar actually shows. Save the file on this PC. Export the page as SVG or DXF if you need a sheet file the File tools in TechDraw actually list.

That list is the drafting path on this PC. You are putting views of a part onto a page. You are not redrawing the solid as a picture in Paint. The 3D job sits on Computer aided design. After the five steps, look at the page. Checking the sheet is part of the job.

What drafting software is on this PC

Drafting software here means a 2D drawing of a part: a page, one or more views, sizes you can read, a file you can save. In FreeCAD, that sheet lives in the TechDraw workbench. You install the same program you would install for 3D work. You switch workbenches. You insert a page. You project the part.

People type drafting software when they want lines on a sheet. Many search results are 2D-only suites. This page stays honest: TechDraw makes a technical drawing from a 3D model you already have (or a simple pad you make first). If you never needed a solid, Draft can draw 2D geometry in the same program. The drawing sheet with title block and projected views is still TechDraw.

We will not pretend this is a dedicated 2D-only drafting suite. The project itself is a 3D CAD program with a drawing workbench. That is enough for a shop sheet of a part you modeled here. It is not a promise to replace every 2D package on earth.

You need a part first

A blank TechDraw page with no view is just paper. Select a Body, a Pad, or another drawable object in the tree, then insert a view. If the tree is empty, you do not have a drawing yet. Make a part. The CAD loop (sketch, pad, save) sits on Computer aided design. A 10 mm pad of a rectangle is enough to learn TechDraw.

Open an .FCStd you already saved if the part exists. Stay on this PC. Do not upload the model to a website to get a PDF of it. Switch to TechDraw in the same file. The page object lives in that document. Save the same .FCStd after the page exists.

If you imported a STEP and it shows in the 3D view, you can still insert a TechDraw view of that shape. If the import failed, fix the import before you draft. A missing solid will project as an empty frame.

Insert a page

On first use, TechDraw often offers Insert Default Page and Insert Page using Template. Default page gives you a blank sheet fast. Template opens a file chooser with paper sizes the project ships: A4, A3, and other ISO and ANSI sheets the list actually shows, including ISO5457-style title blocks. Pick one you can read on screen. A3 landscape is a common pick for a first part.

A Page object appears in the tree. A tab shows the sheet. Title block fields on a template can be edited. Double-click a field the template marks as editable and type. We will not invent extra field names. Use the fields the template actually has: drawing name, scale, date, if those boxes exist.

If you picked the wrong template, delete that Page in the tree and insert another. Two pages in one file are allowed. Start with one. Scale on the page and scale in a projection group are different knobs. Set them with the controls the dialog shows. Template scale text may not rewrite itself. Edit the field if you changed scale.

Insert a view

Select the part. Click Insert View, or the projection tool the toolbar actually shows. A front view is the usual first result. A task panel may offer extra projected views: tick the ones you want. First angle and third angle sit in that dialog if your build shows them. Pick the angle your shop already uses. Do not mix both on one sheet unless you mean to.

You can drag the main view to move a projection group. Individual views may only slide along their projection axis. That is how the sheet stays readable. Auto distribute, if ticked, can snap views back when you Apply. Untick it if you already placed views by hand and you want them to stay.

View frames can be toggled. Frames help you grab a view. Turn them off when you want to judge the ink. Scale: if the part is huge, pick a smaller scale in the dialog. If the part is a tiny clip, pick a larger scale. We will not invent a scale formula. Look at the page. If the view collides with the title block, move it or pick a larger sheet.

Dimensions on the sheet

Select an edge or two points in a view. Use Insert Dimension, or the dimension tools the TechDraw toolbar actually shows. Place the number where a person can read it. A diameter on a hole should land on that circle. A length on a base edge should land on that edge. If the number looks like a foreshortened isometric guess, you may have dimensioned a 3D-looking view. Prefer an orthographic view for sizes the shop will cut.

If a circle has no centre mark, select the view and look at the View tab. Arc Centre Marks can be turned on if that property exists. Then dimension from the centre. Balloon annotations exist for notes that are not sizes. Click the balloon tool, click the page, type. We will not invent GD&T libraries the toolbar does not show. Use what is there.

Change the 3D sketch and the TechDraw dimension can follow if it is linked to the model. That is the point of drafting from a solid instead of tracing a picture. If a dimension sticks at an old number, redraw the page, or recompute, with the commands the window actually shows.

Export the sheet

Save the .FCStd first. That keeps the Page, the views, and the part together. Then, if you need a sheet file, use Export Page as SVG or Export Page as DXF from TechDraw if those tools are present. SVG is a fair path to print or to a vector viewer. DXF is a fair path to other 2D tools that open DXF. Open the export and look at it. A zero-byte export is not a drawing.

Print from the program if the menu shows Print. Print preview is a fair check. We will not invent a PDF button the window does not have. If you need a PDF, print to a PDF printer Windows already has, or export SVG and print that. Check every view, a middle dimension, and the title block before you send the sheet.

Keep the .FCStd. An SVG is a snapshot of the page. If you change the pad thickness tomorrow, reopen the native file, let TechDraw update, then export again. Mailing only the SVG and deleting the model is how people redraw a sheet from scratch.

