Why does Autodesk hate AutoCad Electrical?

[Anonymous]

We use Acad Electrical and hate it! There is no decent support and any talk with the sales rep about training is met with "tell us what you need and we'll arrange training. Other AutoDesk products have seminars and courses with set curriculum. Why is that so hard to have for Electrical?? And any trouble or questions need to be sent through email and MAYBE we'll get an answer in 48hrs! That's bull****. When we're working on a project, we don't have time to wait to get an answer, MAYBE! Their support just plain SUCKS!
And then there are AB PLC I/O module parametrics they STILL don't have in their library. And we're not talking about recently released modules. We're talking about ones like the 1769-OF4, 1769-IF4FXOF2F and the 440N-CR30-22BBB. which have been out for years. And there are other manufacturers and components that aren't in their library, such as Idec, and Watlow. We shouldn't need to make our our symbols for all these long running components. It shows me that AutoDesk looks at Electrical as an unwanted, but necessary, annoyance in their product line.
We're looking at switching to EPlan, even though it costs more. The productivity tools are so extensive, and their quick response to requests for help will offset the higher initial costs and the learning curve. I've put my vote in to bite the bullet and switch.

[TRLitsey]

Your post has a lot of words but very little of it is helpful.  Helpful is what this board is supposed to be used for.  May I suggest you buy another product.  That is your helpful suggestion for the day.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

How can I be any clearer. I was told to post it to the board, and given the link to this forum.
If you don't want to provide support for the product, just say so. But is you thought I was being too obtuse and vague, and you really wanted to find out what the problems are, you would have arranged a phone call to talk to me direct.

[TRLitsey]

Hi there,

Let's try this again.  This board will occasionally have Autodesk representatives make an appearance but it is mainly for us end users.  We provide what little we know and share what we can to help one another.  If there is something we can do to help, most often we will.  Such as, I would ask you if you have tried the ACE Help >  Learning Tools > Learning Resources > Tutorials to get you started?  At this place we have a Electrical Engineer fresh out of collage.  This is his first real 40 hour a week job.  The first two weeks he spend working through the ACE tutorials.  The third week he started updating schematic redlines from the assembly floor.  He has the support of two other EEs and myself.  I am just a lowly tech but I have been doing electrical work for  30 years and have been using this software since 1998.  Even if you have the idea in your head and can build it in your garage, it can still be a challenge to get it down on paper such that someone else can build it.  It takes some work.  If there is help we can provide we will certainly try but remember, flaming about the short falls is not really productive, for anyone.

I can not reach into your computer and "fix it", but is there anything I can do for you?

Good luck

[jseefdrumr]

You clearly misunderstand what this forum is. We are users just like you. We help each other out. The vast majority of us, including me, have no official affiliation with Autodesk as customer support. We don't 'arrange phone calls' with anybody. Autodesk provides this space for us to communicate and share ideas, and to offer whatever assistance we can for one another. Basically, every software developer does.

The fact that you have only ever made two posts in this forum, both of them in this thread, shows that you haven't come here for help before. If you had, perhaps you would have come to a better understanding of the software before deciding to bail.

If you had come here before, you'd know that it's up to the manufacturers to submit new product data to Autodesk, and most rarely do. Allen-Bradley stopped because they started using Encompass partners. So why aren't you complaining to AB about their lack of support for the information that they submitted previously? It's a 2-way street.

If you had come here before, you would have learned how to build your parametric PLCs. The 440N-CR30 took me less than a half hour to add to the database and implement. That was because I had to make a new terminal block for parametric PLCs that could accept an input AND an output wire because some of the CR30 I/O points are configurable as either-or. When I had to make the 1769-OF4, it took less than 15 minutes. Judging by the tone of your posts so far, I'm willing to bet you spent that 45 minutes complaining about how those things weren't there already, rather than taking it upon yourself to learn how to implement all the tools that the software offers. That's also a 2-way street.

ACADE is a powerful tool in the right hands, but like any CAD software, it's a basket.
You only get out of it, what you put into it.

Good luck with Eplan.

[Anonymous]

You clearly didn’t read what I wrote. I was given a link to this forum to make the post I wrote. The link provider had read my post before I put it onto the forum. Therefore, you need to understand I did something that someone from AutoDesk instructed my to do.

I do not expect anyone, such as you, to “reach into my computer” and fix anything. I was making a complaint, was told to post it here, so I did. However, with that said, if you were really concerned about the situation, you have my contact information. You could have passed it along for someone in customer support to contact me, or you could have sent me the information I need to contact someone.

Many times we need information, advise and help right away, which you would see is one of the problems we have, had you really read my initial post. We don’t have time for posting questions on this forum, which, by the way, we were not even aware existed until this morning. I have never seen if advertised, which is not to say it hasn’t been. But it isn’t exactly common knowledge either. So calling me out for having only two post, both on this thread, is not valid.

