Subscription content

Products included

The new subscription offering includes not only an online Tekla Structures license, but also a license of Trimble Connect is included to support your collaboration. The Tekla Structures configurations have been streamlined down to three:

Tekla Structures Diamond is for detailing & production information.
Tekla Structures Graphite is for modeling & design documentation.
Tekla Structures Carbon is for viewing & collaboration.

Note that the old configurations are still used with on-premises licensing like before.

Services included

Subscription includes a full range of services: BIM Software Training and Support Services.

Online licensing included

The Tekla Structures subscription licenses are managed in the Tekla Online Admin tool. User management is in the same tool for both internal and external users. Tekla Online Admin tool allows you to access your license usage data and you can also manage the subscription renewals easily from the same tool.

Subscription benefits

The new Tekla Structures subscription offering delivers a simpler, easier and much more flexible access to the Tekla Structures software and all related services.

With the new Tekla Structures subscription you can:

Get new licenses with a lower upfront investment.
Map your needs easily against the simplified set of Tekla Structures configurations.
Expand into new business opportunities with a software that is not limited by structural material.
Manage all your Tekla Structures licenses and users online in one centralized place and see how your licenses are used.
Balance your license base more flexibly according to the changing needs in your business.
Use your license wherever you are, also without a VPN connection to your office, or a separate license borrowing tool.

Online license types

Tekla Structures online licenses are purchased as a recurring or fixed-term subscription. The license details, including renewal information, can be viewed in the Tekla Online Admin Tool. The licenses unlock the Tekla Structures Carbon, Tekla Structures Graphite, or Tekla Structures Diamond configurations, which progressively enable more product features.

Tekla Online administrators assign licenses to users. Tekla Structures online licenses are named single-user licenses. Each user must have their own Trimble Identity and Tekla Structures subscription license seat.

Different license types are available to match your needs for flexibility:

If you have a Standard Tekla Structures online subscription license, you can assign the license for a total of four times per calendar year. This allows you to keep using the license when there are unexpected changes, such as if an employee changes roles or leaves the company.
Flex and Worldwide licenses can be reassigned from one user to another without limitations. If you plan to switch licenses from user to user, you should select one of these licenses.
Standard and Flex licenses must only be used within the country of purchase. Worldwide licenses can be assigned to users in any country.
You can assign Standard, Flex, and Worldwide licenses to both employees and external users.

What has changed in the start-up

Like earlier, download and install Tekla Structures and at least one of the Tekla Structures environments from Tekla Downloads.

If you do not install any environment and start Tekla Structures, Tekla Structures prompts you to first install an environment before continuing the start-up.
If you have Tekla Structures extension packages (.tsep) that still need to be installed, Tekla Structures opens a progress dialog box about the installation. You can cancel the installation in this dialog box, if needed. However, note that environment setting files are installed even if you cancel. Any remaining extensions in the installation queue are canceled and postponed to the next start-up, like earlier.
Sign in to your Trimble Identity. With an online license, this is obligatory.

If you get the cookie policy message, click X to dismiss it.

The default sign-in period is 30 days, and after that a new sign in will be required.
The new online subscription license is now the default licensing option. In the renewed licensing dialog box, the Use your Tekla online license licensing option is selected by default, and your user name is shown under the option.

Note that if you have an on-premises license, you need to select the Use your on-premises license server option.
When you start Tekla Structures, the configuration list shows the configurations you are entitled to, like earlier. When you click OK after selecting your environment, role and configuration, the license is now consumed at that point. Previously, this happened when you opened a model.
You can release the online license and use the same license on another computer. To do this, clear the Keep this license reserved on this device check box in the closing confirmation message box.
For fluent use of your online license and the Tekla Online services complementing the Tekla software products, check the following: Requirements for connecting to Tekla Online services.

You can use online license for working offline

Using Tekla Structures offline is easy with the online license. To use Tekla Structures offline, close Tekla Structures, and ensure that the Keep this license reserved on this device check box is selected in the closing confirmation message box. The maximum offline time is 3 days.

If the connection to Tekla Online licensing service is lost during online use, a notification is displayed. Your Tekla Structures is then in offline mode and will continue to function normally for the amount of time shown in the notification.

The notification message will change depending on the amount of time left for offline use.
Tekla Structures will try to reconnect automatically. You can also try to reconnect manually by clicking the Try reconnecting now button. If the button is disabled, it means that reconnecting is not possible at the moment; we recommend you to wait until the button is enabled and try again.
If the offline mode time runs out, you can no longer use Tekla Structures. You can either Save the model and close Tekla Structures or Close Tekla Structures.

Using roles for ribbon selection

With the legacy on-premises licenses, all the main Tekla Structures user groups, such as steel detailers and rebar detailers, have their own configurations, and based on the configuration, a suitable ribbon is displayed in Tekla Structures.

With the subscription licenses, the same configurations are now used by different Tekla Structures user groups. For example, steel detailers, precast detailers, and rebar detailers all use the Tekla Structures Diamond configuration.

Now, the suitable ribbon for a certain Tekla Structures user group, for example, a steel specific ribbon for the steel detailers, is defined by using the role selection on the Tekla Structures setup dialog box when Tekla Structures is started.

The role-specific .ini files in environments contain new advanced options XS_RIBBON_CONFIGURATION_DIAMOND, XS_RIBBON_CONFIGURATION_GRAPHITE, and XS_RIBBON_CONFIGURATION_CARBON which define the ribbons for the specific role. The advanced options point to the configuration identifiers of the ribbon files. It is not possible to make up new configuration identifiers.

For more information, see Overview of environments, roles and licenses.

Skip the sign in dialog box during start-up

A new advanced option XS_SKIP_START_UP_SIGNIN_ON_PREMISE_LICENSING has been added to skip the sign in dialog box during the Tekla Structures start-up. The sign in is skipped when you set this advanced to TRUE. It is especially useful if you use on-premises licenses and do not want to or cannot sign in. This advanced option must be read by Tekla Structures in the early stages of starting up. You can set it as a Windows environment variable, in a batch file, or in bypass.ini.

Use of firm, project, and system folders prevented when there is a risk of incorrect settings

You now get a warning about firm and project folders that are not found while Tekla Structures starts and the model loads. The warning is shown both in the Tekla Structures window and the session history log file. The use of these folders is prevented in the current Tekla Structures session, so you do not work with incorrect settings.

You also get a warning about system folders that do not exist or are not accessible. The use of these system folders is prevented in the current Tekla Structures session, so you do not work with incorrect settings.

You can re-open the model to start using the folders again.

New Tekla Structures subscription offering and start-up changes