What's New in AutoCAD Electrical 2021 Toolset

The following is an overview of the changes made to AutoCAD Electrical 2021 toolset.

AutoCAD Electrical 2021 toolset provides a set of enhancements based on customer feedback, surveys, and analytic data that prioritize our efforts. Several features modernize and streamline frequently used features across many customer disciplines. The drawing format for this release continues to be AutoCAD 2018. For developers, this is an API-breaking release.

Global Search in the Catalog

One of the top voted ideas in the AutoCAD Electrical Ideastation is now available in this release. With the Global Search functionality, the Catalog Browser can now search for catalog data across the tables.

In the Catalog Browser, click Global Search to search data in all the available tables.
The Catalog Global Search dialog box displays the results of the global search.
Note: Sub-assembly items, as defined by an ASSEMBLYLIST value, are included in the search results. The global search results are based from the CATALOG, MANUFACTURER, and ASSEMBLYCODE column records.

Additional Manufacturer Catalog Content

Manufacturer Catalog content that were released as updates in earlier versions, are now included in AutoCAD Electrical 2021 toolset installer. The content updates include the catalog data from Eaton and Siemens.

Additional Siemens PLC catalog information for S7-1500 PLC series is also included in AutoCAD Electrical 2021 toolset.

Icon Optimization

AutoCAD Electrical 2021 toolset has optimized the background colors with the icon colors to provide the optimum contrast without distraction from the drawing area, where you're usually focused.

Other Enhancements

  • Project Database Services

    Improved stability when working with the project database services.

  • Reports
    • LISP function for Bill of Material panel now creates a valid XML file in the German version.
    • Component reports now follow the Sort options in the report format (SET) file.
    • Improved stability when generating reports.
  • Project Setup

    When opening the project, the directory now follows the path specified by the WD_PICKPRJDLG variable in WD.ENV environment file.

  • Insert Component and Wires
    • The pin assignment of the circuit breaker parent now respects the correct number of child contacts in the drawing.
    • Improved stability of the fan-out workflow.
    • Wire import now brings the size and color properties of the wire.
  • Panel Components
    • Wire numbers that are inserted using Insert Terminal (Schematic List) are now displayed in the panel terminals.
    • More stability when inserting panel components.
  • PDF Publishing

    In the published PDFs, the hyperlinks with hexagonal arrow style now point to the correct references.

Note: AutoCAD Electrical 2021 toolset leverages most of the new features from AutoCAD. For more information, refer to the What's New in AutoCAD 2021 topic in Help.

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