What's New in AutoCAD Electrical 2026 Toolset

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

Highlights

Update Wire Number Annotations in Panel Footprints

Update wire number annotations in panel footprints, including terminal blocks, along with project-wide or drawing-wide wire number updates.

Enhanced Cable Marker Library with Gauge Information

Display gauge information for the cable markers along with the wire color or ID.

Activity Insights

The new What's Changed insight provides an overview of edits made between Saved activities, allowing you to efficiently continue your work.

Connected Support Files

Support files are now connected, which means that all drawings and collaborators in an Autodesk Docs project can share one set of support files.

Markup Import & Markup Assist

Improvements were made to Markup Import and Markup Assist, namely when importing markups from Autodesk Docs to AutoCAD, making it easier for drafters to incorporate revisions.

Smart Blocks: Search and Convert

In addition to identical blocks, this feature now finds text variations to further streamline repetitive tasks in AutoCAD.

Smart Blocks: Detect and Convert

In this release, Detect has improved detection capability, as well as the option to change and edit the primary instance.

Added Layer Option to CENTERLINE and CENTERMARK

In this release, we integrated the CENTERLAYER system variable into the workflows of creating new centerlines and center marks.

More features

Manufacturer Catalog Content

New manufacturer catalog content are available in the AutoCAD Electrical 2026 toolset.

Quality improvements

Source/Destination Arrows

The SHEET number in source/destination arrows no longer repeats when %S is configured in the cross-reference settings, as %N overrides the settings.
AEUPDATESIGREF now behaves consistently across all types of updates, including project-wide, drawing-wide, and pick.
Copying a destination arrow and choosing the source signal code from recent, drawing, or project buttons now work as expected.
The prompt for wire layer mismatch no longer displays when editing a source arrow symbol and changing to a new source signal code.
The files required for customizing the source/destination arrows have been restored. The updated steps are now available in Help.

Catalog Update

Multiple catalog values can now be seamlessly pushed between schematic, panel, and one-line components using TEXTVALUE.
AEUPDFROMCAT now updates the TEXTVALUE for footprints similar to schematic components.
TEXTVALUE information for custom attributes is now correctly imported on footprints when assigning catalog information to the footprints using catalog lookup.

Terminal Strip Editor: Editing an accessory and switching to another catalog item in the Terminal Strip Editor now works as expected.

Project Manager

Copying a project automatically renames the folder to match the project name.
The root of a drive (for example, D:\) can now be selected as the new project location when copying a project.

Reports

The Tallied Purchase List Format displays the correct item number for multiple catalog items with Assembly Code when Per-Part Number Basis is selected in Project properties.
BOM report generation now works if a SET file has an unsupported index value of 0 to indicate the first column as a sorting option.
The quantity of terminal blocks with multiple catalog items and jumpers is now shown correctly in BOM report.
The column labels (data field names) now match the column content (data) when creating a Drawing List report with a report format file based on the project Title block as the source for data fields.

Cross-reference: Cross-references now recognize and display reference numbers greater than 100 in the Surf dialog box for X-Y grid or X Zone format referencing styles.

General

AutoCAD Electrical no longer crashes in the Turkish locale.
The shortcut menu now displays in the correct location for DPI settings other than 100%.

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.

Installer: AutoCAD Electrical 2026 toolset offers a faster and more reliable installation and deployment experience.