Workbenches

FreeCAD, as many modern design applications such as Revit, is based on the concept of Workbench. A workbench can be considered as a set of tools specially grouped for a certain task. In a traditional furniture workshop, you would have a work table for the person who works with wood, another one for the one who works with metal pieces, and maybe a third one for the guy who mounts all the pieces together.

In FreeCAD, the same concept applies. Tools are grouped into workbenches according to the tasks they are related to. Currently we have the following workbenches availible:

Built-in workbenches
 * The Mesh Workbench for working with triangulated meshes
 * The Part Workbench for working with CAD parts
 * The Image Workbench for working with bitmap images
 * The Raytracing Workbench for working with ray-tracing (rendering)
 * Several testing workbenches. Since FreeCAD is still in early phase of development, you'll find in the workbenches list several workbenches for testing different areas and functionalities.

Extension (plugin) workbenches
 * The Draft Workbench for doing basic 2D CAD drafting

When you switch from one workbench to another, the tools availible on the interface change. Toolbars, command bars and eventually other parts of the interface switch to the new workbench. But the contents of your scene doesn't change. You could, for example, start drawing 2D shapes with the Draft Workbench, then work further on them with the Part Workbench.