Accessing Inventor Apprentice Server with PowerShell

by Chandra shekar Gopal,

📌 Issue

Many developers and IT professionals seek lightweight ways to extract metadata from Autodesk Inventor files without launching the full Inventor application. A common scenario involves retrieving iProperties from part files using scripting languages such as PowerShell.

✅ Solution

Autodesk Inventor Apprentice Server provides a powerful COM interface that allows you to read Inventor file data—including iProperties—without opening the Inventor UI. This is ideal for batch processing, automation scripts, and headless environments.

Below is a PowerShell script example demonstrating how to use Apprentice Server to open a .ipt part file and display its Part Number iProperty.

💻 PowerShell Script: Read Part Number from IPT File

# Create the ApprenticeServer object
$apprentice = New-Object -ComObject Inventor.ApprenticeServer

# Open the specified Inventor part file
$apprenticeDoc = $apprentice.Open("C:\Temp\Part1.ipt")

# Retrieve and print the Part Number iProperty
Write-Host $apprenticeDoc.PropertySets.
    Item("Design Tracking Properties").
    Item("Part Number").
    Value

# Clean up the COM object
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($apprentice) | Out-Null

🔍 Explanation

• New-Object -ComObject Inventor.ApprenticeServer: Creates an instance of the Apprentice Server.
• .Open("C:TempPart1.ipt"): Opens the specified IPT file for read access.
• .PropertySets.Item("Design Tracking Properties").Item("Part Number").Value: Accesses the Part Number iProperty.
• ReleaseComObject: Properly releases the COM object to avoid memory leaks.

🛠️ Products and Versions Supported

This approach applies to the following versions of Autodesk Inventor where Apprentice Server is available:

• Inventor 2021
• Inventor 2022
• Inventor 2023
• Inventor 2024
• Inventor 2025
• Inventor 2026 (Note: Requires separate installation of Apprentice Server). 

⚠️ Notes

• In Inventor 2026, Apprentice Server is no longer registered by default and must be installed separately. Refer this blog for more details on Inventor Apprentice Server Enhancement in Inventor 2026 
• Running PowerShell as Administrator may be required depending on system policies.

📘 Additional Resources

• Inventor API Help Documentation
• What’s New in Inventor 2026
• Apprentice Server Standalone Installer for Inventor 2026
• Autodesk Inventor Customization Forum