Introduction

Welcome to FLUID DESK Help. Help includes descriptions and instructions for all the features and functions in the software.

With FLUID DESK, you can easily create professional CAD drawings.

With DWG as its primary drawing file format, FLUID DESK provides compatibility and exchange capabilities with a wide range of graphics and construction software all over the world.

Release 2025 can read and write DWG files up to the latest version of this format (R2018). The same applies to DXF (Drawing eXchange Format) files, which store the drawing database contents unencrypted.

The Welcome section of the online help discusses:

• Accessing the Help (includes typeface conventions)
• What’s New in This Release
• System Requirements

If you are not yet familiar with CAD, read these sections first:

• The User Interface
• The User Interface
• The User Interface
• Getting Started

Accessing the Help

You can access help by:

• Clicking Help > Help.
• Clicking Help, or pressing F1 in a dialog box.
• Pressing F1 within a command sequence.
• Clicking Help, or pressing Command + ? in a dialog box.
• Pressing Command + ? within a command sequence.
• Hovering the pointer over an icon to display a tooltip.

Note: The application uses the help matching your MacOS primary language settings (System Preferences > Language & Region).

What’s New in This Release

Some of the new commands and features were introduced in service packs since the previous release and before the current major release.

User Interface:

• New Dark-style Icons

  Dark-style interface has now colored icons.

• Floating Windows

  Pull a drawing tab off the main application to create a separate floating window.

  • Display multiple drawings as floating windows, within the same session
  • Use an additional monitor to display floating windows
  • Copy and paste entities between open drawings
• Options dialog box. Improved search for specific options. A suggestion list with options which contains the sub-string that you enter appears as you type a term or a system variable name. Options display dynamically in the Options dialog box as you hover over search results.

• Exporting and Importing
  • ExportDGN. Exports the current drawing to MicroStation DGN drawing file format. You can specify how to handle drawing data during the export process. The export process converts DWG entities, such as geometric entities, layers, or line styles and color into the corresponding DGN levels, linetypes and colors based on a specified DGN mapping setup.
  • DGNMapping. Lets you create, modify, rename and delete user-defined DGN mapping setups.
• Precision Commands
  • DrawingUnits. Converts the measurement units used in the current drawing to other drawing units available in the application. Additionally, the command determines how entities are inserted and scaled into your drawing.
• Building Information Modeling (FLUIDDESK BIM)
  • BIMSplitDrawings. Lets you split the BIM drawing when it is too large to fit on a single sheet at a usable scale. The command divides the drawing into smaller parts and places each part on each sheet.
  • BIMGridLines. Lets you add grid lines to a BIM drawing.
  • BIMLevels. Lets you define levels in vertical views, such as elevations and sections.

New Features:

• AI Assistant. AI Assistant offers instant answers through a chat interface as an alternative to search methods.
• QR Codes. You can generate a QR code and URLs for accessing shared drawings.
  • CloudField. Places QR codes and links on your drawing.
• Link the Current verion, Latest version, Printed version. Download drawing or view-only link.
• Custom Blocks enhancements.
  • The Parameters palette displays all parameters and custom properties for the custom block definition.
  • CBTable command. Lets you define values for elements and properties within a CustomBlock using a Block properties table.
• Block Structure palette. All Blocks from a drawing, including nested Blocks are accessible from the Block Structure palette. At any time, you can insert Blocks into your drawing.

  From the Block Structure palette, you can:

  • Display the structure of the Blocks from the current drawing
  • Insert Blocks into the active drawing
  • Delete Blocks from the current drawing
  • Rename Blocks from the current drawing
  • Hide and display Blocks from the current drawing

  The following commands let you display and hide the palette:

• BlockStructure. Displays the Block Structure palette.
• HideBlockStructure. Hides the Block Structure palette.
• Visual Styles Manager palette. Visual styles let you control the appearance of entities in the drawing. Choosing a suitable visual style helps you visualize your drawing more clearly. The Visual Styles Manager palette displays all available visual styles. You can select a predefined visual style or define a new one. For each visual style you can display the properties.

  You can also change the visual styles in each view tile using view tile controls.

  Additionally, view tile controls let you change views and visual styles in the current view tile.

  The following commands let you display and hide the palette:

  • VisualStyles. Displays the Visual Styles Manager palette.
  • HideVisualStyles. Hides the Visual Styles Manager palette.
• View Tile Controls. View Tile Controls are displayed in the top-left corner of each view tile. Use the View Tile Controls to change the following:
  • ViewTile configuration
  • View. You can select standard and custom views
  • Visual style. You can select one of the available visual styles
• Table enhancements:
  • Table AutoFill option. You can automatically fill cells with custom data that follows a pattern or based on data in other cells.

    Additionally, you can define your own customized lists which you can use later to automatically fill adjacent table cells.

  • Table Breaks. A new grip point lets you split a table in two or more secondary tables to create smaller tables that fit better on sheets. Additionally, you can continue to split the table further as long as there are multiple rows available. The option for splitting tables is available also in the Properties palette.
  • Auto Formula. Automatically calculates Sum, Average, or Count of the values in the above or left cells.
  • Insert Blocks in tables. Table cell can include multiple Blocks.
    • TInsert. Lets you insert a Block in a table cell.
    • ManageCellContent. Lets you manage the content of the selected cell. You can add or remove Blocks and change their order.
  • Match cell properties. The CellProperty command applies the properties of one table cell to specified cells in the same table or in different tables.
  • Repeat the last action. With a range of cells selected, use Ctrl + Y or F4 to repeat the last action.

Modified Features and Commands:

• Dynamic Blocks enhancements. You can convert Dynamic Blocks that have dimensional constraints parameters.
• QR code and Links for Fields. You can use in fields scannable QR codes and URLs for accessing shared drawings.
• Drawing Compare enhancement. New options let you manage differences between drawings:
  • Import and Import All. Import entities that are missing into the main drawing.
  • Remove and Remove All. Removes all entities that are missing into the main drawing.
  • Restore. Restore the state before the current modification.
• ClipReference command enhancement. You can change the shape or resize clipping boundaries using specific grip points. A special grip point on the boundary lets you invert the clipping.
• Dimension Styles
  • The Edit Dimension Style dialog box has now tabs.
• Note command enhancements. You can create multiple columns in multiline text.
• Scale command enhancements. The Copy option lets you create scaled copies of the specified entities.
• CSIcon command enhancements. The Properties option displays a dialog box where you can modify the style, size, and color of the coordinate system icon. You can specify different colors for the Model space and for the Paper space.
• Flatten command enhancements.
  • The Statistics option automatically counts how many entities of a particular type have been modified during the flattening process.
  • The Plane option lets you specify whether to project the specified 3D entities onto the current viewing plan, or on the XY-plan of the current coordinate system.
• Building Information Modeling (FLUIDDESK BIM)
  • The application supports BIM models with multiple buildings
    • Import BIM models containing more than one buildings
    • Drawing creation. When automatically creating BIM drawings, buildings are processed separately. In the BIM Navigator, drawings are grouped according to the building. The building name appears on the drawing.
  • Stairs are represented in BIM drawings.
  • Improved BIMAutoLabel command. The command places labels without overlapping. Additionally, when necessary, leaders are automatically created.
  • BIMSection command enhancements.
    • The Detail option lets you create detail views for existing plan views and section drawings.
    • The Building option lets you create drawings for only one building from a multiple building model.

System Requirements

The use of the application on a virtual machine is not supported.