Pick by what you need to do
- Just look at a drawing. Open it in the viewer on this page. DWG and DXF, Model space and layouts, layers, text search and properties are all there, and nothing is installed or uploaded.
- Measure it or hand it on as a PDF. Use the ruler for distances, radii, angles and areas, then export the drawing, a layout or the current view as a vector PDF.
- Plot with printer setups, or save in an older DWG version. Use DWG TrueView: Autodesk's help lists plotting, batch publishing, exporting and converting drawing file formats among its functions.
What DWG TrueView is
DWG TrueView is a free Windows program from Autodesk for viewing DWG files. Autodesk's user's guide covers plotting drawings, publishing (batch plotting), exporting drawings and converting drawing file formats. It is a viewer, not an editor.
It is a full desktop install. For the 2025 version Autodesk's system requirements list 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, 8 GB of memory and about 4 GB of disk space for installation; check Autodesk's page for the version you would download.
What the viewer here does, and what it does not
It opens DWG and DXF drawings in your browser, shows Model space and every layout, lets you show, hide or isolate layers, search the drawing's text, inspect object properties, measure with object snap and export a vector PDF. The file is read on your computer and never uploaded, and after the first visit it also works offline. There is also a portable desktop version of the same viewer, a single small file with no installer, when a browser tab is not what you want.
It does not edit drawings, does not batch-publish and does not convert a drawing to another DWG version. For those, use TrueView; for plotting many drawings to PDF there is also Dwg2Pdf.
When each one is the better choice
Choose the viewer here when you want to check a drawing quickly, on a computer where you cannot or do not want to install anything, or when you are sending a PDF to someone. Choose DWG TrueView when you need plotting set up the way AutoCAD does it or version conversion today.
If the real job is plotting many drawings to PDF, Dwg2Pdf from CADXChange does that in one run without AutoCAD, and it has a Free edition.
Perguntas frequentes
- Is there a free alternative to DWG TrueView?
- Yes. The DWG viewer on this page is free, runs in your browser and also comes as a small portable desktop app. It opens DWG and DXF files, shows layouts and layers, measures and exports PDF. It does not edit or convert versions.
- Do I need an Autodesk account to view a DWG file?
- Not for the viewer on this page. It needs no AutoCAD, no installation and no account of any kind.
- Can I view a DWG file on a computer that is not Windows?
- The viewer runs in the browser, so it is not tied to Windows. DWG TrueView is a Windows program.
- Can this viewer edit a DWG file?
- No, it is for viewing, measuring and exporting. To change drawings, use AutoCAD or another CAD program.