Autodesk is changing the rules about data storage for Fusion 360.
Autodesk Fusion 360 is one of the most popular tools for developing complex mechanical 3D models. It’s used extensively by designers and engineers to produce part designs for manufacture, as well as by hobbyists through Autodesk’s generous “Autodesk Fusion 360 for personal use” program.
Fusion 360 operates as a hybrid cloud-local system. You run the software locally, but it must connect to the cloud at least periodically for several reasons. One of them is to validate that you have a current subscription to the tool.
There’s also the ability to store designs in the Autodesk cloud, which most designers use. The storage is quite flexible, as you can organize files into projects, share among co-workers, etc.
Then a bulletin suddenly arrived from Autodesk to all Fusion 360 users, announcing “important changes” to their content storage standard.
Here’s the official new storage standard from Autodesk:
“Your Fusion Content and Fusion Hub are considered inactive for each day you do not log in. Your Fusion Content will be accessible to you for 365 consecutive days of inactivity. To maintain or regain active status, keep an active subscription as a Personal User and log in at least once every 365 days. Each active day resets or restarts the full, 365-day, storage period. At the end of the relevant storage period, your Fusion Content may no longer be accessible or recoverable.”
Autodesk is “starting the clocks” for everyone this month, meaning the first 365-day expiries will occur in August 2025.
They emphasize that nothing is happening to anyone’s data right now.
What does this mean? It could mean nothing, or it could mean a lot, depending on how you use Fusion 360.
For businesses with designers and engineers using Fusion 360 daily, it means nothing. Every day they come to work and sign on, their clocks reset. The only business scenario I can see that might cause an issue is if someone takes a one-year sabbatical. In that case, they might get surprised when they return and find all their Fusion 360 content “inaccessible”.
The more interesting scenario is for users of Fusion 360 for personal use. This subscription is entirely free, and is often used by individuals or business startups that qualify for the program.
Because it is provided at no charge, there is less incentive to use it on a daily basis. In other words, someone could sign up to gain access, but not necessarily use it again for a while.
What if “a while” is a year? In that case the content might be become inaccessible.
This is a risk, albeit a small one. However, the impact could be catastrophic for some who are not paying attention: “Where was that complex design again? OMG, it’s GONE!”
What can these users of Fusion 360 do? There are a couple of easy options.
One is to make sure you launch Fusion 360 once in a while. A calendar reminder once per month would be easy to do. It would also be possible to make a script on some systems to auto-launch Fusion 360 once a month as well.
Another possibility is to export your Fusion 360 content. Fusion 360 allows you to export your files in .F3D format, which presumably can be re-uploaded later in case of “inaccessibility”. This might be done for critical designs that cannot be lost, and probably should have been done even before the new policy.
You can also export designs in many other formats, and some of them could be imported into other design tools, such as STEP format.
The policy change does not immediately affect any Fusion 360 users, but everyone should be aware of this change and take appropriate action for your Fusion 360 usage pattern.
Via Autodesk
