About Upgrading Models

When you upgrade InfraWorks to a more recent release version, you must also upgrade any existing InfraWorks models before you can use them.

As a best practice, we strongly recommend creating a local copy of your InfraWorks models before upgrading them to a newer release version, so as to preserve a backup. See To duplicate a model.

What happens to my models when I upgrade InfraWorks?

Models in need of upgrade will display an upgrade alert icon. Once a model is upgraded to the latest release of InfraWorks you cannot open that model in previous versions of InfraWorks.

Note: Depending on the status of a model, your upgrade experience may vary slightly. Refer to the tables below for more information.

What happens during model upgrade?

InfraWorks upgrades the model schema when you upgrade a model to the most recent release.

Starting with the InfraWorks 2019 release, all existing InfraWorks models will also be subject to a mandatory road and bridge upgrade when upgraded to the most recent release version. All design roads will be converted to component roads; design road style tracks will be matched to components in the component road assembly. Design bridges within design roads will also be upgraded.

Note: Component roads offer the full range of design road capabilities, such as Traffic and Mobility Simulation, Profile and Corridor Optimization, and Sight Distance Analysis, in addition to enhanced vertical and horizontal road editing capabilities provided by component roads.

Workflow for upgrading cloud shared models

When upgrading to a new release of InfraWorks, administrators for the Autodesk Docs project must upgrade any cloud shared models to the current release before team members in the project can synchronize their local changes.

Project administrators upgrade InfraWorks and open/upgrade cloud shared models in the application.
Project administrators sync the upgraded cloud shared models to Autodesk Docs.
Team members upgrade InfraWorks and open/upgrade locally-cached cloud shared models.
Team members make changes to the cloud shared model and sync to Autodesk Docs.

When do I publish my model to Autodesk Docs?

You can publish a model to the Autodesk Docs project folder of your choosing once model upgrade is complete.

Upgrade local models

If the model is locally stored on your machine, the model will automatically be upgraded to the new database schema when you open it.

Model Status	Icon	Description	Upgrade Options
Local		Local models are stored on your local system or a mapped network drive, but are not associated with an Autodesk Docs account. You can share the .SQLITE model file and associated model resource folders directly with others to collaborate on this model offline.	This model type can only be upgraded as a local model. If you want to collaborate on this model in the cloud, publish it to a Autodesk Docs project folder. Note: This requires an Autodesk Docs account and access to an Autodesk Docs project.

Upgrade cloud models

Model Status	Description	Upgrade Options
Existing cloud model	Existing cloud models are models that were created and published to the cloud in previous versions of InfraWorks. These existing cloud models can be downloaded and opened as a local model, or uploaded to an Autodesk Docs project.	Clicking an existing cloud model tile from InfraWorks Home will prompt you to choose whether to upgrade a local copy of the model for use in the latest release of InfraWorks, or to upgrade the model and publish it to Autodesk Docs for cloud collaboration.
Locked	Locked models are cloud models that can be opened and viewed in your local instance of InfraWorks, but cannot be edited or synced. A model is given locked status by the Autodesk Docs project administrator.	Clicking a locked model tile from InfraWorks Home will open it in the InfraWorks desktop environment. You cannot sync a locked model to an Autodesk Docs project until a project administrator changes your access permissions for this model.
View only	This model has been uploaded to an Autodesk Docs project folder and was defined by an administrator as a view only model. Until a project administrator changes your access permissions for this model, it cannot be opened in the InfraWorks desktop environment.	Clicking a view only model tile in InfraWorks Home will open the model in the Autodesk Viewer.
Read only	This model has been uploaded to an Autodesk Docs project folder and was defined by an administrator as a view and download only model.	Clicking a Read Only model will open it in InfraWorks desktop. However, this model cannot be synced back to the Autodesk Docs project until a project administrator changes your access permissions for this model.
Cloud only	Cloud only models have been uploaded to an Autodesk Docs project folder that you have access to. However, they have not been opened on your local instance of InfraWorks. Cloud only models are not cached locally.	Clicking a cloud only model tile in InfraWorks will open the model in the InfraWorks desktop environment. The model is cached locally to improve performance.
Cloud shared	Cloud shared models have been uploaded to an Autodesk Docs project. Tip: Hover over to view the location of the cache for this cloud model.	Clicking a cloud-shared model tile will open the model in the InfraWorks desktop environment. Once opened in InfraWorks, the model is cached locally to improve performance. If you have the necessary access rights, you can edit the cloud shared model then sync your changes back to the Autodesk Docs project for other members of the project to download. If this is a cached cloud model, it will remain connected to the cloud, so you can continue syncing your changes when the cloud model is upgraded. If you want to work with a copy of the model in the new version of InfraWorks, you can choose to Upgrade a Copy, which creates a local copy of the model and disconnects it from any cloud model.