Free Tekla Education “Getting Started” step by step guide
5 min read+PDF
This simple guide shows you exactly what needs to be done; from download and installation, to getting the free Tekla software running with an educational license, all with helpful imagery for each step.
If it’s your first time setting up Tekla, then this guide will make it crystal clear what you need to do.
You can download this information also in PDF format and share it with others in your office.
But if you or your company has a Tekla license – or are planning to purchase one – then our step-by-step guide on how to get your Tekla up and running is perfect for you! You can find it here https://www.tsguide.eu/tekla-full-guide/.
CONTENTS
1. REGISTER AND ACTIVATE TRIMBLE ACCOUNT
- Go to https://campus.tekla.com/ and click Register.
- Fill out the registration form.
- You’ll be sent an email; click the Activate Identity button inside it.
- Log in to your account from the link in the confirmation message, or go to https://campus.tekla.com/ and sign in from there.
- You will be directed to My Profile, where you need to accept the privacy policy and terms and conditions. Don’t forget to Save your changes.
- Finally, you’ll need to answer a couple more questions before obtaining your license.
2. DOWNLOAD TEKLA AND ENVIRONMENT
- Now your account is ready, it’s time to go again to https://campus.tekla.com/ and download Tekla Structures with a suitable environment(s).
- Accept the terms and download Tekla Structures software.
- It’s possible to run Tekla as it is without any environment. In this case, you would use blank environment. However, we recommend downloading the default and/or your local environment from the Additional Environments tab.
3. INSTALL TEKLA
- Run the Tekla Structures installer and click the OK and Next buttons. Unless you have any specific requirements, the default settings are fine to use for your installation.
4. INSTALL ENVIRONMENT
- Using the same tactics, install your Environment(s).
EDUCATION LICENSE LIMITATIONS
Keep in mind that the Tekla Structures educational configuration is for non-commercial use only and there are some limitations:
- The Tekla Structures student license limits the usage of Tekla Structures educational configuration to one concurrent online session at a time, and it will work without an active internet connection for 24 hours at a time.
- Building information models created or saved with Tekla Structures educational configuration cannot be opened in commercial configurations of Tekla Structures.
- Drawings created or saved with Tekla Structures educational configuration display a Tekla Structures Educational watermark:
- Your Educational license will be valid for four months, after which it can be renewed for free and you can continue using it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Now Tekla is ready to go with default or local environment(s). When you run the software, keep in mind that you need to log in with the same registered Trimble account in order to use your Education license.
Although the Tekla Education license is free and you can extend it as much as you want, it naturally has some limitations; but still, it’s very good for learning and creating company environment settings.
Next, check out our next article: 11 Ways For Beginners To Learn Tekla Structures. There are free resources with links to where you can start learning Tekla. Why wait if you have the software and license ready for some action?
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This simple guide shows you exactly what needs to be done; from the moment when you get your Tekla license until it’s all ready to use, all with helpful imagery for each step.
If it’s your first time setting up Tekla, then this guide will make it crystal clear what you need to do.
You can download this information also in PDF format and share it with others in your office.
If you or your company don’t have a Tekla license already, and are not planning to purchase one, then you can use a free Tekla Education license. In this case, here are the instructions on how to get it.
CONTENTS
1. GET A TEKLA LICENSE
- Here you can find Tekla license resellers who can sell the licenses and also help you if you have any problems.
- Once you’ve bought a license, you’ll receive an email similar to this:
- When you have completed Tekla software and License Administration Tool installations, save the file EntitlementCertification.html from the email to C:\Tekla\License\Server\.
- Go to the Activate Tekla license section in this guide to see how to activate the license after having License Administration Tool installed.
2. REGISTER AND ACTIVATE YOUR TRIMBLE ACCOUNT
A Trimble account is required for downloading Tekla Structures software, environments and the License Administration Tool. If your company is on Tekla maintenance then you need a Trimble account also for verifying yourself and for getting these benefits – e.g. get access to some support articles and download Warehouse tools.
- Go to https://www.tekla.com/ and click Login on top of the page.
- Click Create new Trimble ID if you don’t have one already. If you have one, then you can just sign in and continue with downloading.
- Fill out the registration form.
- You’ll be sent an email; click the Activate Identity button inside it.
- Log in to your account from the link in the confirmation message, or go to https://www.tekla.com/ and sign in from there.
3. DOWNLOAD TEKLA, ENVIRONMENT & LICENSE TOOL
- Firstly, download Tekla Structures.
