Cant insert components into a new design

[Anonymous]

Trying to create an assembly in a new design, but don't have any options when I right click on the component I want to insert (drag-to-insert doesn't work either)

Am I missing something here? Was able to do this quite happily before the latest changes to the licensing.

[ryan.bales]

Something isn't right, you only have the option to open. Is this project on your personal hub? 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am using the free Personal plan. That shouldn't restrict inserting components though should it?

[ryan.bales]

No, but that's not what i asked. 

Is this project on YOUR hub or personal license or are you invited to it? If so that would restrict the ability to do anything but open as it falls under collaboration. 

[Anonymous]

Ah yes I see what you mean now. Yes this is on my personal hub, I created the files

[ryan.bales]

Very strange. 

Can you insert files in other projects? 

And just to be clear, you are inserting File A into File B and BOTH reside in the Garden Office project? 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am trying to insert Floor Section into Floor Assembly, and both files are in Garden Office. And I have went into some other projects that I have previously inserted components into other designs easily, and am not able to any more. 

If it makes any difference I am running 2.0.6516 on macOS High Sierra 10.13.6. I think this may be the first time that I have tried to insert a component since the subscription type change in October

[kentozier]

I see no one from Autodesk ever answered you, but I’m going to add my experience to the thread in the hopes that someone will take a look.

Basically, I’m running into the same issue. I’ve only been using Fusion personal edition since Dec 2019, but have never been able to insert components into any of my assemblies. To do anything, I’ve had to create every nut, bolt, screw, component, etc from scratch within each assembly file.

Heres the steps to reproduce:

1. Create a new project.

2. Under the “People” tab, verify that I’m the moderator.

3. Save the default document as “xxx-assembly”

4. Create a new document with the plus button.

5. Draw a cube and save as “component”

6. Click back to the assembly document.

7a. Click on the “component” file in the dashboard and try to drag it. It highlights, but won’t drag.

7b. Right click (control click on a Mac laptop) the component file in the browser, choose “Insert onto current design” and click in the assembly. 

Result of both 7a and 7b is the same. Nothing gets inserted.

This happens 100 percent of the time. I’ve never been able to import anything I create into projects I also create. Seems like a pretty serious bug.

Here’s my system info:

2017 MacBook Pro  pro 13 inch 

Processor: 2.3 ghz Intel core 5

Memory: 8gb 2133 MHz LPDDR3

Graphics: Intel Iris plus graphics 640 1536 mb

Storage: 261 gb

OS version: MacOS Mojave 10.14.6

No peripherals, Comcast lower tier internet connection. 

Fusion info version: 2.0.8176

Active plan: Fusion 360 personal

No plugins or extensions added

[DaveGadgeteer]

I'm having similar problem now with similar setup.

Mine is even a paid license. Current macOS Monterey, Fusion.

No hints why nothing happens, can't insert one design into another in any way.

Exceedingly big time waster.

[TrippyLighting]

Please create a screencast of the behavior. I do this many times throughout each day and (2017 15" MacBook Pro, still on Big Sur) and have not encountered such problems.

[DaveGadgeteer]

It's really hard to make a convincing video (screencast) of nothing happening!

Just visualize moving the cursor into the data panel above the design you want to insert, hold the Control key down, and click on the popup menu item "Insert into current design", and nothing happens. The menu disappears, nothing changes in your current design.

Then try dragging the icon of the design you want to insert, and it won't highlight or animate or move at all, and again nothing happens. Relaunch, reinstall, reboot, export design and reimport, nothing helps. You're completely blocked from using components external to your current design.

But with a separate Windows style mouse, these things work as one would expect and as described by other users.

Perhaps it depends on what kind of SpaceMouse from 3Dconnexion you have? 

Mine is "SpaceMouse Wireless", not Pro, which works great for 3D manipulation of the model, but does not handle the clicks.

The symptoms I see are compatible with the idea that Fusion is losing the Control key info only in the data panel context. It does work OK in the rest of the design window.