[jseefdrumr]

Actually, I read every word of your posts. I'm here to help. But, you don't appear to have a problem that requires our help. Asking us to pass you on to customer support is literally hypocritical, since that was almost the first thing you flamed in your first post. What's the difference between us (users) and you (another user) contacting customer support anyway?

If you never knew about these forums, then you must never have used your F1 key. (That's the HELP key since it sounds like you didn't learn enough about the software to know that.) A lot of the entries in HELP take you to these forums. Or to the Knowledge Network, which also links to here sometimes. The forums are pretty common knowledge to the users of the software.

Regardless of who told you to do what, the words here are yours and yours alone, and the remarks I've made are very valid. You're throwing your hands in the air saying, "This doesn't work!" without taking the time to learn how it works... it's like being upset that you're in the dark when you never tried to turn on a light. You're only going to go so far, when you demand that the world feed you what you want by spoon. Take some personal responsibility and learn your software. You and your company could have gone so far if you had. As I said, ACADE is a powerful tool in the right hands.

It sounds more to me like you should be upset that your company bought you some software, didn't train you how to use it, and then didn't help you get training afterwards. I hope you feel better after unloading your stress on a bunch of random people. Myself, I thank you for the entertainment. Slow Wednesday...

[Anonymous]

Whenver I press the F1 key I get a popup window that looks like one of those useless Microsoft Excel help window, so we have never went any further. And, by the way, I never disputed the words were mine. I take ownership for the words i used.

That being said, many of the questions we have had are things that can be solved with a quick phone call. Sometimes simple things. Other times, it's things that can be avoided through hands on training. Sometimes a little more technical.  Our biggest complaints are that we have TRIED to get training from the vendor. Some training was supposed to be arrange when we initially purchased the software. The sales rep was adament he would set up a class. Then he kept telling us we need to provide the curriculum, and/or they need to get enough people for the class to make it worthwhile. So it isn't so much the our company not wanting us to be trained, it's the vendor, and by extension, AutoDesk, who keep giving is roadblocks. We have used AutoCad Electrical for years now, so we get by most of the time. But there are things we know the software will do, but trying to navigate through is difficult without a training class for initial guidance. 

The second thing is, when we do have an issue with the software, such as a glitch, and or need questions on exactly what is causing a problem with drawing(s), we don't have time wait for a day or more for technical help through email. Usually a quick question with a quick answer is all that's needed. If we find it's a bit more extensive, that may take longer. We understand that. 

Another thing is, since we have a service contract that gives us updates, etc., it should be assumed the there would be updates to the libraries. Yet, after years of having some products on the market, there has been nothing added for those items, such as the Allen Bradley PLC modules and and AB 440N-CR30, and Idec, and Watlow.

Now, if there is a way you can give me contact information for someone at AutoDesk who can get things rolling with training, I'd be happy to contact them. Or, if you prefer, pass my contact information on to them so they can contact me.

Thank you

[TRLitsey]

Hi again,

If this is no help to you I apologize.   I personally have never contacted Autodesk but I did work for a company that hired a certified instructor several years ago.  Since you are new to the board you have probably not noticed this.  We found the instructor through this link highlighted in yellow on the right side of the post screen.  Some of these contacts just provided services some provide services AND training courses.  The consultant we used was:

http://www.ecadconsultant.com/

You might be able to find someone closer.

Best of luck to you

 

[Icemanau]

It also sounds like you are confusing the RE-SELLER for an actual Autodesk owned and operated store...

Re-sellers are just like supermarkets. They usually sell more than just Autodesk products and they have no ties to what they sell beyond the actual promotion, training courses & selling of said products. They may not have anyone on staff who knows how to use ACADE.

That said, if the re-seller is not providing the training you want, do a web search and find a local (to you) re-seller or trainer who is actually willing to either come in and give the training or run training in their office.

For example, @dougmcalexander is a consultant who does training courses and is a member on this forum. He may be able to set up some training for your company depending on how quick you want it and so on.

Regards Brad

[galashkina]

A collection of interesting resources about AutoCAD Electrical: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-electrical-forum/a-collection-of-interesting-resources-about-...

[galashkina]

AutoCAD Electrical is not the most effective line of Autodesk business.
Mostly Autodesk makes money on other business lines: BIM technologies, additive technologies, and so on.
We need to offer Autodesk how to make this direction more efficient. For example, to interest manufacturers in creating a database of their products for the AutoCAD Electrical. It will also be a good advertisement.

[pendean]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

We're looking at switching to EPlan, even though it costs more. The productivity tools are so extensive, and their quick response to requests for help will offset the higher initial costs and the learning curve. I've put my vote in to bite the bullet and switch.

---

Good for you: that is what most of us adults do, we go out, find something that works for us, and use it. When it stops working, we go find something else that does.

