OpenSCAD User Manual/Paths

OpenSCAD looks for and saves resources to various paths. This is an overview.

This page describes the patterns used for all systems and all platforms. For the paths used on your particular installation, look at "Library info" on the "Help" menu.

• HOME
• XDG_CONFIG_HOME
• OPENSCAD_FONT_PATH
• OPENSCADPATH

• ResourcesPath
  • UNIX-like:
  • Mac OS X: OpenSCAD.app/Contents/Resources
  • Windows: installation directory, typical default C:\Program Files\OpenSCAD
• DocumentsPath
  • UNIX-like: $HOME/.local/share
  • Mac OS X: [NSDocumentDirectory], typically $HOME/Documents
  • Windows: [FOLDERID_Documents]\OpenSCAD, often C:\Users\username\Documents\OpenSCAD
• UserConfigPath
  • UNIX-like: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/OpenSCAD or $HOME/.config/OpenSCAD
  • Mac: [NSApplicationSupportDirectory], typically $HOME/Library/Application Support/OpenSCAD
  • Windows: [FOLDERID_LocalAppData]\OpenSCAD, typically C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\OpenSCAD

Note: the UserConfigPath directory is not created by default; if desired, the user must create it.

Windows note: FOLDERID_Documents and FOLDERID_LocalAppData were formerly known as CSIDL_PERSONAL and CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA.

• libraries: [ResourcesPath]/libraries
• fonts: [ResourcesPath]/fonts
• render color schemes: [ResourcesPath]/color-schemes/render
• editor color schemes: [ResourcesPath]/color-schemes/editor
• templates: [ResourcesPath]/templates

• libraries: $OPENSCADPATH, [DocumentsPath]/OpenSCAD/libraries
• fonts
  • $HOME/.fonts
  • $HOME/.local/share/fonts

• render color schemes: [UserConfigPath]/color-schemes/render
• editor color schemes: [UserConfigPath]/color-schemes/editor
• templates: [UserConfigPath]/templates

• GUI preferences (Uses QSettings):
  • UNIX-like: $HOME/.config/OpenSCAD.conf
  • Windows: Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\OpenSCAD\OpenSCAD
  • Mac OS X: $HOME/Library/Preferences/org.openscad.OpenSCAD.plist

• backups: [DocumentsPath]/OpenSCAD/backups