See the Installations topic for instructions on installing and activating Manifold.
User Interface Changes: Recent changes
in the user interface have not yet been incorporated throughout the user
manual. Many illustrations need to be updated:
Watch tutorial videos for a fast start:
Visit the Videos page for many more live action videos.
For an overview of 9, see the Introduction.
To start work right now, go straight to Getting Started.
See Changes and Additions for what is new in the latest build.
This user manual describes both Manifold Release 9 , called Release 9 or just Manifold, and the free, read-only version of 9, Manifold Viewer, called Viewer.
Viewer
is a free product from Manifold
that is a read-only version of Manifold
Release 9. Everything in this manual applies to both Release
9 and Viewer except for the following limitations of Viewer:
Viewer is read only. We can view anything, but we cannot edit the files we view.
Open projects created in Release 9, but no saves of projects and no creating new projects.
Imports / Links / Reads / Views all Release 9 file formats, projects and data sources (DBMS, web servers, etc.), but read-only.
Does not print.
No scripting and no programming add-ins.
Other software can use ODBC to connect to Release 9, but not to Viewer.
Viewer, like Release 9, can connect via ODBC to DBMS and other packages.
Excluding only the above limitations, Viewer retains all other Release 9 features, like full spatial SQL, full CPU and GPU parallelism, superb visualizations, and truly epic analytics. The entire, huge capability of 9 to work with projections / coordinate systems, including zillions of high accuracy grid transformations and over 7000 coordinate systems, is all there in Viewer. With Viewer we can create spectacular visuals and make screenshots of them to use in web sites and publications.
We can use Viewer as a client to connect to and browse major databases like Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and DB2, and to a seemingly endless range of other data sources and file formats. We can save complex queries that we often use in text files, and then copy/paste them into Viewer for execution. Although Viewer is read-only, we can save frequently used DBMS and other data sources as Favorites in Viewer, so the next time we launch a Viewer session we can use them with a single click. Viewer can also be used to create LiDAR spatial indices, and to edit localization files.
Viewer is so similar to Manifold Release 9 that the same user manual - this user manual - covers both Release 9 and Viewer. Viewer users who read this documentation should keep in mind the above limits to Viewer. If a command or menu option does not appear, that is usually because of one of the above limits in Viewer. In most situations the situation will be clear.
Manifold does not provide technical support for Manifold Viewer. Hey, it's free!
To get support on Viewer, read this user manual, watch the videos, or ask questions of other users on the Manifold Forum.
Manifold and Viewer do not automatically check for updates. After installation, at any time check for any newer versions available by launching Manifold and choosing Help - About. When the About dialog is launched, Manifold will reach out through Internet to check for a new version.
Always run the latest version of Release 9 or Viewer. Don't be scared of using Cutting Edge builds. Run those. Newer versions of 9 or Viewer are free to download. If 9 has been activated on a machine, no new activation will be required to un-install an older build and to then install a newer build. If you cannot open a Release 9 .map or .mxb project file, install the latest version of 9 or Viewer and try again. Older versions of 9 or Viewer might not be able to open projects created by the very latest build.
The Changes and Additions topic always lists key changes in the latest build. Scan recent changes to get started while updates to documentation are prepared and published.
Manifold Release 9 and Manifold Viewer have different installation options to suit different needs. For step-by-step installation and activation please see these two topics:
For earlier versions of Windows, you must login with genuine and full Administrator privileges to install Manifold. Being a member of the Administrators group often is not enough as some Windows versions by default do not give full Administrator privileges to users who are members of the Administrators group. It is best to login as THE Administrator login to install Manifold.
See the Installations topic for additional important information on hardware and software requirements.
The Manifold GUI uses English by default. To use other languages for the GUI, provide a localization file as discussed in the Localization topic. Anyone can create a localization file for a desired language. See the Manifold website for examples of localization files contributed by users.
64-bit Manifold installation packages install both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the product. We can launch either or, if we like, we can simultaneously launch both 64-bit and 32-bit versions.
Run 64-bit Manifold in 64-bit Windows. Normally, in 64-bit Windows we would always run 64-bit Release 9 or 64-bit Viewer.
Why launch a 32-bit version of Release 9 or Viewer in a 64-bit Windows System? We usually do that when we need to connect to 32-bit software that is running in 64-bit Windows. In some cases we may have to launch in 32-bit mode to connect to Microsoft Office formats. See the Launch in 32-bit Mode topic and the Microsoft Office Formats - MDB, XLS and Friends topic.
Most file names in Windows end in what
usually is called a three letter extension,
which is usually three or four letters at the end of the file name following
a dot . character. The
three letter extension is one way Windows at times (but not always) keeps
track of what a file is supposed to be. Unfortunately,
by default Windows hides
the three letter extensions of files and instead tries to associate files
with whatever program it thinks should be used to open that file. That
may be helpful for inexpert consumers, but for skilled users it is inconvenient
and can be misleading when working with the many file formats that
Manifold and similar products utilize. 
Tech tip: Please turn off the hiding of extensions by Windows. A typical way to do so in most versions of Windows would be from Windows Explorer, choose Tools - Folder options, press the View tab and then in the Advanced Settings pane ensure that the Hide extensions for known file types is unchecked. Press Apply to Folders and then press OK. You will then be able to see extensions such as .map and others. See also the Essay on three letter extensions and why the default hiding of them by Windows is such a bad thing.
Release 8 is the prior generation of Manifold GIS products. Manifold Release 9 and Manifold Viewer utilize Radian technology .map format. Release 9 or Viewer can open Manifold Release 8 .map files but Release 8 cannot open newer, Release 9 .map files.
Automatic
conversion: If we open a Release 8 .map
file in Manifold and then Save that
.map file it will be saved in
newer, Release 9 .map format. Manifold
will warn us the file already exists and will offer to save using an incremented
name to avoid overwriting the original Release 8 .map,
but if we insist we can use the same file name to overwrite the original
Release 8 .map file. To
retain the ability to read the original .map
file in Release 8, make sure to save the .map
file created by Release 9 using a different
name. Use File - Save As
to save under a different name.
Automatic
conversion when Linking: Linking a Release 8 .map file
or creating a new data source based on a Release 8 .map file
will also cause that .map file
to be converted into Release 9, Radian .map file
format. Make a backup copy of any pre-Radian .map files
you wish to retain in the old format before you open them or use them
in a Manifold project.
Manifold Release 8 can connect to newer Manifold projects using the Manifold Release 9 ODBC driver. That facilitates interchange between newer Manifold projects and Release 8. See the discussion in the Projects and .map Files topic and the Example: Connect to Manifold from Release 8 topic.
Check the Changes and Additions topic to see recent updates not yet integrated into this documentation.
