What's New in AutoCAD MEP 2026 Toolset

Learn about new features in this release of AutoCAD MEP 2026 toolset. For technical details, see the release notes.

Highlights

Quality improvements

Occasional Crash Fixes: This release addresses and resolves occasional program crashes or freezes that occurred while working in the following workflows:
  • Using Content Browser search functionality
  • Working with inaccessible paths in Project Navigator
  • Repathing a project

Mass Element: Grip points now correctly stretch along the grip point.

Project Navigator: Text now remains intact when navigating through the dialog box.

IFC Import: Truncated file paths now successfully import.

IFC Export: Consecutive exports now maintain the correct IFC structure. System errors during some IFC exports are also fixed.

Duct Fitting: The DW144 Rectangular Duct Square Elbow Flanged duct fitting now correctly inserts.

Plumbing Line: Creating a plumbing line with an offset now works correctly.

Additional enhancements

GDI Plot Enhancement: We improved compatibility with Windows system printers, handling custom configuration settings more effectively. This enhancement is enabled by default. Plot using your preferred Windows system printer as usual. The printer's custom settings will be used during printing and saved to a .PC3 file.

GPU Text: The selection effect of GPU text has been enhanced to improve display quality. A new option in the Graphics Performance dialog box provides better control over the display of TrueType fonts while using GPU acceleration. GPU text processing has been optimized for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and right-to-left languages like Arabic and Hebrew.

Note: GPU text optimization for TrueType fonts is available in DirectX 12 Advanced Mode only. Use the GRAPHICSCONFIG command to verify your device.

Changes to the FASTSHADEDMODE System Variable: We added two new visual styles with FASTSHADEDMODE support, Hidden and Conceptual. FASTSHADEMODE improves navigation performance in large 3D models when using a visual style with (Fast) in the name.

Performance Improvements: Raster images now load asynchronously in the background during the opening of a drawing file.