Viewing AutoCAD Drawings Without AutoCAD

I got a request form a customer today asking:

"If I am using AutoCAD 2007 can one of the estimators put 2006 in his machine so he can open and preview cad drawings sent to him?

If not, is there a CAD viewer program available for cheap somewhere?"

Yep! There are actually three options:

One option is to use the Autodesk DWF Viewer program. This can be installed on any number of machines and used to view and print out AutoCAD drawings. It can be installed from the AutoCAD install CD or from the Autodesk web site at: Autodesk DWF Viewer . This option does require that the designer with AutoCAD plot his/her file to the DWF print device.

A second option is to download the free Autodesk utility known as: DWG TrueView™ , This will let you  view, plot, and publish DWG files.

The third option is to purchase the Autodesk Design Review program, formerly known as DWF Composer. This will open both DWG and DWF files and gives the reviewer the option to redline and place notes on the drawings/dwfs. This can be purchased from Hydratec or any AutoCAD dealer

See also the Autodesk page: Viewer Comparison for more information.