The desktop app
The desktop app is the same Extrudo as in the browser, in its own window: the same screens, tools
and file format, from the same code. Use it if you prefer a program of your own to a browser tab,
if you want to open .extrudo files from your file manager, or if you want to send a model
straight to your slicer.
Installing it
Installers are attached to each release on the project's releases page:
| System | What you download |
|---|---|
| Linux | An AppImage (make it executable and run it) or a .deb |
| Windows | An installer (.exe) |
| macOS | A .dmg, or a .zip |
On Arch-based systems (Arch, Omarchy, Manjaro) an AppImage needs fuse2
(sudo pacman -S fuse2), or run it with --appimage-extract-and-run; with the
latter, the in-app update may not be able to replace the file.
On macOS you can also use Homebrew:
brew install --cask zoltanf/extrudo/extrudo
The installers are not signed yet, so your system may warn you the first time. On Windows,
choose More info, then Run anyway. On macOS, if it says the app can't be opened, open
System Settings › Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway next to Extrudo's line. You do
this once for each install. If you still have the 0.4.1 build and macOS says Extrudo "is damaged
and can't be opened", run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Extrudo.app once in
Terminal; newer builds show the normal prompt.
What is different from the browser
Everything on the other pages of this guide applies. These things are added.
Files and the menu. On a Mac the window has the system menu bar, built from the same
commands as the toolbar and Ctrl+K: the Home tab's actions are in its File menu, which
also has Open…, Open Recent (the last ten files) and Save As…. On Windows and Linux
there is no menu bar: everything is in the top bar. The Home tab's Design group has
Open File (Ctrl+O) and Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S), its ▾ menu lists Open Recent and
Clear Recent, Help has Check for Updates… and Ctrl+Q quits (after saving your
open designs). On a Mac these keys are ⌘.
Opening .extrudo files. Double-click an .extrudo file in your file manager and it opens in Extrudo. A design opened this way, or saved with Save As…,
stays linked to that file: every autosave writes the file as well. If the file changed on disk
in the meantime, nothing is overwritten and you choose between loading the disk's version and
overwriting it, just as with a linked folder.
Send to Slicer. In the 3D Print tab's Output group, Send to Slicer (and the Open in slicer button in the Export dialog) hands the model to PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio or Cura without a download step. Extrudo finds the slicers installed on your machine, and the dialog greys out the ones it cannot find. The file goes in a temporary folder that is emptied when you quit. See getting it printed.
Updates. The app looks for a new release a few seconds after it starts, then every six hours. What happens next depends on how you installed it:
| Install | When a new version is out |
|---|---|
| AppImage, Windows installer | It downloads in the background, then tells you it is ready. Press Restart, or let it install the next time you quit. It saves open designs first. |
.deb, macOS |
It tells you a new version is available, with a button for the release page. Your package manager or Homebrew (brew upgrade) does the update. |
Help › Check for Updates… checks right away.
Where your designs are kept
Designs are stored as files in a projects folder inside the app's user-data directory, which
your system decides (under your profile, not next to the program). They do not share storage
with the web app, so a design you made at the website is not in the desktop app until you
export it from one and import it into the other.
Linked folders work here too, on a real folder of your disk.
Rescue copies of unsaved changes are written to disk as well, so a crash costs you a moment of work, not a session.
The desktop app has no account or sign-in and does not send your designs anywhere. It uses the internet to look for updates.