by Garry Stockton
Autodesk has recently launched Navisworks Manage 2025, it lands with features and enhancements geared towards improved efficiency in model coordination.
The first noticeable change is the Homepage; you get instant access to projects that have previously been open. The user experience has overall improved by focusing on the most commonly used requirements with easier access to content.
The Properties window has been updated with a new panel containing features such as:
- Stacked category tabs
- Combined category / single list
- Favourites
- Multiple selection traversal
- Auto zoom to selected
- Hyperlink support
- Column sorting
- Category sorting
- Find matching items
- Create search
- Add to existing search
Another new feature of Navisworks 2025(and long overdue) is the improved way it reads IFC’s. Previously many applications in Autodesk used similar but different IFC loaders. This has led to different outcomes based on the application. As a result, the Autodesk Translation Framework is being adopted for IFC import in Navisworks 2025. This brings benefits such as:
- Support for IFC v4.3
- Platform centred approach allowing to get the latest and greatest updates across the Autodesk products.
- 50% decrease in load time compared to the previous v3 version
- Improved geometric fidelity
- Improved large coordinate support
Another enhancement is the new Section Above And/Or Below Grid. This new feature adds the ability to create section planes to the top and bottom heights of a grid levels. It is currently possible to fit selection when creating sections, but with these new buttons, you can fit to grid above and/or below.
Find items has had some long-standing issues with the way properties are managed. In Navisworks 2025, Autodesk has made a fundamental change to the way find items functions. They have also introduced highlighting a found property in the properties panel.
As a result of these changes, many long standing defects have been resolved:
- Find item search not respecting file units.
- Cannot find items when the search criteria involve "Element" property category on German Navisworks.
- Cannot find dimension properties in the list of "Find Item" dialog.
- Not all Find Item Values are exposed.
- Duplicate name parameter in “Quick Property Definitions”.
- Values displayed instead of source units in selection tree rather than UI units.
- Duplicated entries of the same categories in the selection inspector.
- Duplication of property names in the Find Items property list in Navisworks.
- Automatic change of values in the Find item tree in Navisworks from feet to meters.
- Find Items shows different results with typed in value vs chosen value.