CalcpadCE Desktop App¶

The CalcpadCE Desktop App is a native application for Windows. You get the full editor — multi-tab editing, syntax highlighting, autocomplete, live preview, and the CalcpadCE sidebar. It uses native file dialogs and menu bar and has offline capabilities.

See Selecting a CalcpadCE Deployment to help decide if this is the right CalcpadCE deployment for you.

Installing¶

The app ships as a per-platform download:

Platform	Format
Windows	Portable `.zip` build (no install for beta)
Linux	Debian `.deb`
Linux	Fedora `.rpm`
Linux	Arch (compressed package with PKGBUILD)

The calculation engine and its dependencies are bundled inside the app — you do not need .NET installed separately. The Windows Portable build includes what it needs to run. The Linux packages expect WebKitGTK to already be present on the system and may require installing a few other common dependencies.

For PDF export you need a Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, or Chromium) installed on the system. On Linux, the app will tell you which package to install if none is found — see Exports.

Your first document¶

Launch the app. It opens with an empty Untitled-1 tab.

Type a calculation, for example:

"Cantilever tip deflection
P = 5kN
L = 3m
E = 200GPa
I = 8.5e-5m^4
δ = P·L^3/(3·E·I)

The preview pane renders your report live as you type. Toggle it from View → Toggle Preview.
Save with Ctrl+S (or File → Save). A native save dialog lets you choose the location.

Working with tabs¶

The app uses tabs so you can keep several .cpd documents open at once.

Action	Shortcut
New tab	Ctrl+T or Ctrl+N, or the `+` button on the tab strip
Open a file	Ctrl+O, or File → Open…, or drag a file onto the window
Close tab	Ctrl+W, the ✕ on the tab, or middle-click the tab
Next tab	Ctrl+Tab

How tabs behave:

Cursor and scroll position are remembered per tab and restored when you switch back.
Unsaved changes are marked with a dot on the tab; undoing back to the last saved state clears it.
Opening an already-open file activates its existing tab instead of duplicating it.
Opening a file from an empty Untitled tab replaces it in place rather than stacking a new tab.
Closing a tab with unsaved changes prompts Save / Don't Save / Cancel. Quitting the app walks through every unsaved tab; cancel any prompt to abort the quit.

Opening files¶

There are several ways to open documents:

File → Open… — native file picker.
Files tab in the sidebar — open a folder and browse its tree.
Recent files — tracked automatically and available from the File menu.

Compiled .cpdz worksheets open the same way and are registered as their own file type. See UI Mode.

The editor¶

The editor is the same across every CalcpadCE frontend — see The CalcpadCE Editor.

Desktop specifics:

Path completion draws on the folder opened in the Files tab as well as the document's #ProjectPath/#LibraryPath roots.
JuliaMono is bundled with the app, so math glyphs render consistantly without installing a font.

Toggle the sidebar with View → Toggle Sidebar. It has a Files view and a CalcpadCE view.

The sidebar is the same across every CalcpadCE frontend — see The CalcpadCE Panel & Settings for a full walkthrough of each tab.

Live results¶

The Results pane renders your document live and re-renders as you type. Its toolbar (and View → Result Mode) offers four modes — Preview, Unwrapped, Input, and Report — each rendering the same thing its matching export captures. See Exports → Export variants for a breakdown of each one.

View → Toggle Preview shows and hides the pane. Drag the border between the editor and the results pane to resize either side.

Right-click a preview → View Webview Source HTML to inspect the rendered HTML.

Running on demand (Auto-Run off)¶

By default the preview re-renders continuously as you type. If you turn Settings → Auto-Run Preview off, the preview only re-renders when you:

Click ▶ Run on the editor toolbar.
Press Ctrl+Alt+X.
Right-click in the editor → Run Preview.
Use Server → Refresh in the menu bar.

A manual run also re-lints the document, writes data, refreshes definitions and the table of contents, and rebuilds the Export tab's plot list.

Splitting the editor¶

The Split ⬓ button in the editor toolbar (also View → Split Editor) opens a second editor group stacked below the first. Each group has its own tabs, tab strip, preview, and Problems markers. Click Unsplit (same button) to close the bottom group; any unsaved tabs in it are walked through the save prompt first. The active group drives the sidebar.

Errors¶

Linter — CalcpadCE checks your document as you write and flags problems before they're converted to HTML. Issues are marked in red, yellow, or blue at the spot with the problem, based on severity, and appear in the Problems panel with a link to the offending line.

Preview errors — errors from the calculation engine (including inside hidden code) are listed in the Errors tab of the sidebar, each with a link to its source line.

See The CalcpadCE Editor → Linting and Linter and Diagnostics for the full list of codes.

Exporting¶

Exporting is the same across every CalcpadCE frontend — see Exports.

Desktop specifics:

Every export is in File → Export.
File → Save As Compiled Worksheet… and File → Export Portable Package… produce the two handoff formats — see Exports → Portable exports.

The menu bar drives the whole app:

File — New Tab · Open… · Save · Save As… · Save As Compiled Worksheet… · Export Portable Package… · Close Tab · Export ▸ · Quit — see Exports for what each export command produces
Edit — Undo · Redo · Cut · Copy · Paste · Select All · Find · Replace
View — Toggle Sidebar · Toggle Preview · Toggle Word Wrap · Split Editor · Result Mode: Preview / Unwrapped / Input / Report
Server — Refresh (Ctrl+Alt+X) · Show Server Log · Stop Server · Restart Server
Help — Documentation (opens the docs site in your default browser)

Settings and configurations¶

All calculation, plot, unit, theme, editor, and linter settings live in the Settings tab of the sidebar. The desktop app also supports named configurations — save different sets of settings (e.g. one for metric with 3 decimals, one for imperial with degrees) and switch the active configuration from the Settings tab; configurations persist between sessions.

See The CalcpadCE Panel & Settings → Settings for the full list, and → Formatting for the Prettify options.

The built-in engine¶

The app runs the calculation engine inside it. It starts automatically when the app launches and shuts down when you close it — you never launch or configure it yourself.

If calculations stop responding, use the Server menu:

Refresh (Ctrl+Alt+X) — re-run the active document.
Show Server Log — open the engine's log file to diagnose a problem.
Stop Server / Restart Server — cycle the calculation engine.

If these do not work and the server shows "Disconnected" in the bottom-right corner, restarting the app typically fixes it. Because the calculation engine is separate from the editor, it is normally possible to save and modify files even if the calculation engine crashes.

Troubleshooting¶

Symptom	Fix
Preview blank or not updating	Server → Refresh, then Server → Restart Server if needed. Check Server → Show Server Log to see messages from the calculation engine. Click Open Log Folder in the Settings tab to submit logs showing an error as a Github Issue.
PDF export fails	Install a Chromium browser. On Linux the app names the package to install — see Exports → Troubleshooting.
Unsaved work after a crash	The app writes backup copies of unsaved files; reopen them from the Files tab.