SAM Versions
============

NLR releases new SAM versions and updates periodically. You can download the latest version from the SAM website at  https://sam.nlr.gov/download.

SAM's :doc:`Welcome page <../getting-started/welcome_page>` also displays news from the SAM team, including announcements of new versions.

Related topics:

* :doc:`Software Installation <../reference/installation>`


* :doc:`Registration <../reference/registration>`


SAM Version Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The SAM version number consists of a date and may be followed by a revision number. For example SAM 2018.1.18 r4 was originally released on January 18, 2018 and updated to Revision 4.

SAM displays the version number in the title bar of the Main window:

.. image:: ../images/SS_MainWindow-VersionNumber.png
   :align: center
   :alt: SS_MainWindow-VersionNumber.png

You can more detailed SAM version information by opening a Help window (press the F1 key or click **Help**) and then clicking **About**:

.. image:: ../images/SS_HelpAbout-VersionNumber.png
   :align: center
   :alt: SS_HelpAbout-VersionNumber.png

Updating SAM
~~~~~~~~~~~~

If a newer version of SAM is available on the SAM website than the version installed on your computer, you can download and install it to update SAM. You can either keep the older version on your computer, or remove it using your operating system's uninstall program.

Legacy Versions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In some cases you may want to use a legacy version of SAM instead of the current version, for example to compare results from older versions, or to use a feature that has been discontinued in the current version. You can download legacy versions from the SAM website at https://sam.nlr.gov/download. See :doc:`Software Installation <../reference/installation>` for more information.