- Choose the desired Tekla version and click Download.
- Download the Tekla License Administration Tool if you don’t have it already and click Next.
- Download Tekla Structures software. If there are any Service Packs (they include selected version bug fixes) then we recommend downloading and installing them after installing Tekla Structures.
- It’s possible to run Tekla as it is without any environment. In this case, you would use blank environment. However, we recommend downloading the default and/or your local environment.
- If you are planning to borrow licenses from your company server and work remotely (e.g. from home) then you should download Tekla License Borrow Tool.
- Then Trimble offers a couple of possibilities to learn Tekla, but we recommend to read also our blog article, 11 Ways For Beginners To Learn Tekla Structures. There are also unofficial free resources with links where you can start learning Tekla.
4. INSTALL TEKLA
- Run the Tekla Structures installer and click the OK and Next buttons. Unless you have any specific requirements, the default settings are fine to use for your installation.
5. INSTALL ENVIRONMENT
- Using the same tactics, install your Environment(s).
6. INSTALL LICENSE ADMINISTRATION TOOL
- Using the same tactics, install the License Administration Tool. Use administrator’s rights when doing the installation. Turn off the internal firewall and pause the antispyware/antivirus protection. And ensure that you have access to the Internet. The Internet connection is needed during the license activation process. An unreliable connection speed may cause errors.
7. ACTIVATE TEKLA LICENSE
- Run the Tekla License Administration Tool.
- Open your license file.
- Your license will appear on the Entitled Licenses list. In the first column (Activate), change the value from 0 to 1 and click Activate.
- When the license is activated successfully, it will move down to Activated Licenses list.
LICENSE CHECKING AND PROBLEMS YOU MAY FACE
With Tekla License Administration Tool you will get also LMTOOL. This tool is mainly used on a client computer to check the status of the licenses on the license server, manage the license server and find/solve problems.
The following articles will help address the most frequently encountered issues with this tool:
- LMTOOLS options and settings used in Tekla licensing
- How to monitor Tekla license use
- Problems in Tekla license server installation and connecting to the license server
- Problems using LMTOOLS in Tekla licensing
FINAL THOUGHTS
Now your Tekla is ready to go with default or local environment(s). Next, we recommend to read the article 11 Ways For Beginners To Learn Tekla Structures. There are free resources with links where to start learning Tekla. Why wait if you have the software and license ready for some action?
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Tekla Structures is one of the most capable and advanced systems in its field, but one downside to this is that it takes a little longer to learn as it has more tools, settings, possibilities, and opportunities for customization.
But don’t worry – you’re not alone! Seeing as everyone has to start somewhere, we’ve put together a list of 11 great ways of getting your Tekla knowledge built up quickly.
CONTENTS
1. TEKLA CAMPUS
Tekla Campus (https://campus.tekla.com/) is the right place to start your journey. Its whole purpose is to help beginners start learning Tekla Structures. But even if you are not a student, you can use this opportunity to learn and get started. You’ll need to create a free Trimble account in order to access the campus.
Using the Educational license, you can legitimately download and use legal Tekla Structures for learning purposes (https://campus.tekla.com/download).
Not many people know that you can also use it for creating model settings for your company by creating them in the Educational model, then copying the created files to the firm Template model.
Keep in mind that Tekla Structures educational configuration is for non-commercial use only and there are some limitations:
- The Tekla Structures student license limits the usage of Tekla Structures educational configuration to one concurrent online session at a time, and it will work without an active internet connection for 24 hours at a time.
- Building information models created or saved with Tekla Structures educational configuration cannot be opened in commercial configurations of Tekla Structures.
- Drawings created or saved with Tekla Structures educational configuration display a watermark stamp inscribed with Tekla Structures Educational text.
- Your Educational license will be valid for four months, after which it can be renewed for free and you can continue using it.
When you have the software set up on your computer, you can take free Tekla classes here https://campus.tekla.com/learn. You’ll be able to watch videos and practice things that you’ve learned. This is quite a good way to learn the basics, but these free videos don’t cover everything that is needed.
2. TEKLA SUPPORT VIDEOS
Apart from Tekla Campus lessons, Tekla also has shorter support videos. There are many of these videos, and one covers something very specific. The downside here is that the videos are unorganized, and while you’ll get some good information here and there, it’s difficult to get the whole picture.
Still, if you have time then it’s worth watching. I’m sure you’ll learn something new. You can see the videos here https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/videos.
