Onshape for 3D printing: public documents and plan selection

What the Free Plan makes visible to other users

The official Onshape plans page, read on October 20, 2026, describes the Free Plan as best for personal projects and for non-commercial use only. It states that all documents on this plan are accessible to the public. In the comparison table, the Private Documents row is tied to paid plans only. The FAQ on the same page confirms it: only paid plans support private data and commercial use.

For your project, record two separate requirements: commercial or noncommercial use, and public or private data. For example, if you design a personal holder you accept making public, compare that need with the Free Plan terms. If you need confidentiality or commercial use, check the offer covering those requirements. The plans page presents Standard with private storage, then Professional with team features; compare their current terms with your situation.

Before subscribing, record the offer name, usage and privacy terms, currency, country, and displayed billing period. Keep the version or date of the offer you are examining. This suggested record helps compare offers when choosing; it is neither a quote nor verification that your account qualifies.

Public sharing, links, and permissions in the Share dialog

The sharing documentation, updated October 15, 2026, describes the Share dialog from Documents or an open document. Its Public tab concerns non-Enterprise accounts: other Onshape users can view the document and make a copy to edit. When your offer supports private documents, the guide describes removing public access with the x beside “All Onshape users.” This general procedure does not mean the Free Plan provides private storage; the plans page describes its documents as public.

Link sharing provides viewing without signing in to Onshape. The documentation describes a link targeting the workspace or version, tab, and configuration selected when it was created. Record which reference you shared. Anyone holding the link can access the document; “Allow exporting from the link” adds exporting for an Onshape user. The x beside “Anyone with link” revokes link access according to the guide.

For named sharing, examine the “Can edit” or “Can view” level and permission boxes, including Copy, Link document, Export, Share, and Comment. The documentation limits a Free recipient of a private document: viewing, commenting, exporting, copying, and linking permissions can be granted, but editing and resharing cannot. Distinguish the list of possible permissions from those actually checked for your recipient.

Visible does not mean free to use

The sharing documentation describes visibility and the technical ability to copy a document. It does not establish rights to the content of a third-party document. For a model found on Onshape, check the reuse terms its author has provided before reusing or redistributing the model or prints made from it. The plans page separately describes account restrictions: the Free Plan is for non-commercial use. File access and rights in the file’s content are two separate checks.

Treat the two questions separately. For the model, look for license information or reuse terms supplied by its author; Onshape’s copy feature does not answer that question. For the account, the plans page defines commercial use as any business or profit-generating activity and says only paid plans support commercial use. Selling a part may fall within that definition; check the plan and terms that apply to your situation.

If you publish your own models, a document’s public visibility does not by itself define the terms granted to people who copy it. State the reuse terms you choose in the document or on the platform where you publish the export, and check that you are entitled to grant those rights.

Exporting STL or 3MF: the options that matter

Onshape’s documentation lists available formats, including STEP, 3MF, and STL, and says not all options are available in every situation. To choose a format, check what the receiving application accepts and whether you need a mesh representation or to transfer the part into another CAD tool. The STL vs 3MF page compares the two mesh formats.

You start an export by right-clicking a part in the Parts list, a Part Studio or Assembly tab, or several tabs at once from the Tab manager. For STL, the dialog offers Text or Binary, a resolution of Coarse, Medium, Fine, or Custom, and a unit: centimeter, foot, inch, meter, millimeter, or yard. With Custom resolution you set the chordal tolerance, angular deviation, and minimum facet width. For 3MF, Custom resolution uses distance tolerance, angular tolerance, and maximum chord length.

Units deserve attention. The STL export dialog lets you select an export unit. Then check that the receiving software interprets the size as intended by inspecting the displayed dimensions; do not infer the slicer’s import behavior from the export setting alone. The page about STL files without units covers the unitless-file case. STEP exports use meters by default unless you select a custom unit.

What the exported file leaves behind

Onshape’s documentation says downloaded data does not contain features or parametric history. An exported STL or 3MF therefore does not replace the source document if you need to resume the feature tree. Keep the Onshape document for parametric edits and the export for its intended use in the receiving application; they are different artifacts.

For assembly export, suppressed parts and instances are excluded. In the browser, the option to include hidden instances is separate; the mobile documentation says hidden instances are excluded. Before exporting, record your platform and the state of the expected parts. The individual-parts option can produce an archive with one file per part; check the chosen structure rather than assuming the whole assembly will be grouped together.

The file can be downloaded, stored in a new document tab, or both. Emailing a download link is offered on plans other than Free and Education. After a release, the documentation describes exporting from revision history. After export, open the file in the intended application and check dimensions, orientation, and mesh for your use.

Checklist before a confidential project

Before you model a part you do not want shared, run through these checks in order. First, your plan: the plans page ties private documents to paid plans, and your actual contract terms override this summary. Second, the public badge on the document and the user list in the Share dialog. To remove link access, the guide describes the x beside “Anyone with link”; then review the access still displayed.

Also review the checkboxes for each collaborator. According to the help, “Can view” includes copy, link, export, and comment; uncheck what you do not want to grant. Sharing with Onshape Support is a toggle at the bottom of the dialog and switches off the same way. Enterprise accounts have no Public tab, because their documents cannot be public.

Keep the timeline in mind. Making a document private again revokes public access according to the sharing documentation, but it does not remove copies already made or exports already downloaded by other users. Decide on visibility before publishing the document. If that level of control does not fit your project, compare privacy controls in other CAD tools before placing sensitive data there.

Sources and limits

• Onshape — Sharing documents
• Onshape — Exporting files
• Onshape — Plans and usage conditions

We organize manufacturer and community documentation; we have not measured these products ourselves. The manual for your exact model takes precedence over general guidance.