Project files

Every project opens as a folder, like one on your computer. Its top level, the project root, holds ordinary files and folders you add from the browser: drawings for the shop, spec sheets, quotes, photos. Next to them are two folders GigaCAD keeps for you, Branches and Releases.

The project root

Contributors, maintainers, and owners can add files and folders at the root. Choose Upload files to add files to the folder you’re in, or New folder to make one. Folders can be nested and can be empty. The browser uploads files up to 2 GB each.

Right-click a root file or folder to rename it, move it to another folder, or delete it. On a phone or tablet, press and hold it instead.

Root files sit outside branches and releases. Adding one never changes a branch or a release, and nothing on a branch shows up at the root. Names follow the same rules as files on a branch: they must be valid on Windows, and two names in one folder can’t differ only by case. The root can’t have its own folders named Branches or Releases.

Viewers can browse and download root files but can’t change them.

Branches and releases

Branches has a folder for each branch, showing the files at its latest version. Releases has a folder for each release, v1, v2, and so on, showing exactly what shipped.

You can browse, preview, and download files in both, but not change them from the browser. Branch files change through check out and commit, as always; see Check out and check in. Each branch folder shows who has it checked out. Releases never change.

Revisions of root files

A root file keeps its own numbered history. Uploading a file with the same name as one already in the folder asks whether to replace it; replacing it saves revision 2, then 3, and so on. Open the file to see and download every revision.

Revisions are simpler than branch versions. There’s no check out, no lock, and no release request: anyone who can change root files can replace one, and the newest revision is the current one. Renaming or moving a file doesn’t make a revision, and its history, tags, and favorites move with it. Deleting a file deletes every revision; deleting a folder deletes everything in it.

Every revision counts toward the project’s storage until the file is deleted.

Tags

Tags are labels you make for a project, like “Laser cut” or “Needs review”. Contributors and above create, rename, and remove them under Tags on the project page, and tag a file with the tag button on its row.

You can tag root files and files on branches and in releases. A tag belongs to the file itself, not to one copy of it, so tagging a part on a branch shows the tag everywhere that part appears, in every branch and release. Choose a tag to list every file that has it.

Favorites

Star a file with the star on its row to add it to your favorites, then choose Favorites to list them. Favorites are yours alone; nobody else sees them.

Search and recent files

The search box finds files by name or path across the whole project: the root, every branch, and every release. Each result shows where it is. A part that appears in several places, like one on a branch that is also in v3, is listed once for each. Choose Recent to see the files changed most recently.

README

Add a file named README.md or README.txt to the project root and it shows under the file list, so people see what the project is before they open anything. Capitals don’t matter. If there are both, README.md is shown.

README.md is written in Markdown, with headings, lists, links, tables, and code blocks. HTML in it shows as plain text. README.txt shows as written, line for line. A README larger than 512 KB isn’t shown; people can still open and download it.

A README.md can show pictures and play videos from the project. Point to a file by its path from the project root, with Markdown’s image syntax:

![The finished bench](photos/bench.jpg)
![Assembly walkthrough](renders/assembly.mp4)
![What shipped](Releases/v2/render.png)

Pictures can be PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, AVIF, or BMP. Videos can be MP4, M4V, WebM, MOV, or OGV; they play in the page, and the text in brackets becomes their title. Paths can reach into Branches and Releases, and spaces can be written as %20. Pictures from other websites work too, by their full address. A README can show up to 50 files from the project.

Only people who can see the project can see its pictures and videos. The links to them expire after an hour, so reload a page that has been open longer if a video won’t start.