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DigiPara Liftdesigner 2027
What is new and how to implement them in your workflow
Kai Nitz | 2026
The 2027 release covers a significant amount of ground. I’ve highlighted the most impactful changes here, providing context on why they were implemented and how this can be implemented in your workflow.
Some updates will feel familiar if you’ve encountered these challenges before.
Others represent 'quiet' infrastructure and integration work, the kind of improvements you’ll only notice by the sudden absence of old problems. Since there is so much to cover, I’ve split this guide into two parts, starting with Liftdesigner followed by Elevatorarchitect Online.
PART ONE
Liftdesigner
1. Car-frame-to-guide: Independent distances per side
- The car-frame-to-guide distances for the left and right sides of the sling can now be set independently. Previously, these distances were linked symmetrically - adjusting one side automatically updated the other. While this works for standard configurations, it often required workarounds when a cabin and car frame needed asymmetric alignment due to structural constraints or specific load distributions.
This update decouples the two sides, exposing separate 'Car wall to guides left' and 'Car wall to guides right' properties on the Car Frame object. Modifying one no longer affects the other. To maintain a clean interface, the new individual properties remain hidden when the legacy symmetric mode is active.
For Double Decker elevators, these values apply consistently to both the upper and lower cabins to ensure vertical alignment. Furthermore, a built-in validation check prevents asymmetric distances from causing positioning conflicts with critical components like safety gear, oil buffers, or rail bracket attachments.
2. View frame control
- Individual view frames now support custom car positions.
Previously, car placement was limited to a predefined list - such as 'bottom,' 'top service floor,' or 'top service floor including runby.' While these presets cover standard scenarios, they often required workarounds for multi-view sheets needing specific intermediate heights.
You can now set the Car Position to Custom and define a precise Car Location in millimeters relative to the first floor: This allows each view frame on a single sheet to display the cabin in different, independent heights.
- Creating Shaft Overhead and Pit views is now more efficient than ever.
Within the existing ‘Symbolic Representation’ function for vertical views, you can now suppress intermediate floors. This allows the software to generate a condensed view showing only the shaft head and pit, with all dimensions automatically calculated relative to the total shaft height.
- The Overwrites docking window features three major quality-of-life updates.
- Records are now indexed by creation sequence. Previously, renaming a record triggered an alphabetical re-sort, which could be disorienting when managing long lists. This new indexing ensures the visual order remains static, regardless of name changes.
- A new Display column has been added, showing the actual drawing values for each record. This allows you to verify dimensions or annotations immediately without opening the properties panel.
- Column-based filtering is now available, enabling you to sort records by name, type, or value using logic such as 'contains,' 'starts with,' or 'does not match’.
- DWG external references can now be managed and edited from a single, centralized dialog.
By right clicking a DWG view frame and selecting ‘Show all Externals,’ you can access a sortable table containing every reference within the block.
Editable attributes - such as project number, customer name, and date - are presented in text boxes, while protected fields remain read-only. This update eliminates the need to hunt for individual externals in the data tree, consolidating title block management into one efficient view.
- Ventilation window components now feature new mode flags that ensure associated wall openings rotate correctly.
For wall-mounted components, the vertical offset relative to the ceiling is now maintained. This allows the component to be moved or rotated while keeping its position constant in relation to the ceiling.
3. Annotations and drawing layout
- Leader line positioning is now manually configurable.
By default, the system automatically aligns the leader line to the side of the annotation that is geometrically optimal (left, right, top, or bottom). While effective for most scenarios, certain drawing standards require the leader to attach to a specific side regardless of the annotation's placement.
To accommodate this, the Leader line option property now supports explicit overrides for the left, right, top, or bottom of the text, allowing you to bypass automatic alignment whenever necessary.
- Circular annotation borders are now available as a native annotation type.
Round annotations are a standard convention in shaft drawings, especially for component labeling.
Previously, achieving this look in Liftdesigner required DWG overrides, which added complexity and made maintenance difficult.
Now, these can be created directly within the application. Furthermore, background masks - which clip underlying objects - are fully compatible with the new circular borders, ensuring clean and legible drawings.
- Hole symbols in detail sections and symbolic representation views are now correctly clipped to the view frame’s visible area.
Previously, these symbols could extend beyond section boundaries, causing symbols that straddled the edge to bleed into the area outside the view.