TechDraw and Draft, honestly

Draft is a workbench for 2D geometry in the 3D space: lines, shapes, snap. TechDraw is the sheet: page, template, projected views, dimensions on paper. People searching drafting software often want the sheet. This page stays on TechDraw. If you only wanted 2D lines with no solid, you can still draw in Draft, then put a view of that geometry on a TechDraw page. That is optional. The five steps above start from a Part Design solid because that is the usual honest path.

Sketcher is the profile that drives a solid. It is not a shop drawing. A fully constrained sketch is for the model. The shop reads TechDraw. Do not send a screenshot of Sketcher and call it a drawing. Insert a page. Insert a view. Dimension the view.

Section views exist in TechDraw if the Section tool is on your toolbar. A section is useful when the inside of a part is the point. We will not walk every option. If the tool is there, select a view and cut. If it is missing on your build, use the views you have. Live tag observed: V1.1.3, 25 July 2026.

Skipping Softonic

Skip Softonic. Skip CNET. Skip unofficial wrappers. A search for drafting software is noisy. Portals wrap installers. The filename changes. Fetch FreeCAD from GitHub Releases or winget. Trust notes sit on Cad software download safe.

If the URL is not github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD, stop. Match FreeCAD_1.1.3-Windows-x86_64-py311-installer.exe, or the 7z on that release. This site does not host the installer. Files stay on GitHub. A lookalike domain that borrowed the word drafting is still the wrong place.

We will not send you to a second site for a title-block pack. Use the templates TechDraw already lists. If you later make a custom SVG template, that is your file. It is not required for a first drawing.

Checking the drawing

The draft is not finished when the page tab appears. The draft is finished when a view of the correct part sits on the sheet, dimensions read as the sizes you meant, and the file is saved. Switch Explorer to Details. Confirm the .FCStd Date modified. If you exported SVG or DXF, open that file in a viewer and look at every view.

Count views against what you ticked. A missing left view is a tick you forgot, not a broken install. A blank frame means the wrong object was selected, or the part is empty. A dimension that says a number you never wanted is a view of the wrong edge. Delete that dimension. Pick the edge again.

Title block: read the name, the scale, the date if those fields exist. A sheet that still says the template defaults is unfinished if you meant to fill them. Print preview. Then save. Then export if you need a sheet file.

First drawing

Pad a rectangle. Switch to TechDraw. Insert Default Page. Insert a view of that pad. Add one length dimension. Save. That is a first drawing. A gearbox with twenty sections is a terrible first test. You want to learn the page, the view, and one size. Then scale up.

If the page is white and empty, you inserted a page and skipped the view. Select the part. Insert a view. If TechDraw is missing from the workbench list, use the list you have, or you installed the wrong program. Uninstall a wrapper. Install from GitHub Releases or winget.

Windows may show SmartScreen on a first exe. Read the publisher. Prefer GitHub Releases. Updates live on GitHub Releases and on winget when the package updates. Match V1.1.3 until the release page shows another tag.

When the page stays blank

No part in the tree: make one. Part selected was a sketch, not a solid: pad first, then insert the view of the pad or the Body. Page tab hidden behind the 3D view: click the page tab. Scale so small the view is a speck: increase scale. Scale so large the view sits off the sheet: decrease scale or move the view.

A file on a network share can be slow to recompute views. Copy the .FCStd to Documents, draft there, copy back if you must. A read-only SD card will refuse the save. Unlock the volume. A part still open as a copy in a second window can confuse you. Close extras. Work in one document.

If Export Page as DXF writes an empty file, try SVG, or print preview first. Confirm the page has views before you export. We will not invent a DXF version number. Open the export in a program you already have that reads that type. If it looks empty, the page was empty.

School PCs and uninstall

A lab image may block winget and unknown exe files. Then this drafting job is closed for that hour. Do not fetch a wrapper. A borrowed laptop you return in twenty minutes is a bad place to leave the installer. Use a PC you control. Save the .FCStd there.

Uninstall is Apps in Windows, or the project uninstall. Closing the page tab is not uninstall. If other people use this PC, tell them you installed FreeCAD, or take it off when you are done. 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. The install pointer is Install on the home page.

It will not walk the 3D sketch in full. That sits on Computer aided design. It will not be the install-catalog page. That sits on CAD programs. It will not clone a browser CAD product. That map sits on CAD software vs Tinkercad.

It will not invent a 2D-only competitor list. It will not invent round-trip files for a commercial 2D suite. TechDraw exports SVG and DXF when those tools are present. Read the tools the workbench shows. Stay on this PC.

How do I use drafting software 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. Make or open a part. Switch to TechDraw. Insert a page. Insert a view. Add dimensions. Save the .FCStd. Export SVG or DXF if you need a sheet file. The install pointer is Install on the home page.

Is this a 2D-only program?

No. FreeCAD is a 3D CAD program. TechDraw is the drawing workbench inside it. You usually project a solid onto a page. Draft can draw 2D geometry if you need lines without a solid. The sheet job on this page is TechDraw.

Why is my TechDraw page blank?

You may have a page and no view. Select the part in the tree, then insert a view. You may have selected a sketch instead of a solid. Pad first. You may be looking at the 3D tab. Click the page tab. If TechDraw is missing, the install may be a wrapper, or the workbench list needs you to pick it. Install from GitHub Releases or winget. If you still needed the 3D loop, that sits on Computer aided design.

Did you make this drafting software?

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.