IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help

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IMPORTANT: Please click here and read this first, before asking for help

Also, be nice to others! Read the FreeCAD code of conduct!
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NormandC
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IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help

Post by NormandC »

Welcome here, and thanks for your interest in FreeCAD! We are a small but active community of users and developers. We are eager to assist you, but please read the following before posting:

  1. Be nice to others!
    It is important to keep this forum a nice and respectful place. Be sure to read the FreeCAD code of conduct!
  2. Make sure your FreeCAD version is up to date
    Bug fix releases are published a few times a year as needed. Make sure you are using the latest version listed on the Download page or from the even more current developer version.
  3. Search the forum first
    Chances are other users had the same problem as you before. The 3 most common questions are covered here. Also have a look at our exhaustive Frequently asked questions, the FreeCAD Manual and the Documentation.
  4. Please provide your FreeCAD version info - (scroll further down this page if you wish to see a video on how to do this created by Mario52)
    Open the Help --> About FreeCAD menu then click on the "Copy to clipboard" button, and paste its content in the text input area. This will provide us valuable information on your exact version and revision number, your operating system as well as FreeCAD's internal libraries. (Mac users: the About FreeCAD menu is under the FreeCAD menu.)
    Please do not attach a screen capture instead of posting the Help > About FreeCAD information from the clipboard. Don't add your FreeCAD info or any other version data to your signature. When you change your signature, the forum software shows the updated signature in every post you ever made, obviously this means that over time your version data in a signature would become wrong for all your previous posts.
  5. Please provide a complete description of your problem
    The best way to get quick and efficient help is to not spare any details. What workbench and tools are you using? What steps did you take? What was the result? If a question refers to a tutorial, add a link. If it is a video, use a link that contains the position where to start. This will avoid back-and-forth exchanges and save time for everybody.
  6. Add your FreeCAD file and/or screen captures
    Your FreeCAD file (*.FCStd) can be useful to troubleshoot the problem, and screen captures can also be useful. Under the text input area, click on the Attachments tab, then click on the Add files button. (Many different file formats are supported)

    Please don't zip your *.FCStd file, it is already zipped. Windows users: please do not attach screen captures in Word or PDF format. Use the Windows Snipping tool to save your capture as a PNG image. (Here's how)

    File attachments are limited to 1MB in size. If your *.FCStd file is too big to attach, you can use an online storage service (many are free like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox).
Thanks for reading! And don't forget to thank those who helped you. We're all volunteers who dedicate some of our precious time to help others and thanks are always appreciated. ;)

Useful links Revised 04/22/2017 based on this topic. Thanks to bejant, chrisb, DeepSOIC, jmaustpc and sgrogan.
Last edited by Roy_043 on Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:31 am, edited 31 times in total.
jmaustpc
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Re: IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help

Post by jmaustpc »

How to "QUOTE" another post or part of another post

You make it hard to follow when you "quote" without the user name, particularly within complex topics.

If you quote another user properly, it includes their user name within the quote and the system informs the other user that they have been quoted.

If you have opened a posting window, then just highlight the text you want to quote and click on the "quote" button associated with the post you are quoting...then you will get a quote with the user name automatically included, and it will only include the highlighted text.

It is good style to quote just what you are directly referring to. You can concentrate on the important parts and the forum regulars have probably read the previous posts anyway and don't want to read the same over and over again. If somebody wants to read more, he can use the small up arrow link which leads to the post.

If you have nothing highlighted ...then the quote button associated with a specific post will quote the entire post.

If you do not first open a posting window and simply click on the quote button associated with another post, it will open a posting window and insert the complete post as a "quote".

Partial quoting of highlighted text only works if you first open a posting window.
jmaustpc
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Re: IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help

Post by jmaustpc »

Anti-Spam Measures

In recent years, spam has forced us to introduce the following.....
  1. Anonymous posting had to be disallowed
    That means you now have to register before you can post messages on the FreeCAD forums.
  2. New users can not send a PM
    A new user can not send a Private Message (PM) to other users until after their first post has been approved.
  3. First posts are hidden until approved
    Spammers started registering and then filling the forums with spam, so now we have been forced to hide all first posts until a moderator or admin has approved the first post, at least that means that the public does not see these spam posts before they are removed.
  4. New users can only make one post
    Then the spammers started flooding us with huge numbers of first post, so we were forced to only allow new users to post once, until a pre-set time has expired or their first post has been approved.
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NormandC
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Most Commonly Asked Questions

Post by NormandC »

Most Commonly Asked Questions
  1. Q. I exported my model to STL or DXF but all the holes are filled up and fillets are missing.
    A. Don't select All or use Ctrl + A to export for 3D printing. You typically only need to select the last object at the bottom of the Model tree, or in the case of a PartDesign Body, select the Body itself.
  2. Q. The feature (Pad or Pocket) I added doesn't show.
    A. Make sure that only the last element in the tree is visible. You can toggle visibility by selecting it in the tree and hitting the space bar. Invisible elements in the tree are greyed out.
jmaustpc
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Re: IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help

Post by jmaustpc »

A short animated Gif video on how to access your FreeCAD version info (created by Mario52)...
Open the Help --> About FreeCAD menu then click on the "Copy to clipboard" button, and paste its content in the text input area. This will provide us valuable information on your exact version and revision number, your operating system as well as FreeCAD's internal libraries. (Mac users: the About FreeCAD menu is under the FreeCAD menu.)
Please do not attach a screen capture instead of posting the Help > About FreeCAD information from the clipboard. Don't add your FreeCAD info or any other version data to your signature. When you change your signature, the forum software shows the updated signature in every post you ever made, obviously this means that over time your version data in a signature would become wrong for all your previous posts.
Copy_Info_FreeCAD2.gif
Copy_Info_FreeCAD2.gif (260.86 KiB) Viewed 680491 times
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