Bentley’s intelligent drafting compass, AccuDraw, received major upgrades in XM, including better contextual snap points and a more intuitive interface for entering polar or Cartesian coordinates. This dramatically improved 2D and 3D drafting speed.

: A minimum of 256MB of RAM was required, though 512MB was strongly recommended for handling larger infrastructure models.

The most visible change in MicroStation XM was the introduction of the task-based navigation system. Instead of a sea of floating toolboxes, XM organized commands into logical task lists (e.g., "Drawing," "Modeling," "Detailing") that presented only the relevant tools. It also introduced the Tool Settings window, which dynamically changed based on the selected tool, dramatically reducing screen clutter.