CalcpadCE Desktop App¶

The CalcpadCE Desktop App is a native application for Windows and Linux that wraps the same editor you get in the browser and bundles the calculation engine inside it. You get the full editor — multi-tab editing, syntax highlighting, autocomplete, live preview, and the CalcpadCE sidebar — plus native file dialogs, a native menu bar, and drag-and-drop, with no browser to open and no server to set up.

For the CalcpadCE language itself, start with Writing Math and the Quick Reference.

Installing¶

The app ships as a per-platform download:

Platform	Format
Windows	Portable `.zip` build (no install for beta)
Linux	AppImage (run directly, no install for beta)

The calculation engine and its fonts and templates are bundled inside the app — you do not need .NET installed separately. On Linux, the .AppImage includes what it needs to run; the .deb package expects WebKitGTK to already be present on the system.

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 PDF Export.

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	File → Open…, or drag a file onto the window
Close tab	Ctrl+W, the ✕ on the tab, or middle-click the tab
Next / previous tab	Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Jump to tab 1–8	Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+8
Jump to last tab	Ctrl+9

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.
Hover, definitions, references, the linter, the preview, and the TOC are all scoped to the active tab, so symbols and errors never bleed between unrelated documents.

Opening files¶

There are several ways to open documents:

File → Open… — native file picker.
Drag and drop — drop one or more files onto the editor; each opens in its own tab. Dropping plain text (e.g. from a browser) opens it as a new untitled tab.
Files tab in the sidebar — open a folder and browse its tree.
Recent files — tracked automatically and available from the File menu.

The editor¶

Syntax highlighting for numbers, units, operators, variables, functions, macros, keywords, commands, and embedded HTML/Markdown in comments.
Autocomplete that prioritizes your own symbols over built-ins, with snippet placeholders for function arguments.
Quick-type symbols — ~a + space → α, ~p + space → π, etc.
Operator replacement — <= → ≤, >= → ≥, != → ≠.
Auto-indentation for #if / #for / #def blocks.
Go to Definition, Find All References, Rename, and hover for symbols, including across #include files.

Two key behaviors worth knowing:

Enter always inserts a newline — it never accepts a suggestion. Press Tab to accept a completion.
Tab accepts suggestions and triggers completion on a partial word.

These are the same editor features as the VS Code extension, so anything you learn in one carries over to the other.

Toggle the sidebar with View → Toggle Sidebar. It has a Files view and a CalcpadCE view; the CalcpadCE view is split into tabs (Insert, TOC, Settings, Variables, PDF, Formatting, Export, Errors).

The sidebar is the same across every CalcpadCE front end — see The CalcpadCE Panel & Settings for a full walkthrough of each tab, including Prettify options and the Export buttons.

Live preview¶

The preview pane renders your report live and re-renders as you type. From View you can:

Toggle Preview — show/hide the pane.
Preview Mode: Wrapped — the normal report view.
Preview Mode: Unwrapped — the fully expanded source, with macros and includes resolved. Useful for debugging what the engine computes.

Running on demand (Auto-Run off)¶

By default the preview re-renders continuously as you type. If you turn Settings → Auto-Run Preview off — useful for long-running documents — 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 native menu (same shortcut).

A manual run also re-lints the document, 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 — the one you most recently clicked into — drives the sidebar (Problems, TOC, Variables).

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. See Linter and Diagnostics for the full list of codes.

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.

Exporting¶

Every export uses the app's built-in engine, so the output matches the preview exactly.

Output	How	Notes
PDF	File → Export PDF…	Full-fidelity export via a native save dialog. Requires a Chromium browser — see PDF Export.
HTML	Save HTML… on the sidebar's Export tab	Native save dialog writes a standalone `.html` report.
Word (.docx)	Save Word… on the sidebar's Export tab	Native save dialog writes a `.docx` document.

Set the document title, timestamp format, page size, and header/footer in the sidebar's PDF tab before exporting. The Export tab also has a Plots section that lists every plot the document produces, so you can save each one individually or all at once as a ZIP — see The CalcpadCE Panel & Settings → Export.

The menu bar drives the whole app:

File — New Tab · Open… · Save · Save As… · Close Tab · Export PDF… · Quit
Edit — Undo · Redo · Cut · Copy · Paste · Select All · Find · Replace
View — Toggle Sidebar · Toggle Preview · Split Editor · Preview Mode: Wrapped / Unwrapped
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 engine.

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 PDF Export.
Unsaved work after a crash	The app writes backup copies of unsaved files; reopen them from the Files tab.