This update aligns hole symbol behavior with standard geometry clipping. Additionally, round shaft openings now feature hatch patterns consistent with rectangular openings, significantly improving legibility in section views.
- Landing doors in plan views now feature a Culling/Clipping Plane option.
This functionality mirrors the existing feature for cabin, which allows you to define a specific cut/culling height.
You can now set the horizontal cutting/culling plane relative to the finished floor, half door height, or the top of the door (clear opening height), with an optional vertical offset.
Since the cut height determines which geometric details are visible in a plan view, this new control eliminates a significant functional gap and the need for manual workarounds.
- PDF exports have now, as a default, a white background, regardless of your application’s display settings.
Previously, if you worked with a dark or colored background in Liftdesigner, the exported PDF would inherit those colors.
The export engine now overrides the workspace theme to ensure that all documents are rendered with a clean, white background for better print compatibility.
4. Pit ladders, lamps, and holes
- Pit ladder has been significantly expanded.
The Common Components library now includes three standard types: ladders with wall fixings, ladders in pockets, and ladders with beam fixings. This update moves beyond previous configuration limits, eliminating the need for custom workarounds for the most common field scenarios.
Step configuration is now managed via a streamlined set of parameters. The First Step Z0 property defines the base height, after which you simply set the number of steps and their interval. The step profile then arrays automatically, making it just as easy to configure a fifteen-step ladder as a five-step one.
Fixing profiles operate independently of the steps and can be positioned along the Z-axis using the Fixing 0/1/2 Z0 parameters.
You can also activate a separator beam for each fixing, which aligns automatically to the fixing’s height.
Note that 'Ladder Fixings' support is not compatible with 'Pocket' mode. These options are available in the Liftdesigner property window when the component is set to 'Set HEIGHT manual' mode.
- Lamp placement can now be synchronized with separator beams.
By selecting the LampList component and setting the Fixing Options to ‘Synchronized with Separator Beams,’ lamps are automatically distributed along the shaft according to the beam positions.
Key parameters include:
- First lamp at: Sets the initial distance from the pit floor.
- Distance between lamps: Controls the distribution interval.
- DZ Offset: Adjusts the vertical distance between the lamp basepoint and the beam basepoint.
- Last Lamp to Shaft Head Min: Defines the minimum required clearance from the top of the shaft.
The placement logic is intuitive: If the lamp interval is greater than the beam spacing, a lamp is placed on every second beam. If the interval is equal to or smaller than the beam spacing, a lamp is placed on every beam.
- Hole positions can now be adjusted independently of their parent components. By selecting a hole element and setting 'Customize' to 'Yes,' the X, Y, and Z coordinates and dimensions become directly editable.
While additional wall openings already follow this logic by default, ventilation window holes can now be switched to this manual mode whenever granular control over their position or size is required.
5. Creating components without leaving Liftdesigner
Previously, creating a new component based on an existing one required a tedious round-trip between Liftdesigner and Liftdatamanager. This involved locating the component, copying and renaming it in Datamanager, and then reloading it in Liftdesigner - a process that added significant overhead during product development. The streamlined four-step process includes:
- Table Review: View exactly which database tables will be duplicated.
- Module Selection: Choose the target manufacturer module via a dropdown.
- Automated Creation: The system generates the new record and copies all associated tables.
- Instant Activation: The new component is automatically activated and selected upon completion.
- The Data Tree Search dialog has been significantly enhanced for better navigation. While the search scope was previously fixed, it now offers four flexible options: Full Tree, Current Node, Parent Node, or Child Nodes.
Search results are fully interactive - simply click a result to jump directly to that location. Additionally, the search window is now persistent; It remains open even as you change selections in the Data Tree, allowing you to perform contextual searches without the need to reopen the dialog.
6. Under the hood
- The C++ codebase has been upgraded to Visual Studio 2022. While this change is invisible to the end user, it is a vital step in future-proofing the application. Transitioning to a modern, supported toolchain allows us to resolve technical debt and ensures the long-term stability and maintainability of the software.
- Components created or modified in Liftdesigner now generate timestamps and user IDs. This tracking is applied across the User Comp, Profile Group, and Rules tables, mirroring the existing functionality of the Datamanager.
