Installation and Licence

This guide walks through installing CADshift for Autodesk Inventor, activating a licence, and keeping it up to date.

Requirements

Autodesk Inventor 2025 or newer
Windows 10 / 11
Administrator rights for the install (CADshift installs a small background service)

Install

Download the installer (cadshift-inventor-<version>.exe) from cadshift.com.
Run it. On the welcome screen, tick “I agree to the license terms and conditions” and click Install.
Approve the Windows User Account Control prompt.
When it finishes, start (or restart) Inventor — CADshift loads automatically.

Why does it need administrator rights?

The installer registers a lightweight background Windows service that keeps CADshift up to date and reports crashes. Installing a service requires elevation — so you’ll always see a UAC prompt. The add-in itself is then placed in your user profile (%AppData%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins), which is the only location Inventor reliably auto-loads add-ins from — there is no install folder to choose.

First run

Open Inventor.
Press S — the Command Palette should appear at your cursor. That confirms CADshift is loaded.
A CADshift panel is also added to the Tools ribbon tab, with a Settings button.

Licensing

CADshift for Inventor has three tiers:

Tier	What you get
Free	The Command Palette — forever, with no account
Basic	+ the visual Document Switcher
Professional	+ Document Groups

When you first install, a free trial unlocks every tier for a limited time. After the trial, the Command Palette keeps working for free; the paid features show an upgrade prompt until you activate a licence.

Activating a paid licence

In Inventor, go to Tools → CADshift → Settings → Manage License.
Choose your plan (Basic or Professional, annual or monthly).
Paste the receipt code you received when you purchased, and click Register.
Restart the add-in when prompted. Your tier is now active.

One licence, your machine

A licence is tied to the computer you activate it on. You can manage or move it from the same Manage License dialog.

Updates

CADshift checks for new versions in the background and installs them automatically when Inventor is closed — there’s nothing to do. Each update is verified against a checksum published by HYMMA before it’s applied. You can turn automatic updates off in the add-in’s settings.

Uninstall

Close Inventor.
Open Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find CADshift for Inventor, and choose Uninstall.

Closing Inventor first lets the uninstaller remove the per-user add-in cleanly.