Release notes

The plugin checks for updates on its own and installs them when you close AutoCAD — see Updates. The highlights below cover what's new in the current line.

Latest

• The V2 backfeed table now prints on paper by default. It replaces the prior table on the sheet and moves that table off paper in the same drawing transaction. Choose parked to opt out and keep the prior table printing.
• The PV4 backfeed table has a placement switch. Choose whether V2 prints on the sheet or stays off paper. Putting V2 on paper stages the prior table off paper in the same drawing transaction, so two backfeed tables cannot print together. Real session values populate V2 during planset verification instead of showing generator defaults.
• Wire tags are now fully automatic. A 3LD import places numbered tag bubbles as part of the drawing itself — each bubble copies its raceway's reviewed wire-schedule number verbatim, so there is no separate numbering step to run. This changes last release's behavior: the tag-numbering offer is no longer needed for generated output, and a read-only check runs after every import to confirm each drawn number matches the schedule exactly. Template-authored tags are suppressed only on generated equipment — block definitions keep their tags, and Herbert's manual drafting workflow (including hand-placed tags and E exemptions) is untouched.
• Reusing a drawing across jobs is now safe. LOAD_DT clears the previous job's 3LD content automatically before applying the new session — and tells you exactly what it removed, naming the prior session. Only plugin-placed 3LD content is touched: your manual drafting, parked library blocks, and the compile frame are preserved wherever they sit. No more stale single-line content from the last job surviving into a new permit set.
• Herbert's manual 3LD tools now ship in the box. Run DT_LOAD_3LD_TOOLS and the bundled toolkit (BEND3LD, STACK3LD, JUMP, CREATETAG, and the rest of his v11 set) loads verified byte-for-byte — no more hunting for the right LISP file or APPLOAD steps.
• Wire-tag numbers now come from the wire schedule. Tags placed by the managed 3LD import copy the schedule's own row numbers, so the bubble a drafter reads matches the schedule line an inspector reads. After an interactive 3LD import the plugin offers tag numbering as a non-blocking prompt — it never renumbers automatically unless you turn that on — and DT_TAGS3LD verifies schedule-stamped tags instead of overwriting them.
• Template publishes refuse contamination. MANAGE_TEMPLATE now inspects a template before publishing and refuses uploads that contain leftover session content — naming the exact frames, counts, and sample handles — so a contaminated template can't reach drafters.
• Wire tags renumber with the template author's own logic — now built in. The new DT_TAGS3LD command is a native port of Herbert's TAGS3LD auto-numbering, current to his v11 column-ordering fix, so drafters no longer load the LISP file by hand. It runs from the command line with no prompts and changes nothing unless you run it. An exact placement tie is reported loudly instead of silently guessed, and existing E exemption tags are preserved rather than renumbered.
• The session picker can show whether a design is 3LD-ready. When the feature is switched on for your build, session rows carry a 3LD readiness badge, focusing a session runs a quick background check, and a new Load + 3LD button loads the session and then imports the 3LD in one step. A likely refusal warns you first without blocking, and if the 3LD import fails the session itself stays loaded. If the readiness check can't complete or can't be trusted, the picker says Couldn't check 3LD — you can still load and never turns a bad answer into a verdict.
• The wire table no longer presents an unverified cache as current. When freshness cannot be proven — signed out, a failed fetch, or a changed design revision — the table fetches fresh data or visibly reports staleness instead of silently rendering cached rows as up to date.
• A step-by-step 3LD drafting tutorial with training clips is on the help site. The design-tool guide section now walks the full 3LD drafting procedure with eight short embedded videos.
• 3LD imports now report how they went. Each import records one outcome event — placed, refused (with the exact refusal codes), or error — so support can see which sessions worked without asking you to reconstruct it. A telemetry failure can never affect the import itself.
• 3LD label leaders now move when their old landing would collide. This is an intentional projection-output change: clear leaders keep their existing position, while crowded leaders try deterministic left, below-left, and above landings against foreign equipment and already-placed leader text. Legitimate finite linework no longer suppresses every candidate, and the clearance check now budgets AutoCAD's measured rendered text height. Stacked callouts keep at least 50 drawing units of clear spacing. If the frame is genuinely unmeasurable or has no collision-free landing, AutoCAD reports a warning and skips that callout instead of silently drawing an overlap.
