Daily Usage

Use History Workbench as a review loop after normal CAD work.

1. Work in FreeCAD as usual: Model, recompute, save, and edit your project files normally. Recompute your document(s) and ensure there are no errors.
2. Refresh the project: In the History workbench, click Refresh Project so the history list and document status reflect the latest files.
3. Review file changes: Click the Current Files Area iteration item in the list. The document tree shows added, removed, and modified objects since the last reviewed state.
4. Inspect detailed properties: Click a changed object in the model tree. The property panel shows changed dimensions, placements, expressions, constraints, quantities, links, and other editable properties.
5. Open 3D comparisons: For changed Part, PartDesign, or Sketcher objects, click 3D Comparison next to the object to open a separate comparison document. Removed material is shown in red, added material in green, and unchanged material in gray. You may use FreeCAD’s unified measurement tool to measure changes.
6. Mark documents reviewed: Click the Reviewed button on individual documents when they are ready, or click Mark All Reviewed after reviewing all of them. This essentially creates a copy of the files and places them into the Reviewed Area.
7. Keep working if needed: Return to the CAD model and make more edits, if needed. The next Current Files Area comparison is made against the documents you already marked as reviewed, making it easy to incrementally make changes.
8. Verify reviewed work: Click the Reviewed Area iteration item in the history list to confirm exactly what will be saved in the next iteration.
9. Save an iteration: Click Save Iteration, enter a description of the changes, and confirm.

[!NOTE] Tree comparisons focus on structured FreeCAD object and property data, but may not capture every CAD model change yet. Use 3D comparisons as an additional review step before saving an iteration.

Removing Files from Reviewed

Select Reviewed Area and use Remove for one document or Remove All for every reviewed document. Current files on disk are not affected by this operation. The files removed will not be included in the next iteration until reviewed again.

Discarding Current File Changes

Select Current Files Area and use Discard Changes for one document or Discard All Changes for all indexed FreeCAD files. The file on disk will be replaced with the version that was last reviewed, if one is available; otherwise it will use the version of the file from the last saved iteration.

During this operation, all eligible open project documents are closed and reopened, including documents not selected for discard. This ensures links are updated. Save all project documents first prior to discarding any files.

Restoring Files from Saved Iterations

Use restore when you want to bring one file, or many files, back to a prior saved state on disk.

1. Select a specific saved iteration in the history list.
2. Restore one file with the per-file Restore button, or restore many files with Restore All.
3. For Restore All, choose a scope:
   • Listed FreeCAD files: Restore only the FreeCAD files changed in the selected iteration.
   • All FreeCAD files: Restore all previously saved FreeCAD files to how they were in this iteration. Any previously saved FreeCAD files that did not exist in that iteration are removed. New files not yet saved to history are kept.
4. Confirm the warning dialog.

Restore behavior:

• Restore changes current files on disk only; saved iteration history is unchanged.
• All project documents currently open in FreeCAD are closed before restore and reopened after restore.
• Unsaved in-memory changes in those project documents are lost. Save all documents before running this operation.
• New FreeCAD files not yet saved in history are left unchanged during All FreeCAD files restore.

[!WARNING] Once again, restoring and discarding changes closes all eligible open project documents, including those not selected for replacement. Make sure to save all your documents first!