Is there software that can view .dwg
files ?
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4This might be interesting: http://www.tech-edv.co.at/05_LUnIx/80_CAD~2f3d/30_Utilities/ – Rinzwind Jun 14 '11 at 11:28
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possible duplicate of What good CAD programs are available? – Luís de Sousa Aug 12 '14 at 07:01
8 Answers
DraftSight. It doesn't cost money and they'll give you a nice .deb installer... but it's not open source or free software.
On the upside, it will also let you create and edit .dwg
files.
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@Salrandazzo There's still a free version but they bundle it with the Professional trial. – Oli May 17 '16 at 15:26
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@richard I'm really not sure how much more comprehensive the answer could be on that. – Oli Aug 15 '17 at 21:42
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the link for free version, but they require a registration. https://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/free-download/ – user227958 Dec 09 '17 at 18:57
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LX Viewer (source: http://sourceforge.net/projects/lx-viewer/files/ )
LX-Viewer is a program that will allow you to open, view, print and convert DWG or DXF files, typically used in AutoCAD related technical drafting. The most important feature is that LX-Viewer allows you to manipulate your DWG data on the Linux platform. You may zoom and pan the drawing as you would in AutoCAD. Files can be saved to DWG or DXF formats from AutoCAD version 2.5 to 2002, also as BMP, SVG and PNG formats. Files can be printed or plotted to a Postscript printer or to file. Multiple files can be batch converted or batch plotted. Layer states can be changed (on/off, freeze/thaw, etc) with a full layer dialog. The paperspace/model space toggle is fully implemented, as is the ability to select among various paperspace layouts for AutoCAD drawings.

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8Now more than a decade out of date. Won't support any recent file version formats. – David McNeill Jan 18 '15 at 02:22
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3Also (nearly?) impossible to build with a modern system, requiring a pre-built shared lib (openDWG) that doesn't seem available. – jtbr Jun 28 '18 at 19:54
I use ODA Drawings Explorer (formerly known as Teigha Viewer) available from the Open Design Alliance, and also the ODA File Converter (formerly known as Teigha File Converter) from the same provider. Packages are available for Ubuntu. It is freeware but not free nor open source software.
ODA Drawings Explorer incorporates the power and flexibility of ODA into a single application that can render both .dwg files and .dgn files using a common command interface for both formats.

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I have installed Teigha Viewer in many Ubuntus, and it always crashed when trying to open any DWG file. Do you have any advice to make it work? – chronos00 Mar 22 '18 at 00:07
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I created the following question to try to solve the problem: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1018121/teigha-viewer-for-dwg-files-how-to-install-and-make-it-work-properly – chronos00 Mar 22 '18 at 02:05
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Maybe was a now resolved bug, @chronos00 I answered your question, opened several DWGs without any problem so far. – Pablo Bianchi Dec 05 '19 at 04:20
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1This, Big Time! Thank you. After trying like 20 apps, this solved my issue, opening dwg on linux. I'm running AppImage without any issues or crashes. – darkless Jan 29 '23 at 09:59
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1LibreCAD worked for me but the file was zoomed out. I had to zoom in on the red crosshair symbol to see the drawing. – mchid Dec 05 '19 at 04:36
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@michid Thanks! By the way, there is also an "Auto-Zoom" feature in the "View" menu. – Sep 12 '20 at 04:18
de·caff Viewer
The de·caff Viewer is a pure Java program for viewing AutoCAD® DWG, DXF and SHX files.
- Supports textual and binary DXF format from the version written by AutoCAD® R7 up to 2018.
- Supports DWG from the version written by AutoCAD® R13 up to 2018.
- Supports SHX (binary shape files) in all known formats.

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I used ZWCAD Viewer https://www.zwsoft.com/zwcad/viewer
It's free, was easy to install on Ubuntu 16.04 and could open my .dwg files without crashing.

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My all time fav is Inkscape - Free, opensource and mature. Find it within the “Ubuntu software” app also. It is a great vector drawing progam too in it’s own right.

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