# Exporting from PreForm as STL or OBJ?

**URL:** <https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361>\
**Category:** Support & Troubleshooting\
**Created:** [December 16, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361 "2017-12-16T19:08:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Paraglyphs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Paraglyphs](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/Paraglyphs)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361/1 "2017-12-16T19:08:36Z")

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I can’t find my original files and would like to export the Preform file as something that I can manipulate and measure (like an STL or OBJ). Is this possible?

thanks!

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**Author:** ![coffeejelli](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/coffeejelli/32/11295_2.png) [@coffeejelli](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/coffeejelli)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361/2 "2017-12-18T13:46:41Z")

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Hi! I’m sorry to hear about your files but unfortunately this is not a function at the moment but some people have requested this in the past, I know I did [here](http://forum.formlabs.com/t/preform-form-to-stl-export/14376) a few months back. It would be a great function but seeing as Preform is a free product that works with Formlab printers I think the chances of this function being added are slim. But one can only hope! 😀

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**Author:** ![JohnHue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@JohnHue](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/JohnHue)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361/3 "2017-12-18T14:04:51Z")

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Yes it is definitely understandable that they wouldn’t want to do this, after all this is a commercial product not an open-source project and being able to export Preform files to a standard format would just make it the best free slicer for SLA printers, and will probably eat the Form2’s market share.

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**Author:** ![Paraglyphs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Paraglyphs](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/Paraglyphs)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361/4 "2017-12-19T07:21:31Z")

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thank you,  
Would you know if there’s any way to see what the name of the original file was that was imported and/or saved as the form file? Is there a history function in PreForm that shows what steps were done before printing, etc?

thanks again.

P.

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**Author:** ![coffeejelli](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/coffeejelli/32/11295_2.png) [@coffeejelli](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/coffeejelli)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361/5 "2017-12-20T14:21:47Z")

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No problem! As far as I know there is not a history function or anything like that on the PreForm but you may find them on your [dashboard](https://formlabs.com/dashboard/#prints) if you’ve printed the object and kept the same name as the original file when it was printed.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/3X/5/b/5bc2bdf993ff27c2e0eecab5010b25626fbb327a.png) [@system](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/exporting-from-preform-as-stl-or-obj/16361/6 "2018-01-03T14:22:04Z")

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