With the release of Autodesk Inventor 2026.2, a new Place and Insert command has been added to Inventor. It is located in the expanded placement drop-down menu, as shown below. This new option enables you to select, place, and fully assign an insert constraint to circular edges, all at once.
Once the option is selected, a new Properties panel opens (as shown below), enabling you to navigate to and select a component for placement. If the component has a model state associated with it, you can also select the required state. Once the component is opened, you can place it in the graphics window to begin the assignment of the placement references.
To assign references in the Input Geometry area:
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With the Source field active, select the circular edge on the component being placed.
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With the Target field active, select either the
(Select Target Edges) or 
(Select Target Planar Faces with Edges) option to determine the type of reference that will be selected. When using the face option, the same component is automatically placed on all references.
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With
(Select Target Edges) selected, you can select a single circular edge on the target component.
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With
(Select Target Planar Faces with Edges) selected, you can select a face and all circular edges on the face will be automatically selected.
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Flip the insert’s alignment solution using the two options in the Solution area.
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Enter an offset between the edges, if necessary.
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(Optional) Select Lock Rotation to fully constrain the component and prevent it from leaving the rotational degree of freedom open.
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Click OK to complete the placement of the components.
The two animated GIFs below show the difference between the two reference selection options.
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With
(Select Target Edges) selected, you can select a single circular edge on the target component and a single instance of the component is placed into the assembly.
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With
(Select Target Planar Faces with Edges) selected, you can select a face and all circular edges on the face will be automatically selected, and multiple components will be placed at once.
I hope this helps you.
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