In this blog, our Principal Consultant Geoff Alder has been following the new Autodesk features in AutoCAD for many years here at Symetri. With the release of AutoCAD 2026, the focus is on refining the learning experience through AutoCAD Foundations, enhancing collaboration with Connected Support Files, and improving tools like Activity Insights, Markup Import, and Markup Assist. The update also brings advancements to Smart Blocks including Search and Convert and Detect and Convert. Notably, AutoCAD 2026 introduces a new Layer option for CENTRELINE and CENTREMARK..
As a technical trainer of AutoCAD, I see many questions in our training, mostly as new users are getting to understand AutoCAD.
Now that we have AutoCAD Foundation new users have the opportunity to look at features in a conceptual manner and then within our training expand that workflow. This dynamic allows learner to think and devise workflows that suit their processes.
The movement to collaboration is becoming more and more respected in AutoCAD, particularly when held as an Autodesk Docs project.
Connected Support Files allow dependent data like Templates, Text Fonts, and Plot Styles etc.
If you are moving to project aware support files with the project stored on Autodesk Docs. Go into Options> Files and you see the setup icon ready to set up the connected Support on Autodesk Docs.
Over the last few versions of AutoCAD certainly on 2024 and 2025 I have seen development on Activity insights. I have been including this feature in my training and many learners are seeing that collaboration is extremely important in a technical drawing workflow.
The What’s Changed Insight is bound to the drawing not the user so that all in the collaboration will see the progressive insights.
For me, I see a lot of revision and change in the drawing monitored with the new search and filter features. It is very quick to see activity filtered by user, time, and activity.
I have demonstrated markup in AutoCAD 2024 and 2025 version on release and see a really good progressive improvement in each subsequent version. Now we have AutoCAD 2026 that improvement continues. One feature being that collaboration through markups from Autodesk Docs to AutoCAD much easier for viewing drafting changes.
A particular change I have found fits a concise workflow is that Markup Assist can now recognise markups on a PDF that were not created in Autodesk Docs. Additionally, to that we can now view markups published on a pdf Autodesk Docs in AutoCAD.
In my previous demonstrations as with Activity Insights I have looked at Smart Blocks. This is also something I have made a point of including in my training sessions.
BCONVERT finds all instances of the same geometry in the drawing that can be converted to a block. This command now allows text recognition and conversion to block attributes.
The convert to block dialogue you see the preview thumbnail and selected text variation
Specifying attributes by selecting the Define attribute tab.
It is now much easier to Detect and Convert.
Now with the detect Pallet shows the detected sets
In AutoCAD 2026 Block detect and convert we have the option to edit and change the primary instance.
I have looked at much more on the subject of Smart blocks and in my training, I see that learners are taking this process into their principle workflows as they edit existing CAD drawings and clean up the blocks and Cut and Paste processes from old drawings. This is proving to streamline the drawing process and lead to much better efficiency.
Recently working with Engineers the option to set the layer on which centre lines are placed has assisted their general workflow. This shows up with the dropdown below the Centre mark and Centreline panel on the annotation ribbon.
As I mentioned, I spend a lot of time training new and existing users in AutoCAD, focusing on collaboration and monitoring drawing progression is more important now than at any time in the past. I do believe that the tools we see in our evolving AutoCAD support collaboration much more than a few versions back.
I’ve closely followed the development of features like Activity Insights, Markups, Traces, and now Smart Blocks. Rather than presenting these simply as optional new tools, I incorporate them into training as integral components of a comprehensive AutoCAD workflow. With the release of AutoCAD 2026, intelligent and collaborative tools are no longer add-ons, they’re becoming essential elements across many disciplines using the platform.
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