By aligning both applications, we’ve ensured data consistency regardless of where a change originates. For firms managing extensive project portfolios, this provides a reliable, built-in audit trail-essential for internal tracking and for clarifying who made specific changes and when.
- Layout settings can now be migrated when installing a new major version.
Instead of manual reconfiguration, you can now import docking window positions, active panels, and Datamanager column arrangements from your previous installation.
A one-time migration prompt will appear during the initial setup of a new major version; this prompt is bypassed for standard maintenance updates within the same version.
- Poolmanager library export settings now persist between sessions.
Previously, the checkbox selections, which determine which combinations of CAD files, textures, sheets, and frames are included in an export, would reset to defaults every time the dialog was opened.
These preferences are now saved to the user profile, ensuring your specific export configurations remain intact for future use.
PART TWO
Elevatorarchitect Online (EAO) and Elevatorarchitect for Revit (EAO-R)
Elevatorarchitect Online and its Revit plugin have undergone a significant development cycle.
On the technical side, Elevatorarchitect Online for Revit has been completely overhauled for improved integration.
Simultaneously, the Similar Supplier model library was substantially expanded, broadening our global reach with new manufacturers and market-specific content.
1. Similar supplier models: new markets and manufacturers
A significant part of this release was expanding EAO’s similar supplier model library.
The Elevator Supplier Model Library now covers a much wider range of manufacturers, products, and regional markets – more than 40 similar elevator models from global manufacturers.
The additions this cycle span India, Brazil, and the US. For the complete list, please reach out to one of our colleagues.
2. Revit integration
The Elevatorarchitect Online Plugin for Autodesk Revit is available on the Autodesk App Store - a convenient option for users in managed IT environments with strict installation protocols or via the DigiPara Website.
Multi-document handling has been significantly improved to ensure data integrity. When working with multiple Revit documents simultaneously, Elevator Group, Site, and Building data are now managed independently per document, effectively eliminating cross-document conflicts.
This update is essential for companys working with linked models or multiple concurrent project files, as it prevents background data interference that previously occurred between open sessions.
Revit users can now manage contract and subscription settings directly within the Elevatorarchitect Online for Revit plugin. This brings feature parity with the web-based Elevatorarchitect Online platform and streamlines the user experience by eliminating the need to switch between applications to manage account details.
Elevator model Re-imports are now faster. Until now, re-importing an elevator in Elevatorarchitect Online as well as the LDBim Import for Revit plugins was an "all or nothing" process. No matter how small the change, the plugins would regenerate the entire elevator group from scratch. For large-scale projects or frequent design iterations, this was a significant bottleneck.
The import process now features intelligent change tracking. When you trigger a re-import, the plugin compares the new against the existing model to identify only the modified content.
The result? True partial updates. If you adjust the geometry in just one shaft, the improved Import process only updates that specific area. By leaving unchanged elements untouched, we’ve drastically reduced processing time and eliminated the risk of unintended modifications to static parts of your model.
CONCLUSION:
Stability and Expansion
This release marks a strategic milestone: a consolidation phase for Liftdesigner and an expansion phase for Elevatorarchitect Online.
The Liftdesigner updates focus on precision and control, introducing refined view frame management, expanded ladder types, optimized component workflows, and enhanced PDF exports.
Simultaneously, the EAO expansion adds Template Builder support for over 30 manufacturer models, significantly increasing our footprint in the Indian, Brazilian, and US markets.
The Revit integration is more robust, the drawing tools more intuitive, and the component library more versatile.
For many, these improvements will "just" result in a smoother, quieter background experience. But, for those who have specifically encountered the cases addressed here, this update provides an improved, reliable path forward.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kai Nitz is DigiPara´s Head of Engineering and has been part of DigiPara GmbH for 26 years.
From "Customer Service" and "Project Management" all the way to "Head of Engineering". He brings a deep, hands-on understanding of the product and the people who rely on it every day.
ABOUT DIGIPARA
DigiPara GmbH is the global leader in elevator CAD and BIM software solutions, headquartered in Germany and deployed in more than 130 countries. Its flagship products, DigiPara Liftdesigner and DigiPara Elevatorarchitect, enable automated 2D drawing production, parametric 3D BIM generation, and ERP-integrated order processing for elevator manufacturers, vertical transportation consultants, and architects worldwide. For over two decades, DigiPara has been the technical infrastructure behind BIM quality in vertical transportation.