Renew

The trial, the quarterly licence (3 months) and the yearly licence have an expiry date. A quarterly or yearly purchase delivers a new licence key. Use the old key until it expires, then activate the new key. A licence issued as a file needs a separate support request.

A perpetual licence never expires. For a perpetual licence you renew the updates: see Renew the updates of a perpetual licence.

See the expiry date

Click Settings on the AFDIM ribbon tab and open the About tab. The Licence group shows the plan and a date, in the format dd/MM/yyyy:

• For a yearly licence, the line looks like yearly · expires 31/12/2026.
• For a perpetual licence, the line shows the end of its updates, for example perpetual · updates until 03/10/2027.

Quarterly and yearly licences do not renew automatically. To keep using AFDIM after the expiry date, renew the licence as described below.

Renew a licence key

For quarterly and yearly licences, the new purchase does not extend the old key. No request code or support email is needed:

1. Open the Licence page, or click Buy / Renew in AFDIM. Choose Renewal of my licence or its updates and the quarterly or yearly plan.
2. Pay in Paddle’s checkout. Prices exclude tax; the checkout adds the tax of your country and shows the total before payment.
3. A new licence key is emailed automatically after Paddle confirms payment. Keep it until the old key expires.
4. After the old key expires, use Enter licence key… on the About tab to activate the new key. Its period starts at its first activation.

Do not enter the new key early: doing so starts its period and replaces the licence installed on that computer. Keep your old key and the receipt email. Your drawing and settings are kept.

If no key arrives, check spam and contact support@afdim.com with the Paddle order number. AFDIM’s background renewal check does not switch you to a newly purchased key.

Renew a licence file

1. In AutoCAD, click Buy / Renew. The button is on the About tab and in the AFDIM is not activated window. Your browser opens the Licence page with a request from this computer filled in, and with renewal and your plan chosen. You can also click Request licence to get the code yourself and paste it on that page.
2. Pay with the button under the plan. Paddle’s checkout opens over the page, and once you have paid, the order number is filled in.
3. Send the email that the page prepares.
4. The new licence is issued within 3 business days.
5. AFDIM on this computer collects the licence by itself while AutoCAD is open and online. A window titled Your AFDIM licence has arrived tells you.
6. If AFDIM does not collect the licence, load the license.json that you receive with Load licence… on the About tab. See Activate a licence.

The new file takes over as soon as it is loaded. You can load it before the old licence expires. You do not need to reinstall AFDIM, and your settings are kept.

Renew the updates of a perpetual licence

A perpetual licence never expires, but it covers only the AFDIM versions released up to the end of its updates. The updates end 12 months after the purchase. The Licence group shows this date, for example as perpetual · updates until 03/10/2027. Support lasts as long as the updates.

Renewing adds 12 months (365 days) of updates and support. If the current end date has not passed yet, the 365 days follow on from it, so renewing early loses nothing. If the date has passed, the 365 days count from the paid renewal. Renewing updates does not restore or extend the one self-service computer move available only in the first 365 days after purchase.

You need to renew only to use a version that was released after that date. Autodesk releases a new AutoCAD every year, and a new AutoCAD can need a newer AFDIM. Renew before you upgrade AutoCAD.

1. In AutoCAD, click Buy / Renew on the About tab. Your browser opens the Licence page with renewal chosen and the plan Perpetual: 12 more months of updates.
2. Before opening checkout, enter your existing perpetual licence key in the verification field on afdim.com. The website sends the key only to api.afdim.com. Paddle receives a one-use reference, not your key.
3. After the check succeeds, pay for the update renewal in Paddle’s checkout. Confirm that the chosen key is the one you want to extend before paying.
4. After Paddle confirms payment, the same key receives the extension automatically. A confirmation email shows the new end date. No separate email request is needed.
5. Enter the same key again with Enter licence key… to receive the new date at once. AFDIM also picks up the new date by itself. It checks from 14 days before the old date until 30 days after it, and when you install a version that was released after the old date. A window titled Your AFDIM licence has been renewed tells you.

If your licence was issued as a file and has no key, contact support before paying. That case needs a licence file issued for your computer. Orders with a missing or invalid verification reference require review and are not applied to an arbitrary key.

A newer version does not run

A version released after the end of your updates does not run with the licence. AFDIM does not offer such a version as an update. Instead, the Updates group reads:

Version <version> is available, but your perpetual licence covers the versions released up to <date>. Renew updates at afdim.com ("Buy / Renew") to get it; the version you have keeps working.

Here <version> is the new version, and <date> is the end of your updates, in the format dd/MM/yyyy.

If such a version was installed anyway, for example with its installer, the Licence group shows Released after your update period. The group also explains your choices: renew the updates, or go back to the previous version. In addition, AFDIM prints:

[AFDIM] Cannot run: this version was released after the licence's update period. Activate it in Settings > About.

Renew the updates as described above, or go back to the version you had before. To go back, click Go back to <version> in the Updates group. See Go back to the previous version. Versions released before the date keep running without a time limit.

After expiry

If the licence expires before you renew it, the status changes to Expired. AFDIM then stops running and prints:

[AFDIM] Cannot run: the licence has expired. Activate it in Settings > About.

AFDIM also opens the AFDIM is not activated window. Its advice depends on how you activated the licence:

• With a licence key: Renew at afdim.com ("Buy / Renew"). AFDIM collects the new end date by itself within a day; to have it at once, enter your licence key again.
• With a licence file: Renew, then choose "Load licence".

The key advice describes a renewal applied to the same key. A normal quarterly or yearly Paddle purchase delivers a new key instead: enter that new key after the old one expires, as described above.

The settings dialog keeps working from Settings on the AFDIM ribbon tab, so you can still enter a key, request a licence and load a licence. Your drawings and the dimensions already in them are not affected. When the renewed licence is installed on this computer, AFDIM runs again.