The Trace feature is leveling up in this new version of AutoCAD with the addition of markup import and markup assist. These new features improve collaboration by allowing users to easily import feedback from paper and PDFs as a trace layer.

Markup import allows users to import paper feedback by simply using AutoCAD’s mobile app — taking a quick snapshot of written annotations and selecting what they would like to become a trace layer. PDF files can be imported directly. The imported annotations become a trace layer and allow users to adjust their opacity to work with feedback overlaid.

Markup assist makes adding changes and annotations to your design easier by recognizing written feedback and allowing users to insert it into a drawing as text with just a few simple clicks.

If you haven’t already taken the time to make your life a little easier by building personalized macros in AutoCAD, Autodesk is about to do it for you. AutoCAD 2023 is improving the My Insights feature and using its machine learning capabilities to detect when a user is completing repetitive tasks and unintrusively suggest a macro to make it a little easier. The example given in AutoCAD’s release notes is a simple “copy rotate previous” command in the context of setting chairs around restaurant tables.

Autodesk says there’s a long list of curated macros and that the list will continue to grow over time, but users won’t be overwhelmed and presented with all of them at once. Instead, users will only be shown macros relevant to the way they use AutoCAD — such as those that would streamline common tasks they perform — and can easily save them to a list or the ribbon where they can be quickly activated when needed.

Autodesk’s online DWG editor, AutoCAD Web, now supports LISP routines. Users can set LISP routines to run at startup, load routines to the drawing, or rename and download LISP files. Just as in AutoCAD desktop, LISP routines can be run from the command line in AutoCAD Web.

It’s nice to see the AutoCAD web app getting some love in this update. The cloud-based DWG program is also free to use for non-AutoCAD users, though it’s unclear if that will end. For the time being, it means free users now have access to LISP routines, too.

The Count feature has been updated to add selective functionality, both in terms of what is being counted and how users interact with counted objects. Users can now create custom regions for the count feature or select a pre-existing boundary object for it to execute within.

After being counted, users can easily select all of a particular counted object to easily implement any adjustments it may need. This functionality extends to count tables, allowing users to select all of a counted object even after the dialogue has been closed.

Finally, text and hatches are now supported by Count, with the feature differentiating between text and hatches despite shared geometries.

A bit of a footnote, but a change that will come as a relief to some users. Autodesk says that from AutoCAD 2023 any active window will have its own command line. This change addresses a frequent user request for the command line in floating windows.