3DConnexion Stalling Revit When Switching Between Applications

[J_D__Julander]

3DConnexion 3D mice are awesome products! I have a SpaceMouse Pro and 2 SpaceMouse Compact devices. They work great within Revit for navigating the workspace and setting up cameras. The problem I've discovered is that after I restart my computer, crank up Revit, then Switch to a different program to check my email or look at documents relevant to the project (i.e. web browser, pdf document, etc...), when I switch back to Revit it takes 3-5 seconds for Revit to respond. Sometimes I see the blue, spinning wheel. I've also noticed a small degradation in performance.

I'm running Windows 11 and have confirmed this issue on multiple machines using Revit 2023, 2024, and 2025.

It's an annoyance but neither Autodesk nor 3DConnexion seems to be aware of the issue.

The good news is, there is a workaround to get Revit back to working normal. Simply click on your start button, start typing "stop", and then stop the 3DxWare app.

This will turn off your 3DConnexion mouse and Revit will return to its normal functioning state. The mouse will turn back on by itself when you go back and work in Revit but won't work. You may need to stop the process again after it restarts but should only need to complete this action twice.

In order to get it back to a fully-functioning state, you will need to close and reopen Revit.

Keep in mind this is only after I restart my machine. After I go through the process if closing 3DxWare and restarting Revit I don't need to do it again until I restart my machine.

Hopefully this helps someone! I struggled for months before I finally got this figured out.

[Danny_Rigg]

Thank you for this solution!  I was so frustrated by this delay in Revit that I regretfully uninstalled the 3DConnection software to fix it - but stopping the 3DxWare app as you described seems to eliminate the delay in app switching for me as well. I'm happy to finally be able to use my SpaceMouse again!

[J_D__Julander]

You are very welcome! I'm glad it helped.

[Peter.deVries]

Hi @J_D__Julander,

I wasn't expecting that 3Dconnexion would be the cause of the inresponsiveness of Revit, until I came across your post here. So, thank you for that!

However, disabling 3Dconnexion was not an option for me, since I am also a frequent user of Inventor, where I actually cannot work without the Space Explorer. So, instead of disabling the 3Dconnexion server totally, I changed the installation of 3Dconnexion by unchecking Revit through the 'appwiz.cpl'.

Here are some screenshots to illustrate this:

1. Windows+R (run) > type 'appwiz.cpl' en press <Enter>
2. Find '3Dconnexion 3DxWare 10' (in my case) en click 'Change'
   
3. Find '3Dconnexion Add-In for Revit' and untick the checkbox. Then click 'Modify' to submit.
   
4. I found that there is no reason to restart the laptop, but it never hurts to do so.

Again, thank you very much for posting your solution! Now I can go back to being a happy Revit user 😉

Regards, Peter

[J_D__Julander]

That's good to know Peter. Thanks for your input! I also use the 3D mouse for other programs (FormIt, 3ds Max, etc...) but didn't think about that.

What I've found is that the mouse will restart itself after using Revit for a few minutes so there shouldn't be a need to uninstall the driver. I would assume the mouse stops working completely in Revit once you uninstall the drivers.

[KothariH]

"

ViewCube Navigation

Fixed an issue that the SpaceMouse device (from 3Dconnexion) stops working in Revit when it is unplugged and plugged in again from the user's computer.

"

See link: https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2025/ENU/?guid=RevitReleaseNotes_2025updates_2025_4_Resolved_Issu...

It looks like the issue is resolved in Revit 2025.4 Update 

I wonder if Autodesk can update older versions to resolve this issue, atleast last 5 years (2019-2024) in my case.

[GRZEGORZ_PLECHAWSKI]

I am sorry - I didn't understand what You wrote. You disable the Add-In for Revit while using Revit and then install it again or You uninstall this Addin completely "forever"?

[Peter.deVries]

Hi @GRZEGORZ_PLECHAWSKI ,

Let me try to explain a bit more about what I meant to say.

J_D__Julander suggested in the first post above to disable 3DxWare in order to have Revit working responsively. And that is a great tip!

Unfortunately, it happens on a daily basis that I am working with both Revit and Inventor simultaneously. And I do want to have SpaceExplorer still working in Inventor. Therefore, disabling 3DxWare is not an option for me. Hence my suggestion to modify the 3DxWare installation by unticking the Revit Add-in.

Hope this helps ...?

Best regards, Peter

[GRZEGORZ_PLECHAWSKI]

Well, that's the part I actually did understand ;]. What I don't - is that You wrote: "Now I can go back to being a happy Revit user" - how come - are You using 3dconnexion without drivers in Revit?

[Peter.deVries]

Hi Grzegorz, 

That is correct: I have stopped using 3DConnexion in Revit, because SpaceExplorer doesn't work as smoothly in Revit as it does in Inventor.

And now, without the unresponsiveness of Revit because of 3DxWare, I am a happy Revit user again - though without 3DConnexion.

However, it would be better if 3DConnexion would update their drivers so that e.g. SpaceExplorer would indeed work as good as it does in other applications. But the issue of unresponsiveness should then be addressed differently, of course.

Best regards, Peter

[GRZEGORZ_PLECHAWSKI]

Ah, ok now I get it.

[GRZEGORZ_PLECHAWSKI]

well, just installed Revit 2026...and guess what? After playing around with 3dconnexion...it stopped working (only in Revit ofc). Stopping and starting 3dxware didn't help

[J_D__Julander]

It would be great if they could update it in older versions! Unfortunately for me it's still not fixed in 2025.4.  GRZEGORZ_PLECHAWSKI reported that it's broken in 2026 so I guess I won't be upgrading just yet. In the past I've been an early adopter but now I actually wait for the year that matches the program to update.

[mpukas]

I've been using a 3Dconnexion CadMouse Pro for about 10 years. Several years and releases ago, I don't know exactly when, this issue started happening. When I was using revit and clicked on another application and then when back to Revit in a view, the cursor paused for 3-5 seconds. The issue HAS NOT been resolved in 2025.4 as I'm using it right now. I discovered that if I clicked on the ribbon, Properties, or Project Browser I didn't get the pause. Another post somewhere here described that behavior too. 

There has also recently been a very annoying and frustrating 2-3 second pause when switching between tabbed views. And the pause when clicking back to Revit from another application has increased to about 7-10 seconds. It's incredibly disruptive ad counter-productive. 

A couple of years ago I had a remote session with an Autodesk Revit tech support for another issue. I showed him the pausing problem. It was only 2-3 seconds at that time. After discussing my computer build, he thought it was my graphics card, as it's not an Autodesk approved card, it's a high-end gaming card. But that wasn't the issue. 

I've installed 2026, but only tested that it works and set up a couple of default settings. The same pausing problem was happening in 2026. 

I just uninstalled 3Dconnexion, and VIOLA!!! no more pausing. Not when switching between view tabs and not when switching back to Revit from another app. 

Thank you for discovering this and posting!!! 

[J_D__Julander]

You're welcome! Thank you for posting and sharing your information. I run Revit on 3 different computers and one of them has an authorized Autodesk graphics card (NVidia Quadro) but that system still has the same issues. Hopefully 3D Connexion or Autodesk will resolve this!