Release notes 0.22

FreeCAD 0.22 was released on D Month 2024, get it from the Download page. This page lists all new features and changes.

Older FreeCAD release notes can be found in the Feature list.

Placeholder for an eye-catching image selected by the admins from the user showcases forum.

Further user interface improvements

 * A project unit system was introduced. Pull request #9521
 * The Section Cut tool now also works in a perspective view. Pull request #10143
 * An option to sort workbenches alphabetically (available after right-clicking in Preferences → Workbenches) was added. Pull request #10363
 * A Find file filter and a Find in files filter were added to the Std DlgMacroExecute dialog. Pull request #10714
 * The View menu and the View toolbar have been revised. Pull request #10761
 * The stop button was removed from the Macro toolbar. The record button now switched to a stop button when recording is in progress. Pull request #10836
 * The reset button in the Preferences now shows a menu with options to reset the settings at different levels: all, in the current group or in the current tab. Pull request #10688 and Pull request #11038
 * The Help Module was merged so that it's no longer necessary to download an add-on to make use of it. Pull request #11008
 * Preferences to customize the current theme were added. Pull request #10238
 * Default selection settings were changed to make the selection of objects in the 3D window easier. Pull request #11187
 * A meters-only unit scheme named Meter decimal was added since the MKS (m/kg/s/degree) system doesn't always result in dimensions being displayed in meters - millimeters are still used for values bellow 0.1 m while for some applications (e.g. civil engineering) a unit system that actually changes the display of all dimensions to meters is useful. Pull request #11365

Core

 * Vector functions from the Vector API can now be used in Expressions. Pull request #8603.
 * The file list in the Macro Execute dialog can now be filtered both by file name and by file content. Pull request.
 * The python editor now matches indentation of the previous line when pressing the enter key. Pull request.

New Python API

 * : Gets the up-direction from a View3DInventor view. Pull request #10060

Draft Workbench

 * A justification option and several related properties have been added to Draft ShapeStrings. Pull request #10233
 * Radial dimensions now only show a single arrow. Pull request #10655
 * An Oblique Angle property has been added to Draft ShapeStrings. Pull request #10783
 * Support for hyperlinks has been added. Hyperlinks, to local and remote files and URLs, in Draft Texts and Draft Labels can be opened from the their Tree view or 3D view context menu. Pull request #10878
 * The Draft working plane code has been reworked. There is now a working plane per 3D view. Pull request #11010
 * The history feature and the alignment options of the Draft SelectPlane command have been improved. Pull request #11062
 * The behavior of the grid has been improved. It's visibility is now stored per 3D view. When switching to a different workbench all grids are hidden (a fine-tuning parameter is available to disable this). Pull request #11336

Further Draft improvements

 * Draft Facebinders can now handle faces belonging to links and faces nested in Std Parts. Pull request #11081
 * The tolerance preference was removed and the tolerance function now derives its value from the precision preference. Pull request #11379

Further FEM improvements

 * The menu was removed from the GUI. The listed constraints could not be used. Pull request #10457 and Pull request #10459
 * The word "constraint" was removed from the names and descriptions of most features in the FEM workbench to ensure the correct nomenclature. The names were changed in such a way to fit the standards in the FEA industry and to make them intuitive for new users. Pull request #10519 and Pull request #10799
 * New icons were added for Solver CalculiX Standard, Solver job control and Run solver calculations for greater intuitiveness.
 * Solver CalculiX (new framework) was removed from the GUI since it's unfinished and unnecessary at the moment. Pull request #10823
 * The layout of some postprocessing tool task panels was improved to reduce the size of the horizontal space occupied by them. Pull request #11066
 * The FEM ConstraintTemperature task panel was reworked to fix issues when editing this feature. Pull request #11126
 * An old issue with the FEM PostFilterDataAlongLine being able to plot only magnitude, not vector components of a selected output variable was finally fixed. Pull request #10992
 * The FEM ConstraintForce and FEM ConstraintPressure were overhauled to make them work better on the source code side. Pull request #10935 and Pull request #10923
 * The FEM PostFilterDataAtPoint now has a PointSize property to set the size of the point symbol for more visibility. Pull request #11054

Further PartDesign improvements

 * The Make thickness inwards option is now enabled by default for the Thickness tool. Pull request #7488

Further Sketcher improvements

 * Frame mode was added for the Rectangle tool. Pull request #11174
 * Two new modes were added for the Line tool: Point, length, angle and Point, width, height. Pull request #11174

Further Start improvements

 * The preferences page of the Start Workbench has been re-organized. Pull request #10520
 * There now is a Custom CSS option for the Start Page which allows you to customize the Start Page CSS style from the Start Workbench preferences. Pull request #10520
 * The Hide scrollbars preference has been removed. The scrollbars on the Start Page are now styled according to the theme and are much thinner. Pull request #10520
 * There are now preferences for hiding and changing the size of the file thumbnail icons on the Start Page. Pull request #10410

Further TechDraw improvements

 * Sections based on other sections now use the original (uncut) shape by default. This can be changed in section settings to use the previous section instead. Pull request #10281
 * Cosmetic objects and centerlines can now be deleted by selecting them and pressing the Delete key. Previously, this resulted in the whole view being deleted. Pull request #10695 and Pull request #10813
 * A new, more intuitive icon was added for the WeldSymbol tool. Pull request #10936
 * The behavior of the point + edge mode of the LengthDimension was corrected. Pull request #10860
 * A checked state was added for the ToggleFrame button so that a user can see whether the button is activated or not. Pull request #11240
 * The behavior of the DecorateLine tool was improved. Now double-clicking a line invokes this tool. And line styles are correctly restored if the user presses Cancel. Previously, there was no difference between pressing OK and Cancel. Pull request #11188
 * Color and transparency of faces can now be set per view. Pull request #11315