Missing Autodesk Inventor Templates in Visual Studio?

by Chandra shekar Gopal

If you’ve recently installed Autodesk Inventor DeveloperTools but can’t find the expected Inventor Add-In project templates in Visual Studio, you’re not alone. This guide explains why the templates may not appear and how to ensure they’re properly installed and visible—whether you’re working with C++, C#, or VB.NET.

📦 Inventor Wizards Are Now Part of DeveloperTools

Since Inventor 2013, the Inventor Wizards are no longer distributed as a separate installer. Instead, they are bundled within the DeveloperTools component. Once installed, the wizards are copied to your Visual Studio templates directory (%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio 2022\Templates\ProjectTemplates).

By default, DeveloperTools.msi is available at C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor <version>\SDK after installation of every Inventor version.

⚠️ Important: After installing DeveloperTools, all Visual Studio instances must be closed before the templates can be recognized.

📁 Where Are Templates Installed?

By default, Visual Studio looks for user-defined templates in the following location (if not changed during installation):

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio 2022\Templates\ProjectTemplates

For example, project templates might be located here:

C:\Users\<UserName>\Documents\Visual Studio 2022\Templates\ProjectTemplates

However, if Visual Studio is installed in a custom directory or you’ve changed the template locations under Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Locations, the wizards may not appear when creating a new project.

🛠️ How to Make Inventor Templates Visible in Visual Studio

1. Install **DeveloperTools** from the Inventor SDK.
2. Ensure all Visual Studio instances are closed after installation.
3. Check your Visual Studio template location under:
   Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Locations
   
4. Copy the Inventor wizards/templates from:
   %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio 2022\Templates\ProjectTemplates
   to your custom project templates location (if you’ve changed it).
5. (Optional) Restart your system for changes to take full effect.
6. Launch Visual Studio, go to **File > New > Project**, and search for:
   • Inventor AddIn (C#)
   • Inventor AddIn (VB.NET)
   • Inventor AddIn (Visual C++)

🧩 Visual Studio and Inventor Wizards by Language

🧱 Visual C++

This wizard helps generate Inventor Add-In applications in C++. It creates the AddInServer.cpp/h files which implement the ApplicationAddInServer interface—vital for COM communication with Inventor.

💡 Tip: If you see a “Platform ‘x64’ was not found” error, install the x64 Compilers and Tools via:
Add or Remove Programs > Modify Visual Studio > Individual Components > Visual C++ x64 tools

The Inventor Event Sink ATL Class Wizard helps you create new classes to handle Inventor events. These are accessible via Add > Class in the project context menu.

💻 Visual C# and Visual Basic.NET

For both C# and VB.NET, the wizard creates a new Add-In project with the StandardAddInServer.cs or StandardAddInServer.vb file. These classes:

• Implement the ApplicationAddInServer interface.
• Manage COM registration (via static methods).
• Define the required Inventor registry settings.

📌 Additional Notes & Known Caveats (Important)

📦 Templates Are Delivered as ZIP Files

A common point of confusion is that Inventor Add-In templates are delivered as ZIP files.

👉 They do NOT need to be manually unzipped.

Visual Studio can consume these ZIP templates directly. Manually extracting them can prevent the templates from appearing correctly.

This behavior will be explicitly documented going forward, as unzipping is a very natural first instinct and can easily lead to confusion.

🔗 Broken Assembly References with Custom Inventor Install Paths

After creating the Add-In project skeleton, some users may notice broken assembly references.

This happens because the generated .csproj file assumes Inventor is installed in the default location under Program Files, which covers the majority of users.

However, many developers intentionally install Autodesk products outside of Program Files to reduce UAC-related friction during development.

🔧 What to do if Inventor is installed in a custom path:

• Open the .csproj file or project references

• Manually update the Inventor interop assembly paths to match your installation directory

📘 At a minimum, this scenario should be documented clearly, and users should be aware that custom installation paths require manual reference adjustments.

💬 Notes on Visual Studio Installation Location

Installing Visual Studio itself in a non-default directory (e.g., a secondary drive) does not appear to cause issues with the Inventor templates. The primary dependency is the Inventor installation path, not the Visual Studio path.

🔐 Why Templates May Still Not Load Automatically

The Inventor Add-In templates depend on Visual Studio recognizing the default paths. If templates are still missing after installation, you can post a query using below link.

🔗 Inventor Programming – iLogic, Macros, AddIns & Apprentice Forum

✅ Final Tips

• Always restart Visual Studio after changing template locations.
• Confirm that DeveloperTools has been installed for the correct Inventor version.
• If needed, manually copy templates to the correct path to make them visible.

By following these steps, you should have full access to the Autodesk Inventor Add-In templates in Visual Studio and be ready to start developing your next automation or customization project with ease.