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AutoCAD 2025 introduces a fresh look at the tools and features that design professionals need. The latest update focuses on increasing productivity, improving collaboration between users and introducing innovative features such as advanced activity tracking and PDF integration.
Track the evolution of drawings and compare drawing history with Activity Observations, a palette that records activities and allows them to be filtered by activity type, user and date.
The Activity Observations feature, introduced in AutoCAD 2024, now records more activity types and provides detailed information in the new Activity Properties panel.
In the example below, details of the number and types of objects removed in the selected activity Cleaned are visible.
The DWG history is now merged with the Activity Observations function. Therefore, when you save a file to a supported cloud storage provider, such as Autodesk Docs, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box or Dropbox, a new version of the file appears in the Activity Observations palette as a Version activity. Click the Compare button on the Version activity to view the differences between the current and previous versions.
Drawing activities can also be displayed without opening the file. On the Start tab, click the Recent button and select the drawing. Then click the vertical polygon and select View activity observations to see the activities associated with the drawing in an anchored palette.
An option to link PDF markup files from Autodesk Docs service to AutoCAD has now been added to the Markup Import capability, making it easier for drafters to review and make changes.
Create markups in a PDF file in Autodesk Docs service, then sync that PDF file to allow colleagues to view markups in the AutoCAD tracking workspace. The PDF markup file is permanently linked to the AutoCAD drawing, meaning that collaborators will see changes to the markup file in AutoCAD as they are added.
AutoCAD 2025 offers more smart block solutions to streamline the design process. In this version, you can easily transform multiple occurrences of selected geometry into blocks.
When you select geometry to transform, AutoCAD finds and highlights all occurrences of the same geometry. You can then choose to transform the selected geometry and the found occurrences into a block.
When transforming into an existing block, several options are available. You can select a block from the current drawing, a recently used block or similar blocks in the block library identified by the machine learning algorithm.
Note: Blocks suggested by machine learning are only available in AutoCAD.
Once you have selected an existing block definition, you can adjust the scale and rotation to determine how the selected block definition should replace the found occurrences.
Alternatively, you can convert the source object or selected occurrences into a new block. In the Convert dialog box, define the new block by specifying a block name and an insertion point. By default, the centre of the selected geometry is set as the insertion point.
The ability to quickly convert repeating geometry into blocks minimises redundancy in the design process and provides a wider range of options when organising drawings.
AutoCAD 2025 includes a feature in the Technology Preview version that uses machine learning to scan the drawing for objects that can be converted into blocks. What is Tech Preview?
When object detection is triggered, the geometry of the drawing is sent to AutoCAD’s machine learning service for recognition. Once the service has analysed the drawing, notifications will appear on the palette if any objects are detected that can be transformed into blocks. To further inspect and evaluate the identified occurrences, click the Check Objects button.
In review mode, the Detection toolbar is displayed at the top of the drawing window. This toolbar contains various options for navigating and managing detection results. Detection results are grouped into sets of similar objects. A set represents a group of similar detected objects that can be transformed into occurrences of a single block.
In each set, the root occurrence (surrounded by a blue box) acts as the block definition when transforming into a new block. Conversely, if you choose to transform into an existing block, the root occurrence is used to define the insertion and rotation scales.
When reviewing the detection, incorrect sets or occurrences can sometimes be spotted. In the example below, a similar object was not detected and included in the set. Such an error can be reported using the Detection toolbar. By reporting errors, you contribute to the overall performance and accuracy of this machine learning service.
The Hatch command now provides a convenient option to draw hatches without having to create envelope geometry beforehand.
You can now choose to create a filled shape or the option to hatch along a specific path using the polyline, circle or rectangle drawing options.
Five new Esri maps are available for assigning geographic location information to drawings.
You can now use five additional Esri map types to assign geographic location information to a drawing file.
To open the window, click the Insert tab > Location panel > Set Location > From Esri maps.
Alternatively, type PO£GEOGR in the command window and select Map.
You can now choose from five new Esri base map styles:
Updates to the trace function include an improved toolbar and editing of external links in drawing editing mode.
The Trace toolbar now indicates more clearly whether you are editing a trace (Trace) or a drawing (Trace).
In addition, the Settings drop-down menu can now be pinned so that it remains visible when you move the cursor away from it. You can also drag this drop-down menu to a new position, just like a palette.
When a trace is open, in drawing edit mode, the ODNEDIT command is now enabled, meaning that changes can be made to external links.
We have further improved the Markup Import and Markup Assistant tools, making it easier to transfer drawing changes from the markup file to the drawing. The following improvements have been made:
