Installing Greatbook

One application, built three ways. Windows and macOS get an installer you double-click. A Chromebook cannot run a program like that at all, so there Greatbook installs from the web instead, and ends up with its own icon and its own window just the same.

Windows and macOS

There is no published release yet. When there is one it will be on the releases page, and this table will name the file to download.

The warning you will see the first time

Neither installer is signed yet, so both systems will stop you once. Signing means paying a certificate authority every year for permission to be recognised, and that is not in place yet. The apps are not different from any other; the computer simply has no way to know who made them.

On Windows, SmartScreen says "Windows protected your PC". Choose More info, then Run anyway.

On macOS the first launch is blocked because the developer cannot be verified. Open System Settings, then Privacy and Security, scroll down to the message about Greatbook, and choose Open Anyway. Then launch it again. The old trick of right-clicking and choosing Open no longer works on recent versions of macOS.

Chromebook, and any other computer

Open the web app. Chrome shows an install button in the address bar, and the app's own top bar has one too. Choose it and Greatbook gets an icon in your launcher and opens in its own window, with no tabs and no address bar.

Once it is installed it works with no internet connection. The first visit needs a connection; after that it does not.

This is the same application as the installers, not a cut-down version of it. The only real difference is where your gradebook file can live, which the next page explains.

Which one should I use

If you are on a school Windows laptop or a Mac, take the installer. It can write your gradebook straight into your Documents folder without asking you anything.

If you are on a Chromebook, install it from the web; there is no other option, and it is a good one.

If you are on someone else's computer, or you just want a look, open the web app and choose Try a sample class on the first screen. Nothing is saved anywhere you would have to clean up afterwards.

Updating

The web app updates itself the next time you open it with a connection. There is nothing to do.

The Windows and macOS apps do not update themselves yet. When there is a new version, download it from this page and install it over the old one; your gradebook is a separate file and is not touched.