3. TEKLA WEBINARS
Tekla has two main types of webinars:
The first is case studies with clients about the best practices, which you can put into use in your own company. Usually, these videos don’t have direct information about how to use the software, but nonetheless they still have valuable information.
Secondly, the “What’s new in this version”-type webinars that show the Tekla software itself and how to use it. Keep in mind that they show only the new or improved features, and you need to get your base knowledge from somewhere else. These webinars normally happen twice a year with each new version.
You can find tutorial videos about Tekla new features here https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/video_tutorials/top_new_features_anon
and watch the recorded webinars here https://www.tekla.com/about/webinars
4. TEKLA PDF DOCUMENTATION
It’s not the most attractive way to learn Tekla, but there are still some who are willing to go through long PDF documents.
Tekla different versions release note summaries can be very informative: https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/not-version-specific/en/release_notes_summary_across_tekla_structures_versions
Divided by different topics there are some official guide documents that you can find here https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/2020/en/tekla-structures-2020-pdf-documentation
5. CLASSROOM TRAINING
Tekla Campus is a perfect place to start to familiarize yourself with the software and set your direction. The next step would be to dive in deeper.
To be able to create everything with Tekla Structures to complete a project well and do it efficiently, you need full training that covers everything necessary. For example, concrete + steel + drawings basic training is about 4 to 5 days long. Some recommendations for choosing classroom training:
- Like with everything else, don’t expect good quality from the cheapest offer. It’s not worth the risk.
- Choose a trainer who has practical working experience with Tekla Structures. Theory and practice can be very different.
- Choose a trainer who has teaching experience. A first-time teacher needs also to learn how to teach, and the materials they produce will get better with time.
You can find our Tekla Structures trainings here: https://www.tsguide.eu/tekla-training-courses/
You can also find Tekla software resellers who often offer trainings here: https://www.tekla.com/contact/offices-and-resellers
Before going to classroom training, I recommend that you:
- Go through the basics (eg. campus training) by yourself beforehand. Then you don’t have to spend as much time on them during the training, and hopefully, you’ll already have some questions that you can ask from the trainer.
- Give some background information about your company and clients to your trainer so that the training can be customized to your needs.
Classroom training is not only a very effective and fast way to learn Tekla, but many training centers provide a certification that shows your competence upon completion.
6. ONLINE COURSES
Online courses usually are very similar to live classroom training (depending on the quality, of course). It’s ready-made standard content, and there is no possibility to customize it according to your needs. Also, you can’t interact with a trainer and ask questions.
On the other hand, it’s usually cheaper than classroom training as once it’s published, the producer just has to keep it up to date and not spend more time on each client separately.
Additionally, trainees can take their lessons whenever and wherever they want, which is especially useful when you don’t have any trainers available near you.
Also beneficial is when your company is hiring new employees and there is nobody to give them basic training, or it would take too much valuable time from your best Tekla user to teach every newbie one by one.
Trimble has its own online courses platform at learn.trimble.com. There are several courses for Tekla Structures in few different languages. It’s a good start for sure and it’s free.
Additionally, Trimble has some free e-Learning courses. The quality and amount of lessons are not comparable with paid courses, but if you don’t have any budget for training, then it’s worth going through:
- First steps with Tekla Structures – https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/video-tutorials/first_step_videos_anon
- For steel detailers – https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/elearning/steel-detailers
- For rebar detailers – https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/elearning/rebar-detailers
- For concrete contractors – https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/elearning/concrete-contractors
- For bridge designers – https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/elearning/bridge-designers
Construsoft is Tekla reseller and has their online courses in Spanish. You can find Tekla and some other courses here https://elearning.construsoft.es/
And now we are in the process of creating TSGuide Tekla Structures online courses – https://www.tsguide.eu/tekla-training-courses/.
7. YOUTUBE VIDEOS
After Google, YouTube is the place to look for information, especially if you don’t want to read and prefer to watch tutorial videos.
There are videos about Tekla in different languages, but luckily, most are in English. There are some longer demos, but most videos are just a few minutes about a very specific topic. There are so many videos that most probably you could learn the most important things from there, but the problem is that the quality varies. Finding quality content can sometimes be challenging, and again, often the structure is missing, which makes learning from scratch more difficult and time-consuming.
