It’s a new year and we are starting it off with some big new enhancements. Let’s dig in, starting with one of Onshape’s most highly requested features!

IN-CONTEXT DESIGN

This new functionality allows you to create and/or edit parts in the context of the assembly. Onshape’s approach to in-context design is more stable and more robust than that of a traditional file-based CAD system. Your design doesn’t break with every small movement of a part in your assembly, and you have the ability to update at any time.

NAMED POSITIONS

Named positions make it easy to capture the position of parts in your assembly and return to that position.

RECENTLY OPENED DOCUMENTS IMPROVEMENT

You can now remove Documents from your Recently Opened Documents list.

IMPORT IMPROVEMENTS

There is a new option when importing to allow parts with faulty geometry. Imported parts with faulty geometry will show as an error in the feature list and parts list. In the past, if the imported geometry had problems, you could not use it in Onshape.

SHADED DRAWING VIEWS

Shaded drawing views are now supported in Onshape Drawings. Right-click the drawing view and choose "Show shaded view.”

EDIT TABLE TOOLBAR IMPROVEMENTS

Editing tables has been made easier with a change to the edit table toolbar. Now the toolbars for editing cells and editing the table have been combined into one.

DRAWING VIEW IMPROVEMENTS

When you drag drawing views, dimensions and annotations will now move with the view. In the past, when dragging a view, the dimensions and annotations did not update until after you finished dragging.

ARC DIMENSION IMPROVEMENTS

Extension arcs will only be created on arc dimensions where it is not possible for the arrowhead to touch the geometry.

EXPORT DRAWING IMPROVEMENTS

When exporting a drawing to PDF, there is a new option to save the PDF with "Selectable" text. This makes the text in the PDF selectable and also searchable.

INSERT DIALOG IMPROVEMENTS

Labels now appear in the Insert dialog when browsing to other Documents.

LINKED DOCUMENTS IMPROVEMENT

If you link to a Document, then later move the tabs associated with that link to a different Document, you will now have an option to update the link to the new Document.

NX IMPORT

NX parts and assemblies can now be imported into an Onshape Document and translated. To import a part, just import the .prt file into a Document. To import an assembly, place all parts and the assembly in a zip file and import that into an Onshape Document. The zip file name must match the name of the top-level assembly.