Updates

DimSum updates itself. It checks when it starts and every 4 hours, downloads in the background, and installs when you click Restart to update or close DimSum, never in the middle of your work. Your job is saved and opened again after the update. System Settings → About / Updates shows your version, the Stable or Beta channel, the status, and What's new. DimSum installs just for you, so Windows never asks for a Yes.

Overview

You don't download installers to stay current. DimSum looks for a newer version on its own, fetches it quietly while you work, and puts it in when you're ready.

• It never interrupts you. A downloaded update waits. It goes in when you click Restart to update, or the next time you close DimSum.
• Your work is safe. DimSum saves every change as you make it. Before an update, it closes your job cleanly, installs, and opens the same job again.
• No Windows Yes prompt. DimSum is installed for your Windows user only (in your own AppData folder, not Program Files), so an update needs no administrator permission.
• Two channels. Stable gets a version once it has been tried. Beta gets new versions first. New installs start on Stable.
• What's new shows the notes for each version, in plain text.

Where to find it

• System Settings → About / Updates (Ctrl+,, then About / Updates in the list on the left).
• The top bar, left of the Refresh button: a Restart to update chip when an update is ready, and Updated to {version} for a while after an update. Nothing shows there while DimSum is checking or downloading.

How to use it

See your version and check for updates

1. Open System Settings → About / Updates.
2. The top rows read:

• DimSum Takeoff — the version you're running, e.g. 0.5.343;
• Installed for — Just you (hover it to see the folder, …\AppData\Local\Programs\dimsum-takeoff);
• Status — what the updater is doing (the sentences are listed below);
• Last checked — Never, Today, 2:14 PM, Yesterday, 9:03 AM, or a date.

3. Click Check now to look straight away. DimSum also checks by itself about 10 seconds after it opens, and every 4 hours after that.

Install an update

1. When an update has downloaded, the Status reads DimSum 0.5.343 is ready. It installs when you restart or close DimSum. and a Restart to update chip appears in the top bar. Hover it: DimSum 0.5.343 is ready. Your job is saved, and it opens again after the update.
2. Finish what you're doing. If you click the chip in the middle of drawing a shape, with a dialog open or with the mouse button held, it reads Finish what you're doing first for a few seconds and does nothing.
3. Click Restart to update (the chip, or the button in About / Updates). DimSum asks: DimSum closes your job, installs 0.5.343 and opens it again. Your work is saved first. Pick Restart now, or Later to keep working.
4. DimSum closes, installs with no Windows prompt, and opens again on the same job. A value you were still typing is kept. The top bar shows Updated to 0.5.343; click it to open About / Updates and read What's new.

Or just close DimSum. A ready update installs silently when you close DimSum. It doesn't reopen anything; the next time you start DimSum, the top bar says Updated to …. Only Restart to update reopens your job.

Pick Stable or Beta

1. In About / Updates, set Update channel to Stable or Beta. The hint reads Beta gets new versions first. Stable gets them once they've been tried.
2. It takes effect at once, with no Save, and checks straight away.
3. Beta always has at least what Stable has, so a Beta computer never falls behind.
4. Switching back to Stable never takes you back down a version. If you're ahead, the Status says You have 0.5.343, newer than Stable's 0.5.342. Updates resume when Stable passes it. Nothing downloads until Stable catches up.

Read What's new

Under the buttons, What's new in {version} shows that version's notes. An update marked as a critical fix has a Critical fix tag there, its chip is red, and the Status reads DimSum {version} is a critical fix. Restart soon to install it. For now, critical is only shown: nothing is forced.

Remove the old all-users copy

DimSum versions before 0.5.341 installed for all users, in C:\Program Files\DimSum Takeoff. That copy can't update itself. Installing 0.5.341 or later puts a new copy just for you beside it, and leaves the old one alone, because removing it needs a Windows Yes.

• DimSum tells you once. A note, An older DimSum is installed, says DimSum 0.5.30 is installed for all users. Remove it from Windows Settings → Apps when convenient. Close DimSum first. Windows asks for one Yes., with Open Apps settings and Later. Either answer, and it doesn't ask again.
• About / Updates keeps a reminder row: Older copy — DimSum 0.5.30, for all users. Remove it in Windows Settings → Apps., with Open Apps settings.
• To remove it: close DimSum, then Windows Settings → Apps → DimSum Takeoff 0.5.30 → Uninstall. Windows asks for one Yes. Afterwards there's one Start entry and one desktop icon, both opening the new copy. If a taskbar pin went away, pin DimSum again from the Start menu.
• Until then you have two same-named icons on the desktop and in Start. One of them opens the old version; About / Updates shows which version is running.
• Your settings, libraries and recent jobs are shared by both copies (%APPDATA%\DimSum Takeoff). Nothing is copied or moved, and the two can't run at the same time.

