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Installation

All installers are on the Releases page. Open it and download the file for your computer from the Assets list.

Your computer File to download
Windows 10/11 PlateMap-Studio-<version>-windows-setup.exe (installs the app) or …-windows-portable.exe (runs without installing)
Mac with Apple chip (M1, M2, M3, M4) PlateMap-Studio-<version>-mac-arm64.dmg
Mac with Intel chip PlateMap-Studio-<version>-mac-x64.dmg
Ubuntu / Debian PlateMap-Studio-<version>-linux-amd64.deb
Any other Linux PlateMap-Studio-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage

Which Mac do I have?

Click the Apple menu → About This Mac. If it lists an Apple M1/M2/M3/M4 chip, download arm64. If it lists an Intel processor, download x64.

Windows

  1. Download …-windows-setup.exe and double-click it.
  2. Windows may show "Windows protected your PC", because the app isn't code-signed. Click More info → Run anyway.
  3. Pick an install folder (the default is fine) and click Install.
  4. Start PlateMap Studio from the Start menu or the desktop shortcut.

No admin rights?

Use …-windows-portable.exe instead. It runs straight from your Downloads folder without installing anything.

macOS

  1. Download the .dmg that matches your chip (see above) and open it.
  2. Drag PlateMap Studio into the Applications folder.
  3. Open the app from Applications. The first time, macOS blocks it because it isn't notarized by Apple:
    • Click Done. Do not click Move to Trash.
    • Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to PlateMap Studio.
    • On older macOS you can instead right-click the app → Open → Open.
  4. macOS remembers your choice, so from then on the app opens normally.
macOS says the app "is damaged and can't be opened"

The app isn't actually damaged; it's blocked by the "downloaded from the internet" flag. Open Terminal and run:

xattr -cr "/Applications/PlateMap Studio.app"

Then open the app again.

Linux

sudo apt install ./PlateMap-Studio-*-linux-amd64.deb

Then launch PlateMap Studio from your applications menu. This is the recommended option on Ubuntu 24.04 and newer.

chmod +x PlateMap-Studio-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./PlateMap-Studio-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage

AppImages need libfuse2 (sudo apt install libfuse2). On Ubuntu 24.04 and newer, add --no-sandbox or use the .deb instead.

First launch

The app opens on the New plate map screen, where you pick the plate format:

Start screen
Pick a format and name the experiment. If you've worked in the app before, Continue last session restores your autosaved work.

Continue with Your first plate map.

Build from source (developers)

You need Node.js 20 or newer.

git clone https://github.com/LIVR-VUB/Platemap-studio.git
cd Platemap-studio
npm install
npm start            # build and open the app
npm run dev          # development mode with hot reload
npm run dist         # build installers for the current OS into release/