2021
Release Notes

This document contains release information about the IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2021 Release including installation notes and any other key information for running/installing. The IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite (DCS) installs the following products: IRONCAD, INOVATE, IRONCAD DRAFT, IRONCAD COMPOSE, and the Native Translators.

New Feature Information not included in this document can be found in the New Feature Documentation located by clicking on "Technical Updates" in the News section of the IronCAD Blog (https://www.ironcad.com/blog/).


Installation Instructions for the IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2021 Release
Windows 7\8\10 for 64-bit OS

The following are installation instructions for the IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2021 Release using the full installation package. Please read these instructions prior to installing.

**** WARNING ****
IronCAD DCS 2021 saved files can not be opened with any earlier versions of IRONCAD/INOVATE/IRONCAD DRAFT/IRONCAD COMPOSE.
Previous version files can be opened and saved in this version.
Once saved in 2021, files can no longer open in the earlier versions.

If you have IRONCAD/INOVATE 2020 or any prior versions Installed:

Note: The IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2021 products support Side-by-Side application (SxS) support which allows it to install and run alongside an existing version of IRONCAD/INOVATE/IRONCAD DRAFT/IRONCAD COMPOSE. Therefore it is not necessary for you to uninstall existing products prior to installing 2021. If you plan to uninstall previous versions, please refer to the following instructions:

  1. Uninstall the IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite and any related Product Updates, Hotfixes, or Add-ons (For Example: Native translators, IronPro, CAXA Common Components, etc) manually through the Add\Remove Programs or by running the Uninstall program under the Start-IronCAD 2020 folder in Windows.
  2. Run the downloaded installation.
  3. When Prompted, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
  4. Note: You will need to Register/Activate the purchased Product unless it is a trial version or new purchased Product using a USB Dongle (USB Dongle Licenses are pre-activated and only require the hardware key to be plugged into the local machine). For Network Licenses, please refer to https://www.ironcad.com/licensing-and-activation/server-installations/ for details. 
    • For Named User Licenses - Run the License Management Tool under Start-Programs-IronCAD-2021 and follow the on-screen instructions or click on Activation a Software License to being the activation process (Serial Number and Codeword will be required which can be downloaded from https://www.ironcad.com/index.php/support/license-request) or is included in your packaging.
    • For Existing Dongle User Licenses - Go to Start-Programs-IronCAD-2021-License Management Tool(make sure your dongle is connected to the computer when running this application), Select on Manage Dongle Licenses and Select Next. In the resulting Window, Select Update to update your licenses to 2021.
    • Run IRONCAD/INOVATE/IRONCAD DRAFT/IRONCAD COMPOSE 2021.

IRONCAD DRAFT Disclaimer

IRONCAD DRAFT is built on the combination of IRONCAD 3D and CAXA 2D technologies (CAXA DRAFT).

IRONCAD API Development Support

Please note that with our 2021 release, our development environment is Microsoft Visual Studio 2015. We recommend that you plan to use Visual Studio 2015 for any Add-in or Localization work with our 2021 release products. If you have API related questions or need help getting started, email apisupport@ironcad.com.

Running IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite on Windows XP

IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite Products will not run or support Windows XP based on the Microsoft End of Support Status (April 2014 was the final support for XP).

Running IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite on Windows 7

IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite Products will currently run on Windows 7. Based on the Microsoft End of Support Status (January 2020 was the final support for 7), future versions of IronCAD may not be supported. PLease make adjustments for future releases.  

Instructions for silent install of IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite

Users are able to install the latest IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2021 setup without a user interface. For instructions, review the Silent Install PDF located at: https://www.ironcad.com/support/readme/2021/SilentInstall_IC2021.pdf.