Need to Upgrade from V 2004

[gcakia]

CLR Designs is a very small business doing interior design work.   We currently use V 2004 of Auto Cad and need to upgrade.   The concern is the time consuming learning cure for the new version and the negative affect it could have on our ability to quickly respond to new business opportunities.  Has anyone done this type of upgrade before?  Any suggestions on how to do this so impact to business is limited (or avoided) would be appreciated.  Should we jump all the way to 2022?  We've used Lynda for training on 2004.  Is there a better tool for learning?  Should we do an interim jump to something like 2017 or something similar?   Thx

[pendean]

Autodesk is subscription only since you last pent any money: you do not "buy" a permanenet license, you pay an annual subscription to the latest version with access to a few more recent older versions. Sorry, you have a lot of catching up to do with Autodesk licensing these days.

BUT... if you all truly know and understand AutoCAD, you'll not have too much of a challenge adapting quickly once you take a short time to understand the newer additions and changes.

I suggest you take the time to download the trial version of 2022 now and start your inhouse testing and building a training program. It will answer all of your questins way more quickly.

[cadffm]

From 2008 to 2009 

or 2004 to 2022 is the same, 

so many people did "this" upgrade 😉

Switch to 2022 or wait for the next version in 3 month.

1. You CAN use 2022 the same way like 2004 (sure not all things, but i talk about the GUI only)

  See this post, you need just a Minute.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/upgraded-to-2019/m-p/8260882#M948501

2. For learning new things, it is bad to set up this "old style" only,

  but you can do it.

  So: you can switch to 2022 without learning new things (except some details).

 What I try to say: No fear!

We don't know about your drawings and your workflows, 

 so what I say is a generally statement and

  not a 100% in all cases thing.

3. How you should learn new things:

    My opinion: Each ways are okay, online course, videos, BOOKS and so on.

Regardless the new GUI items, new commands and new objects,

one of the important things to learn is about Annotation Feature!

You don't need to use them, but you have to learn it also to avoid of it!

(Many posts here are about wrong use of settings and properties of annotation feature)

Impossible to write down all information, but this is my first short answer to your post.

[ChicagoLooper]

The biggest hurdle you and your colleagues will face is the appearance or the interface. The current version(s) has a RIBBON while the old versions have Toolbars.

You will hear many comments justifying the continued use of Toolbars. I’d recommend learning the RIBBON. A while back, we used boards and T-squares. In fact, some board users are still around and read this forum. They learned how-to on ‘The Board’ before AutoCAD was even invented.

Those that transitioned successfully did well. Some are still active, still using AutoCAD. Much respect. Those that didn’t transition languished, lost time and fell behind. Look at where the industry is now! Have we transitioned? Have we abandoned the board? Have we accepted the mouse?