​Scythebill downloads

The current version of Scythebill is 18.2.0 and you can download versions for Windows, MacOS and Linux, as well as a cross-platform version that'll work everywhere else.

You can also download publicly available extended taxonomies from the bottom of this page.

Download links

More detailed instructions are below, but if you know what you're doing, download the appropriate file for your operating system:
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Windows installer (If downloading with Microsoft Edge, see instructions below)
MacOS disk image (all Macs)
MacOS disk image (Apple silicon only - M1, M2, etc.)
Linux installer (64-bit)

The Scythebill manual is always available online, at http://manual.scythebill.com, but you can download a PDF as well if you'd prefer that.  (The latest such PDF is for version 18.1.)


Windows downloads

Windows installer

Instructions:
  1. Quit Scythebill, if it's running.
  2. Download the installer, and run it.  (In some browsers, like Firefox, you may need to find your Downloads directory, look for the installer .exe file that you just downloaded, then double-click the installer to run it.)
  3. Open "Launch Scythebill" inside the new Scythebill shortcut in the Start menu (or double-click on any existing .bsxm sightings file)
Scythebill is not currently "signed" - getting Windows apps properly signed today costs hundreds of dollars a year.  As a result, you'll likely have to jump through a few hoops to download.

On Microsoft Edge, you'll see a message that Scythebill isn't commonly downloaded.  Move your mouse over that message, and click the three-dot icon to its right ("More actions").  Select "Keep".  You'll get yet another warning! "Make sure you trust...".  Click "Show more", then "Keep anyway". 
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Many thanks to BitRock for making their installers freely available for open-source software.

MacOS downloads

MacOS disk image (all Macs)
MacOS disk image (Apple silicon only - M1, M2, etc.)

Instructions (MacOS 10.11 - El Capitan - or newer):
  1. Quit Scythebill, if it's running.
  2. Click the "MacOS disk image" link above, and open the .dmg file when it's done downloading .
  3. Open the now-available Scythebill 18.2.0 disk, and drag the Scythebill application from it into your Applications folder, overwriting the previous version of Scythebill if necessary.
  4. Open Scythebill (from your Applications folder)

If you're not sure whether your computer uses Apple silicon, use the first link. You can check, though, in "About this Mac" in the Apple menu - if the chip is "Apple M1" (or M2, etc.), then the Apple silicon version will be much faster.

Scythebill recommends MacOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or newer - which covers all versions of MacOS back to 2014. If you are still using MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite), you'll need to download from this alternate link (still 14.8.1), and also please consider upgrading your operating system;  even if you can't upgrade to the latest MacOS, you probably can upgrade to MacOS Mojave.

Linux downloads

Linux installer (64-bit) 

Instructions:
  1. Quit Scythebill, if it's running.
  2. Download the installer
  3. Open a terminal, and type:
    chmod u+x ~/Downloads/Scythebill-18.2.0-linux-x64-installer.run; ~/Downloads/Scythebill-18.2.0-linux-x64-installer.run
  4. Run Scythebill with ~/Scythebill/Scythebill.run

Scythebill no longer supports 32-bit Linux installations.

​Cross-platform JAR

Cross-platform JAR

You can use this file to run Scythebill on any operating system, but it requires a Java installation, and is missing many of the niceties of the native applications above.

It is possible to use this version to keep you going on 32-bit Windows or Linux - see the 32-bit Java 17 Java installations available from Azul.
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Instructions:
  1. Download the .zip file and unzip into a JAR file
  2. Install Java (Java 17)
  3. Open the JAR file (or run from a terminal with "java -jar scythebill-18.2.0.jar")

Extended taxonomies


Scythebill lets users define their own, custom taxonomies, and share them with other users.  Many of these have graciously been made available for others to download as well! All of the world taxonomies require at least Scythebill 15.8.
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If you've built an extended taxonomy, and would like to share it with other users, please let me know.  Do make sure that you've obtained permission from the author of the taxonomy. 

World

All of the world taxonomies require Scythebill 15.8.0 or later; update first.

North America

Europe

  • Odonates (Dragonflies and Damselflies) of Europe - courtesy of DragonflyPix, via Phil Tizzard
    Click to download (Last updated March 7, 2020
  • Butterflies of Europe - from Harry Rutherford
    This taxonomy requires Scythebill 15.5.0 or later; upgrade first.
    Click to download (Last updated May 3, 2024)
    (Replaces an earlier Butterflies of the UK taxonomy)
  • Plants of the United Kingdom - from Darren Galpin
    Click to download (Last updated March 21, 2019)
  • Moths of Britain and Ireland - from Harry Rutherford
    Click to download (Last updated May 22, 2025)
  • Bees of the United Kingdom - from Darren Galpin
    Click to download (Last updated February 26, 2019)
  • Arachnids of the United Kingdom - from Darren Galpin
    Click to download (Last updated February 26, 2019)
  • Hoverflies of the United Kingdom - from Darren Galpin
    Click to download (Last updated February 26, 2019)
  • Odonates (Dragonflies and Damselflies) of the United Kingdom - from Edward Paxton
    Click to download  (Last updated August 31, 2016)

Others