In November we released the beta version of a new set of GrabCAD Workbench collaborative product development (CPD) features and promised more to come. The reception has been amazing - to date more than 20,000 users have signed up. Today we’re happy to announce we’ve added more great capabilities and we’re removing the beta label.
View, share, and manage
We launched Workbench with the goal of helping engineers manage and share their CAD files. First, our viewer made it easy for you to share CAD models with non-CAD users. Then we added a variety of markup, measurement and communication tools so you can get great feedback from customers, clients and partners. Finally, we brought Workbench inside your four walls by giving you file management tools so your engineering team could work together smoothly.
This last step is a big one. To achieve it, we added the features you needed:
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Desktop Sync - Users can link desktop files to files in online Workbench projects, ensuring local files are always up to date.
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File Locking - Lock files for exclusive edit while letting the rest of the team know. Project owners can always override the lock.
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Partner Spaces - Release product data to customers and manufacturers without them seeing all of your project data - or each other.
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Visual version comparison - Visually overlay two versions of a 3D model to see what has changed.
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Revision Management - Ensure that your team is always working off the right version to avoid wasted time and manufacturing mistakes.
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Automatic version backup + restore - Automatically tracks file versions, browse version history, and instantly restore older versions.
New features
Today we’re excited to announce two new features:
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Translate to neutral format
Never leave your CAD system
We’ve made it even easier to have effortless control of your CAD files, without leaving the comfort of your CAD software, by allowing you to upload and download files as well as resolve conflicts through an add-in to your CAD system. The first CAD program we’re supporting is SolidWorks because it is the most popular among our users, but we plan to support other CAD systems in the future.
Translation makes it easier to share
We’ve also added a translator that allows users to download a CAD file in STEP, IGES and STL formats, regardless of the format it was uploaded in. This makes it easy to share models with partners who don’t use the same CAD system you do. With just one click your supplier can download any of the neutral formats based on the original file you uploaded.
GrabCAD Workbench Professional now available
We’ve had our new file management features in beta for a couple of months and thanks to great feedback from our users we’ve made a lot of improvements. Now we’re releasing these features to general availability. At the same time we’re also making three changes to how you buy Workbench.
The new CPD features will be available to all of our Professional users. Free users will still have access to the CAD sharing and viewing tools. Enterprise customers will have CPD as well as additional IT controls and more storage.
Try out GrabCAD Workbench with a free trial
All of our file management features, along with all sharing features, will be available to users through a trial. When the trial is over, you’ll be asked to choose whether you want to continue as a free user (without file management features and with some other limitations) or as a paid user (and keep access to all features).
New pricing
We’re also changing the prices we charge for our Professional and Enterprise plans, to $59 and $89 per user per month respectively. This price better reflects the new set of features we offer, which are generally only available in PDM/PLM packages that cost thousands of dollars per person for setup, maintenance and IT support. Customers tell us that Workbench saves their engineers significant hours per month in wasted time and thousands of dollars in costly mistakes, so we think you’ll find Workbench is a great value. Check out our pricing page for more details.
Welcome to the new world of Collaborative Product Development
We’re very excited that Workbench has helped so many small and medium sized business get their CAD files under control, and we look forward to adding even more capabilities in 2014.
