The Application Library Update Window
Application Library Update is a service that provides new and updated models and applications for the application libraries of the COMSOL products that your license includes. The text below describes how to use the Application Library Update service.
Using the COMSOL Application Library Update service requires internet access. For a default installation, you also need to run COMSOL as an administrator. See Proxy Server Settings section below for instructions on how you can modify your installation to avoid this restriction.
Application Library Update
Open the Application Library Update window by clicking Update COMSOL Application Libraries in the Application Libraries window or by going to the File>Help menu (Windows users) or the Help menu (macOS and Linux users) and choosing Update COMSOL Application Libraries ().
When the Application Library Update window opens, choose if you want to download files containing solutions (Solved) or more compact versions of the models and applications (Compact), then click Find Applications to check if all the models and applications you have are up to date or if there are any updated or new ones. If the message Your Application Libraries are up to date displays, no updated or new models or applications are available.
If the library is not up to date, browse the list that appears with a description and image. Choose which ones to download by selecting or clearing the check boxes next to the thumbnail images. By default all check boxes are selected; by clicking Clear selection and Select all you can change the global selection state.
Note that if you chose to download solved models and applications and then choose Select all, the download size can be on the order of 10s of GB if you have license for several products. Therefore, it may be wiser to choose the compact option and then download solved versions of the examples you are interested in directly from the Application Libraries window.
Click the Download button to download the selected models and applications. The download time depends on the size of the files, which is listed for each file, and the bandwidth of the internet connection.
Also see the Introduction to Application Builder.
Proxy Server Settings
If you connect to the internet through a web proxy, you can specify the required settings in the Help section of the Preferences dialog box; for details, see Proxy Server Settings.
Destination Directories for Library Updates
To edit these settings under Destination directories for library updates, open The Preferences Dialog Box and go to the Updates section.
The Destinations list provides two options for specifying which application, documentation, and part directories are synchronized with the COMSOL Multiphysics server when you launch an Application Library Update or Part Library Update (see the next section) request:
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 Current directories (default): Synchronize with application MPH-files under the COMSOL Application Libraries root set on the Preferences dialog’s Application Libraries page, with documentation files under the directory specified in the Documentation root directory field on the Preferences dialog’s General page, and with part MPH-files under the COMSOL Part Libraries root set on the Preferences dialog’s Part Libraries page.
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 Specify custom directories: Choosing this option lets you specify COMSOL Application Libraries, documentation, and COMSOL Part Libraries root directories separate from those of your current COMSOL Desktop environment.
By default, the COMSOL Application Libraries, COMSOL Part Libraries, and documentation root directories are located directly under the COMSOL installation root directory, in applications/, parts/, and doc/, respectively. This typically implies that special permissions are required for saving downloaded files, and it can therefore be beneficial to move or copy the directories to a different location. The settings referred to in this section are provided to let you customize Application Library Update to the IT environment of your organization.