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ACD/ChemSketch
A discontinued Windows application for drawing chemical structures, reaction schemes, and publication figures.
Free with paid plans. 35 of 65 checklist features confirmed.
Official demo
Main canvas
Needs Windows
Needs Windows
Default drawings
Needs Windows
Caffeine
Needs Windows
Paclitaxel
Needs Windows
Cholesterol in 3D
Facts
- Latest version
- 2025
- Runs on
- Windows
- License
- Formerly free for home and educational use, with a separate commercial edition; freeware discontinued.
- Price
- Unavailable to new customers (2026-11-05).
- Plans
- ChemSketch Freeware: $0 historical; home/education, existing installations only (2026-11-06); ChemSketch: Unavailable to new customers (2026-11-06)
- Relies on
- Not established. Public vendor materials do not establish canvas provenance or chemistry libraries.
- Main language
- Not published
- Other languages
- C: Native InChI chemistry library; ChemBasic: Optional bundled automation scripts
- Renderer
- Not established
- Third-party licenses
- Not established
- Freeware is discontinued; existing installations may continue under their applicable license terms.
- No longer sold to new customers; no current public installation download is offered.
- Some historical feature evidence comes from indexed official product pages that now redirect to ChemDraw.
Features
- Tested by running it
- Seen in the app
- The manual says yes
- Partly, with the reason shown
- Not supported
- Not established, which is not the same as no
Select a mark for its proof. A filled mark opens our screenshot, or the manual if the check left nothing to picture. A ring opens the manual.
Drawing structures
- Yes, according to the manual: Click bonds to cycle single, double, and triple orders. Opens the cited page.Single, double and triple bondsClick bonds to cycle single, double, and triple orders.acdlabs.com
- Not established: Wedges and hashes documented; wavy bond support unverified.Wedge, hash and wavy bondsWedges and hashes documented; wavy bond support unverified.
- Not establishedDative, hydrogen and quadruple bonds
- Not establishedChoose double-bond side
- Not establishedRing tools
- Not establishedChair and Haworth rings
- Yes, according to the manual: Drag chains with the atom count displayed beside the pointer. Opens the cited page.Chain toolDrag chains with the atom count displayed beside the pointer.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Molecule, laboratory equipment, and orbital templates. Opens the cited page.Template libraryMolecule, laboratory equipment, and orbital templates.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Save persistent user templates with configurable attachment points. Opens the cited page.Save your own templatesSave persistent user templates with configurable attachment points.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Expand shorthand formulas into explicit structural fragments. Opens the cited page.Group abbreviationsExpand shorthand formulas into explicit structural fragments.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Set elements, charges, valence, and isotopes. Opens the cited page.Charges, isotopes and atom labelsSet elements, charges, valence, and isotopes.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Attach horizontal or vertical lone pairs to atoms. Opens the cited page.Radicals and lone pairsAttach horizontal or vertical lone pairs to atoms.acdlabs.com
- Not established: Shortcuts documented; atom-hover editing unverified.Keyboard drawingShortcuts documented; atom-hover editing unverified.
- Not established: Lasso and rotation documented; complete transform set unverified.Lasso select and transformsLasso and rotation documented; complete transform set unverified.
- Yes, according to the manual: Rotate structures in two or three dimensions on the canvas. Opens the cited page.Tilt drawings in perspectiveRotate structures in two or three dimensions on the canvas.acdlabs.com
Reactions and mechanisms
- Yes, according to the manual: Forward and equilibrium arrows with adjustable length. Opens the cited page.Reaction arrowsForward and equilibrium arrows with adjustable length.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Editable arcs with arrowheads provide curved mechanism arrows. Opens the cited page.Curved mechanism arrowsEditable arcs with arrowheads provide curved mechanism arrows.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: RXN reaction exchange. Opens the cited page.Machine-readable reactionsVendor claim: RXN reaction exchange.revvitysignals.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Historical vendor claim: associate reactant atoms with product atoms. Opens the cited page.Atom mappingHistorical vendor claim: associate reactant atoms with product atoms.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Insert and edit orbital templates. Opens the cited page.Orbitals and symbolsInsert and edit orbital templates.acdlabs.com
Figures and layout
- Not established: Text fields documented; required formatting controls unverified.Rich text captionsText fields documented; required formatting controls unverified.
