Introducing AutoCAD 2020: See What’s New

We’re thrilled to bring you AutoCAD 2020, packed with new features and enhancements to help you design, draft, and bring visions to life. With a subscription to AutoCAD including specialized toolsets, you’ll gain access to industry-specific specialized toolsets, flexibility with AutoCAD web and mobile apps, and the latest innovative features of AutoCAD 2020.

“We’re continuing to deliver unprecedented value to subscribers via a streamlined offering, new features, and award-winning web and mobile apps,” said Marcus O’Brien, director of AutoCAD product management. “With Autodesk’s cloud capabilities and new AutoCAD partnerships, users can collaborate and make anything, anywhere.”

Read on to learn about what’s new in AutoCAD 2020, available starting today.

New dark theme brings clarity

AutoCAD 2020 and all the specialized toolsets have a fresh new look! The dark theme now has a modern dark blue interface that’s easy on the eyes. The new dark theme is designed to work with recent contrast improvements and sharper icons.

“The interface is so crisp and clean. The automatic graphics configuration is incredible,” said Casey Skelton, Planning/CAD design manager at IMEDCO America.

Performance improvements speed up work

Our mission is for AutoCAD to continue to be the high-performing, high-fidelity, powerful engine you trust. With AutoCAD 2020:

• Each time you save your work now takes just half a second—one whole second faster on average. This could save you hours of time each year. (In just one year, all AutoCAD users would save 80 work years collectively!)
• In addition, install time is 50% faster for solid state hard drives.

Quickly display measurements at a glance

In AutoCAD 2020, measuring distances is faster than ever with the new Quick Measure tool, which measures 2D drawings simply by hovering your mouse. Dimensions, distances, and angles are dynamically displayed as you move your mouse over and between objects.

“I love this tool for designing purposes. Site plans, floor plans, elevations—I can see using this tool constantly,” said Sam Hernandez, residential designer at SHP Design and Drafting.

Insert blocks efficiently with Blocks palette

The new Blocks palette makes it easier to insert blocks with visual galleries and the ability to filter for the exact block you’re looking for. You can simply drag and drop blocks into the drawing from Current Drawing, Recent, or Other Drawing tabs. The palette increases efficiency for finding and inserting multiple blocks and recently used blocks—including the addition of a Repeat Placement option to save steps.

Easily clean drawings with redesigned Purge

The Purge feature has been redesigned for easier drawing cleanup. Remove multiple unneeded objects at once with easy selection and a visual preview area. Check out the Find Non-Purgeable Items button with a Possible Reasons section, to understand why certain items can’t be purged.

Compare drawing revisions in one window

A favorite from last year’s release, the DWG Compare feature has been enhanced based on your feedback. You can now compare two versions of a drawing without leaving your current window and import desired changes into the current drawing in real time. Quickly toggle on and off the comparison with the new DWG Compare toolbar.

“The enhancements made are very helpful and make the Compare function a much clearer, easier to understand, and more useful tool when collaborating and comparing drawings that may have been updated by someone else. The insert and export to snapshot will be extremely useful,” said Richard Hawley, consultant project manager.

AutoCAD partners with Microsoft and Box

AutoCAD is partnering with Microsoft and Box, so as of today, if you already store your files in Microsoft OneDrive or Box, you’ll have streamlined workflows and can take advantage of anytime access to any DWG file with AutoCAD.

Boost productivity with Microsoft and Box integrations for AutoCAD

Partnering with Microsoft and Box paves the way for smooth and efficient workflows to achieve greater productivity. Your work can be done online in AutoCAD and stored directly in the cloud. Now, you can quickly open any DWG file stored in Microsoft OneDrive and Box with the AutoCAD web app, at the push of a button. The AutoCAD web app runs in the web browser on virtually any computer, so you don’t even need AutoCAD installed on your machine to be able to open, review, and edit your drawings.

“In today’s fast paced business environment, our customers want to accelerate business processes and power workplace collaboration, while working with a flexible, best-of-breed enterprise IT stack,” said Jeetu Patel, chief product officer at Box. “We’re excited that our customers can easily access their DWG files stored in Box directly in the AutoCAD web app to get their work done anytime, anywhere.”

The integrations speed up getting into your files, as well as cut down collaboration time by allowing you to view and edit drawings in real time. You can save your updated files to OneDrive and Box without ever leaving the AutoCAD web app, letting you work without disruption.

Partnering with Microsoft and Box also provides flexibility. For example, if you have DWG files stored in Autodesk’s cloud, you can open them, with their Xrefs, on any device with AutoCAD desktop, web, and mobile apps. The same is true if your DWG files are stored in Microsoft OneDrive, and Box, although Xrefs aren’t packaged. With cloud capabilities, you can store your files where you like and conveniently access them in AutoCAD from the office, the jobsite, and on the go.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Autodesk, a leader in the CAD industry, to give our customers more power and flexibility in their workflow,” said Mike Ammerlaan, director of Microsoft 365 Ecosystem at Microsoft. “Our customers will be able to design and make anything, as they can now open their DWG files stored in OneDrive and SharePoint with AutoCAD on desktop and the AutoCAD web and mobile apps.”

The integrations are now available for all AutoCAD subscribers using Microsoft, Box, and Dropbox. Learn more about the AutoCADwebapp.

Download AutoCAD 2020 Today

Ready to explore these exciting new features? The innovations mentioned above are not only available with AutoCAD 2020, but also with AutoCAD LT 2020. If you’re on a Subscription or Maintenance plan, head over to your AutodeskAccount and download the latest release today. If not, download a 30-day free trial of AutoCAD2020 or AutoCADLT2020 to get started.