4.0

Setting Up and Getting Started

Installing Mantid

Mantid is available to download for Mac, Linux or Windows. Pre-compiled executable binaries are available to download from the Downloads section of the website.

On the downloads page you will be able to get the latest stable release of Mantid, which we recommend. There is also an option to download the latest nightly build, this is a more experimental version of the code. Whilst the nightly build may have more features, it is less tested and comes with much less guarantee.

You will also find detailed instructions for installing Mantid on any of the above mentioned operating systems.

Download page

MantidPlot First-time Setup

The first time you start up MantidPlot you will get the “First- time Setup” screen, pictured below. This screen allows you to set default options related to the instrument from which your data was collected, and the locations to look for data by default. You can also access certain resources directly from this screen.

If you do not want to see this screen every time you start Mantid, you can check the “Do not show again until next release” box. You can re-access this screen from the main MantidPlot GUI at any time by going to “Help > First Time Setup”.

First-time setup screen
  • Select your favourite instrument, or default to ISIS and MARI.
  • Click on the “Manage User Directories” button.
  • Click “Browse To Directory” and navigate to the location of your data files (see section below for how to get some training data if needed).
  • Do the same for the default save directory.
  • Click “OK”.
  • Click “Set”.

Getting Additional/training Data

All of the data you need to follow the introductory training in Mantid Basic Course can be downloaded from the Downloads section of the website.

  • Download the file “TrainingCourseData.zip”
  • Unzip this file in a location where MantidPlot will look by default, as specified in the section above on “First-time Setup”.