Set up Autodesk Flex

Autodesk Flex allows your occasional users to use tokens to access any product available with Flex for 24 hours at a time. After you purchase Flex tokens, you can assign users and specify which products they can access. For an overview, see Autodesk Flex.

Important: To avoid being charged for idle time, your users should sign out or close products when not in use.

Three Steps to Get Started with Flex (video: 2:44 min)

Follow these steps to set up Flex and invite your occasional users to access Autodesk products available with Flex.

1. Buy Flex tokens. See Buy tokens.

2. Sign into Autodesk Account at manage.autodesk.com and click User Management > By Product.

3. Select Flex and click Assign Users.

4. Choose one of the following depending on whether you are assigning an existing user or inviting a new user. 

   • Existing Users: begin typing in their name. Select the existing user from the list when it displays. See Add and remove users.

   • New Users: enter their full name followed by an email address in angle brackets (for example, John Doe <john.doe@email.com>).

   Note: New users are asked to create an Autodesk Account if they don’t have one. If a new user doesn't accept an invitation within seven days, you need to resend the invitation.

5. View your Flex usage reports. See Get Flex usage information. 

You can specify which products are available to your occasional users with Flex.

1. Sign into Autodesk Account at manage.autodesk.com and click User Management > By Product.

2. In the product list, select Flex. 

3. Under Assigned Users, select the user you want to manage to display a list of products and services.

4. Select the products and services you want to assign or clear any you want to unassign. 

   Note: If all products are selected (no products are cleared), when Autodesk adds new products to Flex, the new products are automatically accessible. You must proactively unassign if you do not want automatic access to new products.

5. Click Save Changes. 

Users receive an email notifying them that they have access to products when assigned individually. If you use Import to assign, email notifications are not sent.

As an alternative to managing product access on an individual user basis, you can set up default access to products and services for your entire team. When you select the default assignment setting, existing and new users will access the same set of selected products.

Note: Default assignments are automatically turned off for guest users and Autodesk recommends leaving them off. However, if you need to turn default assignments on (or off) for guest users, you can contact Autodesk support to do so.

To set up default assignments:

1. Sign into Autodesk Account at  manage.autodesk.com.    

2. On your Account page, select User Management > By User.

3. Choose the Flex team for which you want to manage default assignments.

4. Click the Team Settings gear icon at the top right.

5. Under User Management > Default Assignments, click Set Up Default Assignments.

6. In the Manage Default Assignments dialog, click Flex.

7. Select the products you want to assign default access to. When Autodesk adds new products to Flex, the new products are not automatically accessible to users with default assignments. Edit the default assignments list to assign access to the new products.

8. Click Save Changes to activate default assignments.

To turn off default assignments:

• In the Manage Default Assignments dialog, clear all products.

Note: Email notifications are not sent to users for changes to default assignments.

Subscription and trial priority

When a user is assigned to both a single-user subscription and Flex tokens, tokens are not used. For example, if you assign an AutoCAD subscription that user will not consume tokens for AutoCAD.

Similarly, users in a trial period do not consume tokens for that product. Tell your users to ignore the expiring trial message. After the trial period ends, they will start using tokens.

Note: Subscription and trial priority applies only if the same Autodesk ID is used for sign-in authentication.

When you purchase additional tokens, they are added to your team’s token balance. Tokens from each Flex purchase are valid for one year from the date of purchase, with older tokens consumed first. This ensures that you have the most time to use your tokens.

If you manage multiple teams, check that the Flex purchase has been added to the correct team. If not, you can move it to another team that you manage from within Autodesk Account. See Flex tokens and teams.

Installation and sign-in for the occasional user

Your Flex token users can download and install products.

1. Sign into your Autodesk Account at manage.autodesk.com and click All Products and Services.

1. In the product name list, select Flex. Click View Items.

You don’t need to reinstall if you change from Flex to a single-user subscription license, or have a supported version already installed from a prior subscription or trial.