Installation Guide

Installation Guide#

OverleafFS runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Installation#

The OverleafFS package is available through PyPI, as standalone binaries for Windows and macOS, or from source on GitHub.

Installing from Binaries#

Pre-built application bundles are available on the project’s GitHub Releases page:

These builds require no Python installation and are the easiest way to run OverleafFS on macOS and Windows.

Windows#

Download the file named something like:

OverleafFS-windows-vX.Y.Z.zip

Extract the archive and run:

OverleafFS.exe

You may create a shortcut to the executable or place it on the desktop.

macOS#

Download the macOS application bundle:

OverleafFS-macOS-vX.Y.Z.zip

Then:

  1. Unzip the file to obtain OverleafFS.app.

  2. Attempt to open it once by double-clicking. macOS Gatekeeper will block the application and display a warning.

  3. Click Cancel.

  4. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.

  5. Scroll down near the bottom of the right-hand panel. You should see a message indicating that OverleafFS.app was blocked.

  6. Click Allow Anyway or Open Anyway.

  7. Return to Finder and open OverleafFS.app again.

After this first authorization, the application will open normally.

Note: The macOS application is unsigned (i.e., not notarized), so Gatekeeper approval is required on first launch.

Installing from PyPI#

Requirements#

You will need a recent version of Python (3.10 or later recommended) and either pip or conda installed. A working installation of pip is sufficient for most users. If you plan to install from source, git is also required.

To install from PyPI:

pip install –upgrade overleaf_fs

This command installs the core application and its Python dependencies. If you prefer to isolate the installation, consider first creating a virtual environment using python -m venv or conda create.

Installing from source#

  1. Download the source code

In order to download the python code, move to a directory of your choice and run the following two commands:

git clone https://github.com/gbuzzard/overleaf_fs.git
cd overleaf_fs

  1. Install the environment and the OverleafFS package

Clean install using overleaf_fs/dev_scripts - We provide bash scripts that will do a clean install of OverleafFS in a new conda environment using the following commands:

cd dev_scripts
source clean_install_all.sh
cd ../overleaf_fs
conda activate overleaf_fs
python -m app.py

Getting Started#

See Quick Start for a guide to launching OverleafFS.

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