Thanks for sharing your future plans: here is the link to their support forums once you all switch https://www.eplanusa.com/us/support/eplan-forum/

[ccad2509]

Autodesk dosent hate Autoacad electrical its just indifferent to the product

it needs an Electrical product to round out its engineering offering it didnt get what it wanted (promis-e) and went with a failed product (wd toolbox as the rumours go)

when you compare bussiness models you can see the mindset

other ecad sytem suppliers deals direct with thier customers and when you pay for a subscription you get technical support

with autodesks  you pay for subscription and all you get are updates you can pay again for a premium service and if you want to pay big bucks then you get autodesk profissional services at $1000 per day

it has washed its hands of the day to day tech support issues by giving us this forum and then if that dont work you can get somebody else (not autodesk) on thier approved suppliers list

now if you want to be especially paranoid about the product all you need to do is compare the whats new in autocad electrical for the last 5 years and see how thier is no new features and most of the so called inovations is in the base autocad product

if you do your reasearch on the opposition you see major leaps in functionality and technology where as ACADE is slippling slowy into the abyss

[Anonymous]

You are correct. Indifferent would be a much better desciption of their attitude. Some of the responses from those who were obviously AutoCad staff were very snarky and down right rude. I came up with the title because I figured it would generate a quick response from AutoCad personnel, even inviting me to jettison AutoCad Electrical for the E-Plan. It's almost like they're trying to get rid of the whole package.

We have compared the last several version, as you suggested, and have seen the progression (or lack thereof) from version to version. It's simply unacceptable for a company to do that to customers. At least when Allen Bradley, for example, eliminates a product, they give fair warning. If there is no new innovation coming to a product line, they are courtious enough to let know know why, and what the equivilant will be. Apparantly Autodesk's strategy is to piss off enough people that they switch, leaving so few ACad Electrical users that they can justify dropping the product line.

After my go around with this last week, I have not had much time to devote to responding to other answers to my initial thread, so I haven't even followed up on any suggestions proposed.

I agree, other software packages have much better feature, functionality, and support. And since we work with several European based companies, and E-Plan is so prevalent there, we have thought about that package. It's more expensive and we'll have a learning curve, but support is on the other end of the phone. So much quicker and easier than the "system" AutoDesk has.

[rhesusminus]

Hi Mike.
.
I guess you've already tried this site: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/contact-support/using-my-product/troubleshooting?p=AutoCAD%20Electric... ?

I would just encourage you to ask your questions regarding the use of AcadE in this forum. You might be surprised with the help you're able to get here.

I'm attending Autodesk University in Las Vegas this week, and I'm going to have a talk with the product manager of AutoCAD Electrical. I'll mention this thread to him.

Please note that I'm not employed by Autodesk either, but I've spent many years helping other users out here in the forums. I believe that this forum is the best place to get help on AcadE.

[Anonymous]

Trond,

Any mention is very much appreciated, especially with the product manager! So I thank you in advance.

Since I started this thread last week, I have been busy with another rush of work, which is why I haven't answered several of the responses I know have been added since.

Some of the questions we have seem simple, but to learn them through the resources (other than the forum, which I just learn about) is time consuming and many times confusing. Examples are and introduction to Lisp programming introduction, border and title block tricks, Custom symbols, finding/downloading new symbols for products that haven't been added the the ACad Electrical Library such as PLC Module Parametrics, Manufactures, such as Idec, and others.

If these things are out there, we have not found them. We've made a few ourselves, but with some of those productions being several years on the market, I would think they would already be in the library. Instead, we have to rebuild them with each new Acad Electrical release, we need to take the ones we've build in previous versions and learn how to migrate them into the new Acad Electrical release.

Heck, just building blocks and symbols is hit and miss because we don't do it aften enough to remember how to do it and make those blocks behave like any block already in the basic package. And the instructions I've found online, on YouTube, etc. Then adding them to the symbols library is a challenge for the same reason.

Every year our mechanical department gets an upgrade of Inventor when it's released. They look forward to it. The new tools, features and shortcuts, etc., that are added to Inventor is a help to them.

Again, any help you can provide is appreciated. And mentioning this thread to AutoDesk Electrical Product Manager I will be extremely greatful. Don't get me wrong on this last statement, but, I hear from him or his immediated staff, AND anything actually comes from it, I will be surprised. This is not, in any way disparaging toward you. It is just the expression of how jaded we have become with AutoDesk's support and focus on the Electrical line. Hopefully with a word from you, this can be turned around.

Thank you

Mike Stevens

[Sridhar-Autodesk]

Hi Mike,

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.  Please let me know if the issue is still open with Product Support.  I will check and contact you again.

Regards,

[Anonymous]

They don't care about ACad Electrical at all

Edited by
Discussion_Admin

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I see you have a long laundry list of items in this thread. In addition to @Sridhar-Autodesk's offer to help I am also willing to assist.  I checked your company account and don't see any cases more recent than 2010.

If you would like to start a new thread for each issue I will see if I can get some attention and resources to help you work through your question.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.