# Work offline with a checked-out seat

> Check out your seat before you lose the connection, and return it when you are back.

Status: Available · Level: Everyday · About 4 minutes · Canonical: https://paracrux.com/docs/work-offline

## You need

- The app activated on this computer
- An internet connection now, before you go offline

## You'll come away with

- Check out a seat for the days you need
- Return it, or go back to online seats
- Know what still works after it expires

## Step by step

1. **Check out before you go.** Open Licensing. On the ParaCrux Solidworks Agent access card, expand Offline checkout and manual seat controls, set Offline days and choose Check out for offline use. Your company's policy caps the days, and a checkout never runs past your billing period.
2. **Check the date.** The card shows the seat as borrowed, with the date and time it is valid until.
3. **Work offline.** Your seat works without a connection until that time. Agent conversations still need the internet, because the AI model runs online.
4. **Come back and return it.** Back online, choose Return seat to free it for someone else. Returning also switches off Use a seat automatically when online for this product; choose Use online seat when you want one again. If the connection drops while returning, the seat is retired on this computer first; choose Return seat again to finish.
5. **Moving to another computer.** Return the seat in the app first, and leave Use a seat automatically when online switched off on the old computer, or it will take a seat again whenever it runs online. An administrator cannot release a checked-out seat for you.

## Walkthrough

The card text and status lines are recorded from the desktop 0.1.9 qualification run on a test account. The number of days is an example.

- **Licensing:** Page = Activate with your code. Use seats automatically online, or check one out before working offline.; Card = Product available. Use an online seat or check out for offline work.
- Provenance: recorded

- **Offline checkout and manual seat controls:** Offline days = 1; Action = Check out for offline use
- Provenance: illustrative

- **Status:** Seat = local-demo · borrowed seat valid until 02/10/2026, 00:30:04.
- *local-demo is the test organisation; yours shows your company.*
- Provenance: recorded

- **Agent:** Seat retired locally. Retry Return seat to finish releasing it, or upload the return file at paracrux.com/offline.
- *Shown if the connection fails while you return the seat.*
- Provenance: real-code

- **After expiry:** New part changes = need a seat; Inspecting and saving existing work = still available; With automatic seat use on = an online seat is taken once connected and one is free
- Provenance: real-code

## What it won't do

- A checkout has no grace period. When it expires, new part changes wait for a seat.
- Checking out, returning and using an online seat all need a connection, and a free seat at that moment.
- If your computer's clock moves backwards, new edits are blocked until you correct it.
- A checked-out seat counts against your company's seats until it is returned or expires.
- A checkout starts and ends online. For a computer that is never online, use offline licence files.

## Covers

- Offline seat checkout (Available): Check a seat out for offline use for a set number of days, then return it when you are back online. Where: In the app, Licensing → Offline checkout and manual seat controls

## Next

- [Licence a computer with no internet](https://paracrux.com/docs/license-a-computer-without-internet.md): Carry two signed files between an offline computer and a connected one, so an air-gapped workstation can hold a seat.
- [Update, and read what changed first](https://paracrux.com/docs/update-the-app.md): Updates arrive signed. Read the notes before you install, and save your work first.