Options & settings

Setting or row	Where	What	Default
Update channel	About / Updates	Stable or Beta	Stable
The Check now button	About / Updates	Checks at once. Reads Checking… while it checks or downloads
Restart to update	About / Updates, and the top-bar chip	Saves and closes your job, installs, and opens the job again	Only while an update is ready
Installed for	About / Updates	Just you, All users (an old copy that can't update) or Not installed (development)
Older copy	About / Updates	Shown only while the old all-users copy is installed, with Open Apps settings

The checking schedule isn't a setting: about 10 seconds after DimSum opens, then every 4 hours, and again when your computer comes back online.

What the status line says

When	Status
Before the first check	Not checked yet.
Checking	Checking for updates…
Nothing newer	DimSum is up to date.
A newer version found	DimSum {version} is available. Starting the download…
Downloading, with a progress bar	Downloading DimSum {version}… {n}%
Ready	DimSum {version} is ready. It installs when you restart or close DimSum.
Ready, a critical fix	DimSum {version} is a critical fix. Restart soon to install it.
A version is reaching computers a share at a time, and not this one yet	DimSum {version} is rolling out. It reaches this computer soon.
You're ahead of the channel	You have {yours}, newer than {Channel}'s {theirs}. Updates resume when {Channel} passes it.
Your version was withdrawn	This version was withdrawn. A fix is on the way.
An update was withdrawn before it installed	DimSum {version} was withdrawn before it installed. Nothing changed.
No internet	You're offline. DimSum checks again when you're back online.
The server can't be reached	Couldn't reach the update server. DimSum will try again later.
The download broke off	The update didn't download completely. DimSum will try again later.
Not enough disk space	Not enough disk space for the update ({size} needed).
An old all-users copy	This copy is installed for all users, so it can't update itself. Install DimSum for just you to get updates.
Restart didn't close the job	DimSum couldn't close your job, so it didn't restart. Nothing was lost.
The install failed	The update to {version} didn't install. You're still on {yours}.

Examples

• A normal update. You're on 0.5.342, mid-job. About 10 seconds after opening DimSum, 0.5.343 downloads in the background and the Restart to update chip appears. You finish a wall, click the chip, pick Restart now, and a few seconds later you're back in the same job on 0.5.343, with Updated to 0.5.343 in the top bar.
• Offline. On a job site with no signal, Check now says You're offline. DimSum checks again when you're back online. When the connection comes back, DimSum checks by itself within a few seconds.
• Trying Beta. Switch to Beta and a new version that's rolling out says DimSum 0.5.343 is rolling out. It reaches this computer soon. until your computer's turn comes, then downloads. Switch back to Stable, and you stay on 0.5.343 until Stable passes it.

Tips & shortcuts

• Leave it on Stable unless you want to try new versions first.
• Click Restart to update at a natural break, such as between jobs. It's quick, and you land back where you were.
• Close DimSum at the end of the day and a ready update is in by the morning.

Rules, limits & edge cases

• Never mid-gesture. Restart to update waits while you're drawing, a dialog is open, or a mouse button is down. Closing DimSum is your choice, so it isn't held back.
• Not when Windows shuts down. A ready update doesn't install while Windows is shutting down or signing you out; it waits for the next time you close DimSum.
• Critical is only shown for now: the red chip, the sentence and the tag. A countdown, and installing a critical fix before DimSum opens, come with accounts.
• Double-clicking a .dsum starts the new copy but doesn't open that job yet. That's an older gap, not part of updates.
• Known in 0.5.343: Check now shows Checking… only for a moment when nothing is found, so it can look as if nothing happened. The Status and Last checked show it did.
• An all-users copy (0.5.30 and earlier) can't update itself. Install a current version just for you; see Remove the old all-users copy.
• The installers aren't signed yet. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an installer you run yourself (More info → Run anyway). Updates DimSum downloads itself don't show it.
• Windows only. macOS and Linux updates come with those versions.

Related features

• Settings page
• Licensing, Workspaces, seats and trial
• Architecture overview