mobile app

AutoCAD WS 1.1 – Available Now on the App Store

Two months after the original release, Autodesk is proud to announce the release of the latest version of the mobile app – AutoCAD WS 1.1

Download the latest version of AutoCAD WS from the App Store now.

Changes to the app were inspired by feedback  from people who started using the app in their professional lives to make AutoCAD WS a truly mobile experience.

The user interface has been upgraded to make it even more intuitive. Two key features have been added to help you work with your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, wherever you find yourselves.

  • Upload from Email
  • Offline Support

Upload from Email

You can now open drawings that you receive as email attachments directly into AutoCAD WS. Simply tap on the attachment and the app will open automatically. At the same time, the drawing will be uploaded to your online account and saved to your mobile device so that you can access it offline. You can download it as a DWG file

Offline Support

AutoCAD WS now lets you sync your online files with your mobile device allowing you to view and edit your drawings even when you’re not connected to the internet. Any changes you make when you are offline can be uploaded back to your account when you reconnect. Now you can take your drawings with you whether you’re at the office or a construction site.

Tutorial

You can read a tutorial with a detailed explanation of the new features here.

Start working today with the new version of AutoCAD WS and let us know what you think of the new features by writing to us at feedback@autocadws.com.

Designing Our Own Dog Food

If you’ve been following us on Twitter and paying attention to our Facebook page, you might have noticed that we have recently moved offices. The AutoCAD WS team has been steadily growing and it was time to find somewhere that would allow us to work more comfortably to provide the functionality you need.

Designing a new workspace is never easy, but the process ran much more smoothly as a result of the tools we were using.

Planning Stage

The plans for the office were designed using Revit and AutoCAD. Our team used AutoCAD WS to review the plans online and to share feedback with the architects and consultants.

The drawings were shared among five different groups of users and their additions and markups were captured and uploaded to AutoCAD WS. We used the Meeting Summary functionality in AutoCAD WS to remove the need to taking additional notes in each meeting.

It was very useful being able to update the drawings without have to resend them every time via email. In the final stages there were updates every day and around 10 different people need to be kept in the loop. We managed those vital last changes it without having to save the drawing as a PDF, give it a distinct name and email it to a group of people each time.

Here’s the link to the final plan. Just click on it to open AutoCAD WS in your browser: https://www.autocadws.com/main/publish?link=J_E4xsnj9H7i0bY

Towards the end of the planning stages we were already using the Beta version of the iPhone/iPad app. It really made a difference to meetings.

Construction Stage

Once work began turning the plans into reality we were able to use the iPad app to monitor progress on site. The iPad became an essential tool in the construction of the new workspace. Much easier to use and more handy than holding plans flat on a table with a sandwich box and a flask of coffee at each corner.

We had no problems convincing workers to view the drawings using the iPad. They were able to use it intuitively to take measurements and markups the drawings.

Once the AutoCAD WS app was generally available, our carpenter and electrician downloaded it from the iTunes store and we were able to share the drawings with them too.

Moving In

Thanks to everyone’s hard work we were able to move in on schedule. Have a look at out new offices. You can click on each picture to see a larger version.

What We Learned

In taking our product out into the real world, we encountered some of the same issues that you have been telling us about. That’s why we’ve been working so hard to get the next release ready. For example, we definitely missed out on not being able to view our drawings offline. We discovered that not every construction site  has internet access and we had to ask our new neighbors to borrow their wi-fi more than once (thanks again to the guys at SiSense!).

We were able to manage without support for 3D objects but it might have been useful. Also we missed the area dimension tool.

Another thing we learned was how non-Mac users were able to start working with AutoCAD WS on the iPad easily and intuitively. I think in the years ahead it will continue to be an important professional tool both in and out of the office.

AutoCAD WS Plugin for AutoCAD 2010

We are delighted to announce the release of the AutoCAD WS Plugin for AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD LT 2010  and all AutoCAD verticals.  Download it for FREE now by clicking here.

Since the launch of the plugin for AutoCAD 2011, it has been downloaded tens of thousands of times enabling users to upload their drawings and share them online directly from AutoCAD.

The plugin also lets you share content from your desktop with your iPhone and iPad when you install the free app from the iTunes store.

Don’t forget to read this post from yesterday to learn more about using the plugin with AutoCAD verticals like:

  • AutoCAD Architecture
  • AutoCAD Mechanical
  • AutoCAD Civil 3D
  • AutoCAD Map 3D

Once you have installed the plugin, we want to hear how you use it in your working life. Are you more interested in the ability to store your work online or are you looking forward to new kinds of collaboration with colleagues and clients. Put your stories in the comments or write to us at feedback@autocadws.com. We will include the best stories in a future post.

AutoCAD WS – Around The World

We love seeing the reaction from around the world to AutoCAD WS and to the iPhone and iPad apps. We may not understand every word in every language, but we try our best to read every article and blog post. Here’s a round up of articles from around the world each adding something original to the release of AutoCAD WS.

Europe

France: You can read all about the launch in French here.

Germany: There have been a couple of write ups at Blogausraz both here and here. It looks like the author is paying attention and following the development of the product closely.

Netherlands: AutoCADExchange.com is the largest Dutch-speaking AutoCAD community. They produced a lengthy review of the AutoCAD WS Mobile app here.

Spain: The K-Tuin blog goes one step further than most reviews by posting a video review detailing some of the most important features of the app. You can read the blog here or watch the video in Spanish below.

For a text only review in Spanish, you won’t do much better than this blog from Ingeniería en la Red which provide in-depth analysis of the AutoCAD WS app for iPhone.

Italy: This personal blog of Giovanni Perego offers a great first look at AutoCAD WS in Italian.

Asia

Russia: There is a really neat summary of AutoCAD WS functionality in Russian here.

Japan: I’m not sure I understood every word of this article in Japanese, but it was great fun trying to work it out.

Republic of China (Taiwan): This review relies more on screenshots than text, but it does an effective job of describing the application.

Australasia

New Zealand: I found this great post about AutoCAD WS from Robin in Auckland.

South America

Chile: Back to Spanish for this article from Plataforma Arquitectura which covers the core functionality of AutoCAD WS.

Brazil: We seem to have a healthy cumber of users from Brazil as reflected by the mentions of the launch here, and here.

We try to keep track of everyone who’s is writing about AutoCAD WS as this is one of the best ways for us to be sure we are providing the widest possible community with the best possible product. so if you know of a review or a blog post from a country or in a language that we haven’t covered, let us know about it and we’ll feature it here at the AutoCAD WS blog.

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