- Yes, according to the manual: Draw mode provides squares, lines, arrows, and curved lines. Opens the cited page.Shapes, brackets and curvesDraw mode provides squares, lines, arrows, and curved lines.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Align selected objects horizontally, vertically, or to the left. Opens the cited page.Align and distributeAlign selected objects horizontally, vertically, or to the left.acdlabs.com
- Not establishedGroup and ungroup
- Yes, according to the manual: Clean Structure standardizes bond lengths and angles. Opens the cited page.2D structure cleanupClean Structure standardizes bond lengths and angles.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: ACS and RSC drawing presets demonstrated. Opens the cited page.Journal drawing stylesACS and RSC drawing presets demonstrated.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Save modified drawing styles and set defaults. Opens the cited page.Reusable custom stylesSave modified drawing styles and set defaults.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Change individual atom and bond colors. Opens the cited page.Color controlChange individual atom and bond colors.acdlabs.com
- Not establishedColor highlighting
- Not established: Page size documented; multipage documents unverified.Page layout and multipagePage size documented; multipage documents unverified.
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: import JPG, PNG, GIF, and bitmap images. Opens the cited page.Imported picturesVendor claim: import JPG, PNG, GIF, and bitmap images.revvitysignals.com
- Not establishedTLC plates and tables
Chemistry intelligence
- Not established: Valence editing documented; error flagging unverified.Structure checkingValence editing documented; error flagging unverified.
- Not established: R/S designation documented; computed R/S and E/Z unverified.R/S and E/Z labelsR/S designation documented; computed R/S and E/Z unverified.
- Yes, according to the manual: Calculates molecular formula and formula weight. Opens the cited page.Formula and massCalculates molecular formula and formula weight.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Freeware includes logP prediction. Opens the cited page.Property estimatesFreeware includes logP prediction.acdlabs.com
- Partly: Commercial dictionary lookup; general conversion requires separately purchased ACD/Name. Opens the cited page.Name to structureChemSketch. Commercial dictionary lookup; general conversion requires separately purchased ACD/Name.acdlabs.com
- Partly: Limited elements, 50 atoms, three rings, and 100-character names. Opens the cited page.Structure to nameLimited elements, 50 atoms, three rings, and 100-character names.acdlabs.com
- Not established: Separate NMR prediction products exist; ChemSketch inclusion unverified.NMR predictionSeparate NMR prediction products exist; ChemSketch inclusion unverified.
- Yes, according to the manual: R-groups, positional variants, and structure enumeration. Opens the cited page.R-groups and query structuresR-groups, positional variants, and structure enumeration.acdlabs.com
- Not established: Bracket drawing documented; chemical repeat-unit semantics unverified.Polymers and repeat unitsBracket drawing documented; chemical repeat-unit semantics unverified.
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: peptide sequences through FASTA and HELM. Opens the cited page.Peptides and nucleic acidsVendor claim: peptide sequences through FASTA and HELM.revvitysignals.com
- Not establishedImage to structure
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: access PubChem, eMolecules, and ChemSpider databases. Opens the cited page.Online structure lookupVendor claim: access PubChem, eMolecules, and ChemSpider databases.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Included 3D Viewer supports rotating molecules. Opens the cited page.3D model viewIncluded 3D Viewer supports rotating molecules.acdlabs.com
- Not establishedCrystal structures
Files and exchange
- Partly: Vendor format table specifies CDXML import only. Opens the cited page.CDXML import and exportVendor format table specifies CDXML import only.revvitysignals.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: CDX import and export. Opens the cited page.CDX import and exportVendor claim: CDX import and export.revvitysignals.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: MOL import/export; SDF support unverified. Opens the cited page.MOL and SDFVendor claim: MOL import/export; SDF support unverified.revvitysignals.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: SMILES input and output. Opens the cited page.SMILESVendor claim: SMILES input and output.revvitysignals.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Generate InChI identifiers from drawn structures. Opens the cited page.InChIGenerate InChI identifiers from drawn structures.acdlabs.com
- Yes, according to the manual: Vendor claim: RXN import and export. Opens the cited page.RXN filesVendor claim: RXN import and export.revvitysignals.com
- Not establishedSVG export
- Not established: PDF output documented; vector preservation unverified.PDF exportPDF output documented; vector preservation unverified.
- Not established: PNG output documented; 300 dpi capability unverified.High-resolution PNGPNG output documented; 300 dpi capability unverified.
- Not established: ChemDraw paste-in documented; editable roundtrip unverified.Paste to and from ChemDrawChemDraw paste-in documented; editable roundtrip unverified.
- Not established: OLE embedding documented; re-editing not explicitly verified.Editable in Word or PowerPointOLE embedding documented; re-editing not explicitly verified.
- Not establishedWindows Office OLE
APIs and automation
- Not establishedPython API
- Not establishedJavaScript or TypeScript API
- Not establishedCommand-line tool
- Not establishedAI agent control
- Not establishedBuilt-in AI assistant
Embedding and extension
- Yes, according to the manual: Add-On Organizer installs ChemSketch extensions. Opens the cited page.PluginsAdd-On Organizer installs ChemSketch extensions.acdlabs.com
- Not established: OLE objects supported; in-place editor hosting unconfirmed.Embed in your own appOLE objects supported; in-place editor hosting unconfirmed.acdlabs.com