I first tried an old Apple mouse, and it does occasionally work--I did get the insert accomplished by a string of rapid clicks. Encouraging enough to send me to the scrap box for an old Linux mouse that's PC style, 2 buttons and a scroll wheel.

A previous writer in this sequence of comments explains the bug more clearly in terms of the Apple API. There have been quite a few comments over the last few years by people who have been unable to make this work

Without his comment, I'd have had to get past this problem by recreating my design inside the new Component, which is what I've always done before, but this time that was too much work so I persisted searching for a workaround. There were many possibilities to try. Some said it doesn't work if you have design history, for example, but I didn't want to lose the history. A painful odyssey.

Dave

[TrippyLighting]

I work with Fusion 360 daily often for 10-12 hours as I use it for work and for personal projects and obviously for helping users on this forum. 

I've used Fusion 360 on Apple computers since November 2014. First on an iMac which is now 11 years old and still in use, but since 2017 I use a high spec 2017 15" MacBook Pro. 

At work, I currently use it on a Windows 10 computer. 

I cannot say that I have ever encountered any of these mouse problems you and others describe.

However, I've never used the Ctrl-Click to bring up right-click menus on a mac. That functionality dates back to the earliest Apple computers where the mouse only had one button 😉

Nowadays that can be done using a right-click without the ctrl key with a 2-button mouse such as the magic mouse, although, I do not recommend that device for CAD work.

In Fusion 360, Drag-&-Drop does not work on macOS. Never has!

If you are using a notebook, a two-finger tap/click is almost equivalent to the right-click of a 3 button mouse. That two-finger click will make the menu stay, so you can scroll down and select "Insert into current design".

I personally have never used the Ctrl key on a mac for menus, that's what I have a 3-button mouse for. Or to be more precise a 2-button mouse with a clock-scroll wheel. I also rarely use the trackpad for CAD.

I've used 3D Connexion devices for more than 15 years and currently have a wireless Space Mouse, which works perfectly fine in conjunction with a normal mouse.

If you want to do CAD on a mac, my strong suggestion would be to get yourself a good mouse with 2-buttons and a scroll-click wheel.

[DaveGadgeteer]

@TrippyLighting I thank you for your service to this community!

However, the Control means Right-click has been the Apple standard forever, in my experience. It works everywhere even in Fusion, except for in the Data Panel portion of the window.

On my MacBook Pro 15" 2017 Quad Core 16MB with 5TB solid state disks total and large non-Apple display mirroring its screen, the two-finger tap on the trackpad does not act like a right-click, though I'm confident it could be configured that way. For this Mac and for several of its predecessors, I have used the trackpad and the Control key to generate "right-click" behavior. In my experience, this works fine everywhere except in Fusion's Data Panel portion of the screen. I find it convenient, and it's a thoroughly entrained habit.

I believe the symptoms make it far more likely that this is a bug, and not a useful intended behavior in Fusion. It clearly has caused grief to multiple Fusion users, and it's subtle enough to make it quite likely it's unintended behavior, i.e. a BUG, which probably is very easily fixed, now that it's been exposed and isolated.

I have a (inconvenient, extra mouse required) workaround, so I'm not just asking for this to be fixed for ME, but for all Mac users of Fusion. This will eliminate a great deal of frustration and wasted time for a few users, but won't affect people who have found workarounds they're satisfied with.

So, I request that AutoDesk give some priority to fixing this long-overlooked trivial bug. That's all I'm asking.

[Phil.E]

I think you are using trackpad settings that do not provide the expected experience. A video made with Screencast would show the exact clicks you are making. Here is a video of me inserting designs in Fusion, using a trackpad. This is the experience you should be getting. So something is off in your trackpad settings is my best guess, a screencast would help sort that out. Also, can you put up an image of your trackpad settings, I'm happy to test whatever you have as settings to see if it's a problem. 

