# Open an Example Capture

The quickest way to get a feel for EmbedStudio: open the example that comes with it and look at real firmware data. It works without registering anywhere.

**Before you start:** EmbedStudio installed and started. No registration, account, license, probe or ELF file needed: opening a capture works in the unlicensed Viewer.

Guides: **Open an example capture** · [Activate the free license](https://embed-studio.com/getting-started/activate-free-license.md) · [Capture a variable](https://embed-studio.com/getting-started/capture-a-variable.md) (overview: [Getting Started](https://embed-studio.com/getting-started.md))

## 1. Find the example

The EmbedStudio download includes a folder named examples, next to the EmbedStudio executable. You do not have to browse to it: the file dialogs in the next steps open there the first time.

- examples/workspaces/es_example_01.esws is the workspace: the dashboards and plots the example was recorded with.
- examples/captures/es_example_01.hdf5 is the capture: the recorded firmware data itself.

> Opening an example needs no registration and no license. Capturing variables from your own target does: that takes the free license, which you get after registering (the next guide).

## 2. Open the example workspace

Open the workspace first, so the recording has its plots to appear in.

### 2.1 Choose File → Open Workspace…

Or press Ctrl+Shift+O.

![The File menu open with Open Workspace… highlighted, between New Workspace and Open Recent](https://embed-studio.com/assets/example-menu-open-workspace.DzntPHqa.png)

### 2.2 Discard the empty workspace if asked

If EmbedStudio asks whether to save the current workspace, choose Close without Saving. A workspace you have not changed has nothing worth keeping.

![A Save workspace? prompt saying the workspace has unsaved changes, with the buttons Close without Saving, Cancel and Save](https://embed-studio.com/assets/example-save-prompt.DGpPTGun.png)

### 2.3 Select es_example_01.esws

The dialog opens in the examples/workspaces folder. Select the file and press Open.

### 2.4 See the empty dashboard

The workspace explorer now lists the example’s instruments: the plots Temperature, Accel and Attitude and a table named Timing. They are empty, because no data has been loaded yet.

![The example workspace opened: the workspace explorer lists one dashboard with Temperature, Accel, Attitude and Timing instruments, beside an empty timing table and three empty plots, and the status bar reads Viewer](https://embed-studio.com/assets/example-workspace-opened.Bmwz5ewt.png)

## 3. Open the sample capture

Now load the recording into those plots.

### 3.1 Choose Capture → Open Capture(s)…

The same menu also offers Reload, Show Capture in Folder and Export Variables to CSV….

![The Capture menu open with Open Capture(s)… highlighted; below it are Open Capture (with its workspace)…, Reload, Show Capture in Folder and Export Variables to CSV…](https://embed-studio.com/assets/example-menu-open-capture.FUjnVkej.png)

### 3.2 Select es_example_01.hdf5

The dialog opens in the examples/captures folder. Select the file and press Open.

## 4. Look around

The plots fill with the recorded signals and the table shows their values. The example is a ten-second recording from an inertial sensor.

- The Accel plot draws the three accelerometer axes and their magnitude.
- The Attitude plot draws roll and pitch.
- The Timing table lists the firmware’s timing figures (sample time, data exchange time, signal processing time) in microseconds.
- Move the mouse over a time plot: its legend reads out every channel’s value at the cursor.

> The status bar still reads Viewer. Without a license EmbedStudio can open, view, measure and export a recording to CSV, which is everything this guide used. It cannot create instruments or acquire from a target; that takes the free license, available after registration, which the next guide sets up.

![The example capture opened: a timing table with values, an accelerometer plot with three axes and their magnitude and a cursor readout, and an attitude plot of roll and pitch, over ten seconds](https://embed-studio.com/assets/example-capture-opened.B0f3GpCR.png)

## Next: Activate the Free License

Ready to capture your own firmware? Register and get the free license first.

[Next: Activate the Free License](https://embed-studio.com/getting-started/activate-free-license.md)

Canonical page: https://embed-studio.com/getting-started/open-a-capture