**__NOTE__**: A user manual in .pdf format version of these pages is available upon request including translations to your local language. Please contact us at [[info@pathomation.com]] to ask.

==== Why PMA.start? ====

PMA.start is a free viewer and a popular choice for those starting with digital pathology and wishing to explore. When choosing a desktop slide viewer PMA.start has several advantages over other viewers.

  * Web-based browser; front-end runs in the webbrowser of your choice
  * Examine brighfield, fluorescent, and z-stacked slide content from the same environment
  * Plug and play support for external hard disks
  * [[https://imagej.net/ImageJ|ImageJ]]/[[https://imagej.net/Fiji/|FIJI]] plugin available for smooth transition of slide content for IA algo development
  * SDKs available through [[https://www.github.com/pathomation|Github]]

==== Use cases ====

Use PMA.start to view whole slide images stored on your pc [[https://docs.pathomation.com/PMA.start/doku.php?id=faq#why_can_t_i_see_my_mapped_network_drives|local drives]]

  * Look at [[brightfield|brightfield]] slides
  * Look at [[fluo|fluorescent]] slides
  * look at [[z-stack|z-stacked]] slides

Because PMA.start also includes a [[tile_server|local tile server]], you can use the software for automation, too.

For more use cases, we invite to keep an eye out for [[https://realdata.pathomation.com|our RealData blog]], where we regularly post technical background articles and provide sample code for various programming languages, including Python, PHP, and Java.