It should be noted that there are tens of thousands of mac users on Fusion. Many use trackpad exclusively, and this is the first I've heard of this issue in 8 years working on Fusion. Please post your trackpad settings if you'd like me to test your experience. Without more information I cannot do much about this.

[TrippyLighting]

@DaveGadgeteer It is indeed standard macOS functionality.

I usually don't use it that  way but I tested the behavior for a little while and it does seem inconsistent.

I can see that for long-time mac users who are used to this functionality this behavior is puzzling.

[Phil.E]

@TrippyLighting Can you help me understand why it works for me but not for others? I tried again in this short screencast, you can see I'm using control+click to bring up the RMB menu and insert a design. 

I'll ask again, if I know your trackpad settings I can test this and if I can reproduce it now is a really really good time to get this in front of developers as a bug report.

*I forgot the embedded view does not show key presses. The video is only 14 seconds. Here's a link to the video with full keyboard interactions recorded. https://autode.sk/3FoUHlt

[DaveGadgeteer]

It's really hard to make a convincing video of nothing happening!

Just visualize moving the cursor into the data panel above the design you want to insert, hold the Control key down, and click on the popup menu item "Insert into current design", and nothing happens. The menu disappears, nothing changes in your current design.
Then try dragging the icon of the design you want to insert, and it won't highlight or animate or move at all, and again nothing happens. Relaunch, reinstall, reboot, export design and reimport, nothing helps. You're completely blocked from using components external to your current design.

But with a separate Windows style mouse, these things work as one would expect and as described by other users.

Perhaps it depends on what kind of SpaceMouse from 3Dconnexion you have?
Mine is "SpaceMouse Wireless", not Pro, which works great for 3D manipulation of the model, but does not handle the clicks.

The symptoms I see are compatible with the idea that Fusion is losing the Control key info only in the data panel context. It does work OK in the rest of the design window.

I first tried an old Apple mouse, and it does occasionally work--I did get the insert accomplished by a string of rapid clicks. Encouraging enough to send me to the scrap box for an old Linux mouse that's PC style, 2 buttons and a scroll wheel.

A previous writer in this sequence of comments explains the bug more clearly in terms of the Apple API. There have been quite a few comments over the last few years by people who have been unable to make this work

Without his comment, I'd have had to get past this problem by recreating my design inside the new Component, which is what I've always done before, but this time that was too much work so I persisted searching for a workaround. There were many possibilities to try. Some said it doesn't work if you have design history, for example, but I didn't want to lose the history. A painful odyssey.

[Phil.E]

@DaveGadgeteer Take a look at the video I made for you, one post above this. If you view the video using the link, not the embedded player, you'll see that Autodesk Screencast records your mouse clicks and key presses. The reason I ask you to provide the same is to help me see your mouse clicks. Take a look, it's a very short video. 🙂

I've also asked to see your trackpad settings. I ask this because it's entirely possible you have a trackpad setting that is different than mine. Remember, the video I posted above is using a mac and a trackpad. I have zero problem using any method of RMB interactions, including your method, to insert a file. This tells me that despite using what I think are your clicks (hard to tell without a video from you made by Autodesk Screencast) I'm not finding any bug at all.

The biggest difference between my machine and yours, between my clicks and yours, at this point, is your trackpad settings. Thanks in advance for taking your time to show me. I'm very happy to use any information you provide to test and improve the product. I'm sort of stuck here without the ability to do what you are doing.

[Phil.E · Accepted solution]

We've done some testing and it turns out that secondary click is not supported in the Fusion 360 data panel. What mac users are finding is that they can secondary click to bring up the right click menu, but another secondary click does not launch the Insert command, or any other command on the menu.

Limited to the Data Panel only.

Workaround: Use secondary click to bring up the right click menu, use primary click to insert the design. 

Knowledge article describing the situation:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Can...

[andrewDXQZ3]

@Phil.E, I am running into a similar problem. My issue is that i can secondary click to insert in current design and it works, but drag to insert won't work. I'm on a mac platform. Is this just something that is not supported on mac or a setting I need to turn on etc.