DWG converter

ASH Draw Studio reads DXF directly. A DWG file is converted first, by one of two converters:

• LibreDWG, which is built in.
• The ODA File Converter, a free, optional program you install yourself. It opens drawings the built-in converter cannot read, and it lets you save back to DWG (AutoCAD 2000 to 2018).

Choose a converter

1. Choose Edit ▸ Preferences….
2. Pick an option under DWG converter:

3. Click Save.

Point the program at ODA

The ODA File Converter is normally detected automatically in C:\Program Files\ODA. If you installed it elsewhere:

1. Open Edit ▸ Preferences….
2. Click Browse… beside the ODA field and select ODAFileConverter.exe, or type the full path. Leave the field empty to detect it automatically.
3. Click Save.

The line under the field reports which converter is in use and whether ODA was found. If ODA is missing, click Get ODA File Converter to open the download page.

Converted-drawing cache

Reopening an unchanged DWG skips the conversion. In Preferences, choose how much disk space to keep for this (Off, 1, 2, 5 or 10 GB; the default is 2 GB). Click Clear converted-drawing cache to empty it.

Check what the converter did

A drawing converted from DWG shows a converter item in the status bar. In the app: Help ▸ Show me it. Click it, or choose Help ▸ Converter log…, to see the converter used, the objects read, object types not shown and the converter's messages. A drawing opened from DXF has no log.