AutoCAD (LT) 2026: New features and enhancements

News | March 26, 2025

The latest version of Autodesk AutoCAD (LT) 2026 is now available

With several powerful new features and performance improvements. Below is an overview of the most important updates.

AutoCAD Foundations

Want to learn AutoCAD or sharpen your skills? The AutoCAD Foundations learning series, available in English, guides you step-by-step through basic functionalities. Learn about creating and saving drawings, object creation, annotations, hatching, adding dimensions, working with blocks and plotting. Practical exercises help you apply your skills immediately.

Connected Support Files

In AutoCAD 2026, support files such as fonts, plot styles and templates are now automatically shared within an Autodesk Docs project. This reduces manual configurations and improves collaboration within teams. When opening a project drawing, AutoCAD automatically sets up the required support.

New in AutoCAD LT 2026:

• When creating new drawings, the latest project settings are automatically loaded, making templates easier to manage.
• Search and filtering features have become simpler and more intuitive for a better user experience.
• An improved search mode in the BSEARCH command now provides a clear review screen with found blocks and text variants including filter options.
• The search and detection functions have been greatly improved, with a new visual display of detected items and quick access via the ribbon menu.

Activity Insights

With “What’s Changed Insight,” you can instantly see what was changed between sessions. This feature clearly shows which objects were changed, commands used, time spent and file size changes. Search and filter functions have been improved for a faster workflow.

Markup Import & Markup Assist

Markups from Autodesk Docs can be imported more efficiently. Markup Assist now also recognizes text and annotations from external PDF files. In addition, revision issues from Autodesk Docs can be viewed directly in AutoCAD, greatly simplifying revision management.

Smart Blocks: Search & Convert

The “Smart Blocks” feature can now recognize and convert text variants, such as room numbers or labels, in addition to identical blocks to further automate repetitive tasks. This feature is easily accessible from the ribbon menu.

Smart Blocks: Detect & Convert

The Detect & Convert feature uses machine learning to recognize objects and text variants and convert them directly into blocks. This speeds up the process considerably. You can easily check and adjust results via an intuitive review mode.

CENTERLINE and CENTERMARK

CENTERLAYER, a new integrated system variable, can now be adjusted directly via the CENTERLINE and CENTERMARK commands.

Other improvements

• Improved compatibility with Windows system printers (iGDI Plot Enhancement).
• Improved text rendering with GPU acceleration, especially for Arabic and Korean (iGPU Text).
• Added two new visual styles to iFASTSHADEDMODE: Hidden and Conceptual.
• Grid images now load faster and asynchronously when opening drawings, improving performance.

Instant access to updates

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Free webinar: Discover the novelties in AutoCAD 2026

Curious about the new features? Register for ICN’s free webinar on April 14, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. and see the improvements in action live. This webinar is in Dutch!