FAQ ¶

Here we collect answers to question that come up very often.

User questions ¶

Downloading issues ¶

If you are trying to download QGIS and nothing seems to happen, please consult the download manager of your browser. It can usually be found as an icon (based on arrow, stop-watch or pie-chart) at the top-right corner of your browser window. Click on the icon to see the download progress or cancel the download. The normal procedure with downloads in the browser is such, that it first asks you where to save the file (with a file browser dialogue) and then you have to wait until the download is finished. Because QGIS install packages can be rather large, depending on the operating system, you have to be patient. The download size can be anywhere between several hundred megabytes to sometimes more than one gigabyte (in case of MS Windows MSI packages). Depending on your download speed and the QGIS server load, downloads can take from several minutes up to several hours.

Do I have to donate in order to download QGIS? ¶

This is a misconception that we hear from time to time, but it is not true. Donating to QGIS is optional. After downloading QGIS, there is a message appearing, reminding that you can optionally donate to QGIS. However, you can press “Close this message” and continue downloading without any problem. We want QGIS to be accessible to anyone, no matter how your financial situation might be. If you are a first-time QGIS user, we recommend that you download, install and test QGIS first and find out if the software is useful for the tasks you want to solve. Only if you like QGIS and it substantially helps with your business, tasks or processes, you should think about donating towards QGIS or supporting it as a sustaining member.

How to ask a QGIS question? ¶

If you are going to ask a QGIS related question via the mailing lists, please provide enough information to help others easily understand what your problem is. Without a clear and precise question, it is very hard for anybody to answer, or it just takes too much time because the answer will be a question to you etc etc. You may provide information such as:

preferably a descriptive title for your email
which QGIS version you used at that moment (exact)
what are you expecting to get
if applicable, what have you tried and the result you got
if your question is about something broken, you may also provide:
- what exactly is the error (if possible: screendump, stacktrace, copy of error text)
- which Operating System and version
- how you installed it (osgeo4w? standalone-installer? own build?)
- at what time did it break (reinstall, new install, system update, project changes)

Keep in mind that the more precise your question is, the quicker and more accurate the answer can be.

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Note ¶

In case of a broken function, you may give a look at QGIS issue tracker before mailing to the list. More information at bug-reporting.

How are QGIS release names selected? ¶

After a successful developer meeting in Zurich (Switzerland), we decided that the next release should be related to it. Since then, all releases have been named after locations of our developer meetings.

Can I open ECW files with QGIS? ¶

ECW is a proprietary file format - please consult their Licensing Page to understand how you may use it. Also, please consult the GDAL documentation for notes on how to enable licensed features if you have a paid version of ECW. ECW support is not included in all QGIS binary versions and for all platforms by default.

Platform specific notes:

Windows: If you are using Windows and have downloaded the offline installers (provided by the download buttons labelled Long Term Version for Windows (3.34 LTR) and Latest Version for Windows (3.40)), ECW read support is included by default.

If you are using the OSGeo4W Network Installer, ECW support is installed by default if you use the express install workflow. If manually selecting components, you need to explicitly enable the gdal-ecw package in order to ensure that ECW support is included in your installation.

macOS: If you are using macOS, you can download the DMG file from QGIS Downloads. This includes ECW support by default.

Linux: By default, the QGIS binaries for most Linux distributions do not include default ECW support. However, you can find discussions and solutions for adding this support in various resources for guidance.

For Ubuntu, for example, you can check out the following resources:

How can I get a VPAT / HECVAT / other US compliance form or information? ¶

Please get in touch with the US User group. They are looking into these topics. More info and contact details: https://www.qgis-us.org

Developer questions ¶

Can I compile QGIS myself? ¶

Yes, compiling QGIS from source is possible whatever OS you use (Windows, macOS, Linux). Please read Building QGIS from source

Citation information ¶

How to cite QGIS? ¶

If you need to cite QGIS in your work or for an assignment, please use the citation style that would be most helpful:

Cite the QGIS project in general

QGIS.org, %%Y. QGIS Geographic Information System. QGIS Association. http://www.qgis.org

Cite the QGIS Developers Manual

QGIS.org, %%Y. QGIS 3.34. Geographic Information System Developers Manual. QGIS Association. Electronic document: https://docs.qgis.org/3.34/en/docs/developers_guide/index.html

Cite the QGIS Installation Guide

QGIS.org, %%Y. QGIS 3.34. Geographic Information System Installation Guide. QGIS Association. Electronic document: https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/blob/master/INSTALL.md

Cite the QGIS User Guide

QGIS.org, %%Y. QGIS 3.34. Geographic Information System User Guide. QGIS Association. Electronic document: https://docs.qgis.org/3.34/en/docs/user_manual/index.html

Cite the QGIS Server Documentation

QGIS.org, %%Y. QGIS 3.34. Geographic Information System API Documentation. QGIS Association. Electronic document: https://docs.qgis.org/3.34/en/docs/server_manual/index.html

Cite the QGIS API Documentation

QGIS.org, %%Y. QGIS 3.34. Geographic Information System API Documentation. QGIS Association. Electronic document: /pyqgis/3.34/index.html

Preferred format: BibTeX

Example BibTeX entry:

      @Manual{QGIS_software,
        title = {QGIS Geographic Information System},
        author = {{QGIS Development Team}},
        organization = {QGIS Association},
        year = {%%Y},
        url = {https://www.qgis.org},
      }

I created a map with QGIS, do I have to mention QGIS? ¶

There is no requirement to mention QGIS for maps produced with it. It is of course really welcome if you would like to add a note saying that the map was produced with QGIS. “Made with QGIS” or “Map created using the Free and Open Source QGIS” are good examples of such a note.

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