Software & Tools

Here is a list of recommened software and tools.

Inkscape

Inkscape is required to open SVG files. It is a free and open source vector graphics editor. Since we do not normally have admin access to work Windows computer, we can use the portable 7z distribution. Here is Download Link. We need to choose Windows: 64-bit: compressed (7z). After that the file needs to be unarchived/unzipped into a particular folder. As the folder size is big, unpacking will take some time. I recommend putting this in user home folder, i.e., in a folder under your name/account. To run the software, look for inkscape.exe in bin folder. You can right click and choose to add it to your task bar for easier access. You can also set this as default app for svg files system-wide.

Ghostwriter

Ghostwriter is recommended as a markdown editor for Windows. This is free and open source, and availble as a portable app. The latest version can be downloaded from Ghostwriter GitHub Releases Page. For usage on Windows, download the portable.zip version. The file then can be unzipped into the folder of your choice (recommended to be put in user home folder normally). You can set this software as default editor for md files.

For markdown usage reference, refer to this Ghostwriter Documentation.

uv

uv is fantastic for managing python environments. At the same time, our command line tool bid uses uv to run the script. Install uv following Installation Instructions here.

For running python tools in excel, we will also use python environment managed by uv instead of installing full anaconda distribution. We will typically create a folder called managed_python in user's home directory, copy in project.toml file in here and create .venv with uv sync command. xlwings python interpreter field then needs to be configured to point to this python.exe. Additionally, we can put in the path in user's ENVIRONMENTAL variable.