• Wire-schedule and wire-tag numbering are cross-checked by a comparison harness. Release tooling now compares the wire schedule against TAGS3LD numbering on representative drawings; it changes no drawing output.
• 3LD placement can be pre-certified without opening AutoCAD. The new DT_3LD_PRECERT_HEADLESS command exercises the 3LD placement engine under AutoCAD's Core Console so a build can be checked before it reaches a drafter's machine. Note an honest telemetry change that comes with it: Core Console runs now keep their telemetry on the local machine unless reporting is explicitly opted in with DT_TELEMETRY_REMOTE=1 — regular desktop AutoCAD sessions are unchanged and report exactly as before.
• Aurora cleanup no longer stops at a locked layer. When LOAD_AURORA_DXF replaces legacy cleanup geometry, it now preserves anything on a locked layer, reports what was preserved, and continues importing the rest of the design.
• Layout previews work even when another sheet is active. A requested layout is made current for validation and the engineer's original layout is restored afterward, preventing the eLayoutNotCurrent failure without leaving AutoCAD on a different sheet.
• Run drawing-quality checks before review. The new DT_QC_CHECK command opens a read-only results window for drafting-hygiene checks, including a junction-box quantity comparison between the drawing's equipment BOM and the loaded design. It reports findings and lets you copy the report; it does not change or block the drawing.
• Wire-tag numbering is now checked against the template author's own rules. The release harness runs Herbert's TAGS3LD logic against representative Learning Lab drawings and verifies the results with an independent numbering check, reducing the chance that a template or tooling change silently alters tag order.
• 3LD layout-wire risers now fan at exactly 22.109 inches per conductor. Regenerated drawings can differ from earlier output by design: the wider, even riser spacing follows Herbert's own wire-unit rule and refuses a too-narrow route instead of silently crowding conductors.
• The next template's DC disconnect can be merged through a repeatable checked process. Template-maintenance tooling now imports DC_DISCO_2_STRING, applies the required attribute grammar, and proves that no existing block definition changed. This release ships the tooling and verification record, not a replacement production template.
• 3LD placement troubleshooting now points to the layer that actually owns a spacing problem. The placement-engine review documents how to distinguish projection-input mistakes from a template anchor defect, so corrections land in the design data or template instead of adding a compensating plugin offset.
• You always know whether a 3LD review verdict reached us. Submitting a verdict now answers plainly: LANDED, naming the card and the receipt we recorded it under, or NOT SUBMITTED, naming the card and why it failed. Both appear on the review palette and on the AutoCAD command line, so the answer is there even if the palette is hidden behind another window.
• A verdict that fails to send is saved, not lost. If a submission fails before your review is packaged up, your verdict, check answers, and notes are written to this machine instead of vanishing with the drawing. The card is flagged Saved review found, reopening it puts your answers back, and the next time you start a review the plugin tells you how many verdicts still have not reached us. If nothing could be saved, it says so in as many words — it will never tell you work is safe when it is not.
• Captured corrections say where they actually are. After you capture a correction, the panel states that it is saved on your machine only and reaches us when you record a Needs-correction verdict on that card — no more assuming someone has already collected it.
• Export your permit set to PDF. The new DT_PDF command publishes your sheets to a single multi-page PDF, with each sheet at its own scale and page setup — never scaled to fit, so site plans stay AHJ-ready.
• 3LD import is on by default. DT_3LD_IMPORT and the 3LD sheet tools are now available without an admin turning them on; the Enable 3LD beta checkbox in MANAGE_TEMPLATE becomes a way to hide them if you need to.
• Aurora imports get the right layer colors. LOAD_AURORA_DXF now sets the fire-pathways layer to red after import, matching the drawing standard so fire-access geometry renders correctly.
• Calculation tables self-heal. LOAD_DT repairs the power-system calc-table formulas in place and re-evaluates fields right after stamping, so labels and callouts show correct kilowatt values immediately.
• Search your project photos. The Photos palette now has a search box and subtype chips, scoped to the current drawing's project.

How to read this page

Every plugin message starts with the command name in brackets, and the update prompt inside AutoCAD always tells you which version you're on. For the exact build you're running, check the version in the update prompt or ask your lead.