Can you use EQ8 on a Chromebook?

The honest answer

No. EQ8 is a program for Windows and Mac computers, and Electric Quilt says plainly that it won’t run on a Chromebook:

Electric Quilt sells EQ8 as a Windows download or a Mac download. There’s no version for a Chromebook’s own system, ChromeOS, and none for Android.

What about Android apps and Linux?

Chromebooks can run two other kinds of app besides web apps, and neither brings EQ8 with it:

• Android apps from Google Play work on some Chromebooks, Google says. There’s no EQ8 app for Android: Electric Quilt lists Android devices among those EQ8 won’t run on.
• Linux on a Chromebook is, in Google’s words, for developing software: command line tools, code editors and the like. It isn’t a way to run Windows programs, and on a work or school Chromebook it may be turned off.

You may read online about running Windows programs on a Chromebook through extra software. Electric Quilt doesn’t list any of them as supported, so we don’t recommend relying on them for years of quilts.

What you can do today

Use EQ8 on your computer from the Chromebook

If EQ8 is on a Windows PC or Mac at home, Google’s free Chrome Remote Desktop lets you use that computer from your Chromebook. EQ8 still runs on the computer; the Chromebook shows its screen and sends your clicks. Google’s steps, in short:

1. On the computer with EQ8, open Chrome, go to remotedesktop.google.com/access, and install Chrome Remote Desktop under “Set up Remote Access”. Choose a PIN.
2. On the Chromebook, open Chrome, go to the same address, choose Access and pick the computer.
3. Enter the PIN.

Both need an internet connection. On a work or school network, Google says remote access may be restricted, so check with whoever runs it.

Take pictures and PDFs with you

On the computer, FILE › Export Image in EQ8 saves a quilt as a picture, and printing to a PDF printer saves cutting charts and templates as a PDF. Put them in Google Drive and they’re on your Chromebook. Our guide to .pj8 files has the steps.

Use quilt design software that runs in a browser

A Chromebook runs anything that works in Chrome, and you can install a website as an app from Chrome’s menu. Several quilt design tools work that way: quilt design software for Windows and Chromebook compares them.

Quarter Inch on a Chromebook

Quarter Inch runs in Chrome, so it works on a Chromebook as it does on a computer, an iPad or a phone. And it opens the EQ8 and EQ7 projects you already have:

• Open them without an account. On the home page, choose Choose files… or Choose a folder…. Your files are read in your browser. Copy your My EQ8 folder to Google Drive or a USB stick first, so the Chromebook can reach it.
• See what came across. Every file gets a plain report, and your originals are never changed.
• Opening and viewing is free, on every device you sign in on.