Menus and Toolbar

The ☰ MatterCAD menu at the left end of the tabs holds what belongs to the whole app: opening files, help, updates and settings. The toolbar across the top of a design holds what belongs to that design: adding parts, saving, the bed, undo and the operations.

On a Mac, press ⌘ (Command) wherever this page says Ctrl.

The ☰ MatterCAD Menu

Click ☰ MatterCAD at the left end of the tabs. The items, from top to bottom:

Item What it does
Open System File Opens a file from your computer (Ctrl+O). An MCX design opens in its own tab. Any other file (an STL, a picture, a drawing) opens on the bed of a new design. See Adding Existing Objects
Open Recent Lists the last 10 designs you opened, newest first, each with a small picture. Hover over one to see where it is. Click one to open it again. A design that is already open shows its tab instead of opening twice. When there are none, the list says No recent files
Help Opens the Help tab, the same as pressing F1
Interface Tour Opens the welcome window. Click Next there for a short guided tour of the window. See Updates and Recovery
Check For Update Looks for a newer version of MatterCAD. See Updates and Recovery. It isn’t in the menu in the browser, where reloading the page gets the newest version, or in a copy of MatterCAD set up not to use the network
Settings Opens MatterCAD Settings. See Settings
Community › Guides and Articles Opens MatterHackers’ MatterCAD guides and articles in your web browser
About MatterCAD Shows the version you have. See Updates and Recovery

When a recent design is gone

If you pick a design in Open Recent that has been moved or deleted, MatterCAD tells you it no longer exists where it was and asks whether to take it off the list. Click Remove from Recent to remove it, or Cancel to keep it.

A design from your Cloud Library that has been deleted or moved shows Cloud Item Not Found with the same choice. If MatterCAD can’t reach the cloud at that moment, it says so and keeps the design on the list.

The Mac Menu Bar

On a Mac, the same items are also in the menu bar at the top of the screen:

  • MatterCAD - About MatterCAD, Settings (⌘,), Check For Update and Quit (⌘Q).
  • File - Open System File (⌘O) and Open Recent.
  • Help - Help, Interface Tour and Community.

The first time MatterCAD starts, these items stay greyed out until you accept the license agreement. Quit always works.

The Toolbar

The toolbar runs across the top of each design tab. When the window is too narrow for every button, the toolbar wraps onto more rows. From the left:

  • Add to Bed, Save and Bed (below).
  • Undo and Redo. Hover over one to see the step it takes back or does again, for example “Undo - Move”. See Undo and Redo.
  • Buttons that work on the selected parts: Arrange All Parts, Lay Flat, Rebuild, Group, Ungroup, Convert to Nodes, Duplicate and Remove.
  • The operation groups: Transform, Placement, Round & Offset, Deform, Image, Path, Merge, Duplication, Mesh and Constraints.
  • My Tools, the operation tools you saved yourself, when you have any.
  • Tools, at the end (below).

Hover over any button to see its name. A greyed-out button can’t be used on what is selected; hover over it to see what it needs. While you hover, the status bar at the bottom of the window shows a hint for the button, such as its shortcut.

Add to Bed

  • Click Add to Bed to open the library over the left side of the design. Drag a part or a file from it onto the bed. Click Add to Bed again, or click outside the library, to close it. See Adding Existing Objects.
  • Click the arrow beside it and choose Add System File to Bed to pick a file on your computer. Its parts are added to the design you have open, in one undo step.

Save

  • Click Save to save the design (Ctrl+S). The button reads Save • while the design has changes you have not saved.
  • Click the arrow beside it for Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) and Export.

See Saving and Exporting for what each one does.

Bed

Click Bed for a menu of things you do to the whole design:

Item What it does
Export Writes the design in another format, such as STL or 3MF. See Saving and Exporting
Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), Paste (Ctrl+V) Work on the selected parts
Reload Throws away your changes and opens the design again as you last saved it. If you have unsaved changes, MatterCAD asks first: click Yes to reload or No to keep working. It is greyed out while the design has no file to go back to, such as a new design you have not saved yet
Clear Bed Deletes the parts on the bed. Undo brings them back

Tools and the Operation Groups

Each operation group shows its operations as a row of buttons, with a small Collapse button at its end. Click it to fold the group into one button that runs the group’s last-used operation. Its arrow lists every operation in the group, and Expand to open the group out again.

Click Tools at the end of the toolbar (or right-click anywhere on the toolbar) to open Design Tools, where you choose how each group is shown:

  • Each group has a row with Collapse, Expand and Hide. The highlighted one is how the group is shown now. Hide takes the group off the toolbar.
  • Collapse All, Expand All and Hide All, at the top, set every group at once.

The panel stays open while you work in it, so you can set several groups in one visit. Click outside it to close it. MatterCAD remembers your choices for every design and the next time you start it. To get a hidden group back, open Tools and click Expand or Collapse on its row.