Check out some of these user channels that we like:
- Tekla Structures (Trimble) official channel https://www.youtube.com/user/TeklaStructures/videos
- Tekla Structures (Trimble) “Monday Minutes” videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYbj2JlSfwmatOi2cMs392caqTO4w2wTH
- Tekla Structures (Trimble) “US Steel Tips & Tricks” videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYbj2JlSfwmapeG7859jzVVcF461Ghxkq
- BuildingPoint Australia https://www.youtube.com/user/PacificComputing/videos
- Precast Basic Training Sessions https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQbJ4VsuKohGnsYvx2uDywEUX1nRV1n7q
- Maurice Dimba https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNf13pYdaElzp6pZsg5KkMw/playlists
- The How’s of Tekla Structures https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXow-PbkzeIpm0B1TetID2w/featured
- Gani sk https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBIbZI8rPPuv-fyl9PdZ02A/playlists
- CS Wilson Draws https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWJSwPfDQiWp5wlNzQKqSow/playlists
- Tekla Training https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-7E5uUqJ0xGzsimJ5fR1Kw/playlists
- Construsoft España – Latinoamérica (in Spanish) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTGwokb9SM-LVhGoQvqcjAcjCHHpz06oS
- Christopher Keyack Tekla Open API (if you are an advanced user and thinking to start learning Open API coding to develop your own add-ons) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_MdRBxCm14
8. SOCIAL MEDIA
If you are really interested in Tekla Structures, you should join various social media communities and follow Tekla Structures experts, whose full-time work is to help companies with Tekla Structures. They have seen the best practices from different companies and know what they are doing, giving you the best value.
You’ll find very good ideas from outside the box that you can use in your company or get some productivity tips. Some of these experts share also demo videos on social media from time to time. It’s all about giving value.
Here are a few profiles to follow:
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/tekla/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrdickey/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-snyder-961a239/
- https://www.facebook.com/TeklaStructuresGuide/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/stentuudak/detail/recent-activity/shares/
- https://www.facebook.com/TeklaSoftware
- https://www.facebook.com/TeklaOpenAPI/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/7842756634/
9. FORUMS
Luckily, there are many other experienced Tekla Structure users. If you’re a newbie, other users can often help you out with your problems (if they have time, of course).
You can also browse previous topics. This way you can find answers to questions that you may have right now or get some good ideas to put into use.
Many other users have been in the same situation you’re in now. The official Tekla Structures forum is here https://forum.tekla.com. It’s not the best place to start for beginners, but if you have questions then you just might find your answers from here.
10. TEKLA SUPPORT ARTICLES
Another place that I don’t recommend beginners starting with are Tekla support articles. Although this is one of my favorite places to find answers (besides asking someone smarter), the only thing is that you have to know what you’re looking for.
Despite this, still it contains information about virtually everything. Go and check it out for yourself here https://teklastructures.support.tekla.com/
11. LIVE EVENTS
Chosen Tekla Structure users get an invitation to Tekla User Days. Usually, in these events they give a good overview, show what’s new in the latest version, often add some tips on how to increase productivity and get things done in a better way, or show use cases from real life on how different companies have done their projects successfully.
If you are brave enough, then it’s a perfect opportunity to go and talk with other Tekla Structures users or even with the presenters and ask questions face to face.
BONUS. LEARN BY DOING
I believe it’s great that you are ready to start learning Tekla Structures. However, although you might read manuals and watch tutorial videos, this kind of passive learning is not effective on its own. Think of it as trying to learn to swim from a book, without ever going in the water.
Of course, you do need some theory, and it would be useful to have a personal coach on your side to teach you. But in order to properly learn something, you need to take the leap, jump in the water and start practicing actively.
The best way would be to begin with a real project. If possible, start with a project that is not too challenging, and deadlines that aren’t too tight, as learning takes time. Once you have some experience, try to help other beginners, because sometimes they ask interesting questions and lead you to a new path, but also they force you to make it as simple as possible.
As Einstein once said: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”.
TO SUM UP
In my opinion, the best and fastest way is to take the Tekla Campus Education license and go through the Campus videos. This gives you the first experience and an overview of the Tekla Structure software.
After that, I would take Basic Tekla Structures online or live classroom training, where you will learn all the basics that you need for being able to complete your projects.
Then create a real project with Tekla and start practicing as much as possible. At the same time, ask for help, follow skilled people on social media, participate in discussions, get more tips & tricks, and use Tekla Support articles with Tekla Discussion Forum.
Keep practicing and learning and you’ll be a Tekla samurai in no time 🙂
