Getting started

Follow these steps to set up Thundercad:

1. Download the installer from the download page (one installer for Inventor 2025 or higher).
2. Close Autodesk Inventor.
3. Run Thundercad-Setup.exe and follow the wizard.
4. Restart Inventor.
5. Open Extra → Add-Ins and set Thundercad Toolkit to "loaded / load on startup".
6. Open a document and in the Thundercad tab choose Start 30-day trial or enter your license key.

Done. The Thundercad ribbon appears in Assembly, Part, Drawing and the zero-doc screen.

You start the trial in Inventor, not on the website. Open the Thundercad add-in, click Start 30-day trial and confirm with your Autodesk account. During the trial you have access to all features. No payment details required.

After 30 days you buy a license through your account and activate the corresponding key in the add-in.

• Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit).
• Autodesk Inventor 2025 or newer.
• An active Autodesk account.
• For Vault features: the Autodesk Vault client installed and logged in.

Thundercad adds one tab to Inventor: Thundercad. Which buttons you see depends on the type of document that is open.

• Assembly: Batch Open, Batch Close, Quick save/load, Go To Folder, Frequent Folder, Batch Publish, Export STEP, Export Folder, Model Cleaner, Batch Flatpattern, Update BOM, Export BOM, Place article, Article Manager, iProperty Panel, Assembly iProp Menu, Get Drawings.
• Part: Batch Close, Quick save/load, Go To Folder, Frequent Folder, Export DXF, Export STEP, Export Folder, Model Cleaner, iProperty Panel.
• Drawing: Batch Close, Quick save/load, Go To Folder, Frequent Folder, Print, Export PDF, Export DWG, Export Folder, Drawing Updater, Drawing Checker, Find Item, Sheet Size Up/Down, Sheet Rotate, iProperty Panel.
• Zero-doc (no document open): Batch Close, Quick save/load, Frequent Folder, Export Folder, Article Manager.

The Settings and About buttons appear on all four screens.

Every button has an extensive tooltip, hold your mouse still on a button for 1 second to see an explanation and a mini guide.

The first time you open the settings screen, you get a short tour that shows where each setting is located. You can always restart it via the Show tour button in the bottom right of the settings window.

In any case, go through the General tab once to set up your folder paths and default behavior.

• Hover one second on any button for an explanation with examples.
• Click the ? icon next to a setting for additional explanation.
• Start with the tools Batch Open, Batch Publish and Model Cleaner, they save you time right away.
• Set up a Frequent Folder so you are in your project folder with one click.

ThundercadGlobal is installed with an Inno Setup installer (Thundercad_Setup.exe). The installer places the add-in in the Inventor add-ins folder under ProgramData (Autodesk → Inventor Addins → ThundercadGlobal). You do not have to choose a folder or program group; those steps are skipped.

Clean upgrades

• On an update the installation folder is emptied first, so old DLLs from a previous version never linger.
• Your settings and license key live in the Windows registry, not in the installation folder, so they are kept across an upgrade.

After installation, start Inventor. The first time, the add-in asks for your license key; after that ThundercadGlobal is ready to use.