The Add-ons Ribbon includes a curated selection of Ansys-provided Mechanical Add-ons, formerly referred to as ACT extensions. This easy access eliminates the need to open the Extensions Manager. Add-ons are grouped into related functional areas such as hydrodynamic loads, additive manufacturing, rigid dynamics, and so on.

Loading and Unloading Add-ons

To load an add-on, simply click the desired icon in the Add-ons Ribbon. Once an add-on is loaded, its icon in the ribbon will be highlighted in blue and a new tab is added. To unload an add-on, simply click the icon in the ribbon again. The tab goes away.

The loaded/unloaded status of an add-on is persistent (stored in the application's appdata), meaning an add-on will keep that status the next time you open Mechanical. You may want to unload an add-on after each use.

It is important to note that Workbench must be free when loading or unloading add-ons, so ensure the Extensions Manager is closed in Workbench before using the Add-ons Ribbon.

Finding Help for an Add-on

To access the documentation for any add-on, hover over the icon of the desired add-on. Once the tooltip is displayed, press the F1 key. It will open the corresponding documentation for the selected add-on. If you want to review all functions of the add-ons, click the Add-ons Help entry in the Support group of the Add-ons Ribbon.

Known Limitations