ECO Generation Options for a Project in Altium Designer

The ECO Generation tab of the Project Options dialog

Summary

The ECO Generation tab of the Project Options dialog enables you to configure which modification types can be included when generating an Engineering Change Order (ECO) based on differences found by the Comparator.

Access

This is one of multiple tabs available when configuring the options for a project – accessed from within the Project Options dialog. To access this dialog:

• Click Project » Project Options in the Schematic or PCB Editor.
• Right-click on the Project entry on the Projects panel then click Project Options from the context menu.

Options/Controls

Modification Type list

This list presents all possible modifications that can be made through an Engineering Change Order when synchronizing the source schematic documents with the PCB design document. The list entries include categories for modification types associated with Components, Nets, Parameters, Structure Classes, etc.

Each specific modification type includes the following fields:

• Modification Type Description – this is a short description of the type of modification (the action to be taken by the Synchronizer).
• Mode – use this field to control whether the modification type is included in any generated ECO or not. Use the drop-down to choose from the following:
  •  Generate Change Orders - include the modification type in a generated ECO.
  •  Ignore Differences - exclude the modification type from a generated ECO.

Right-Click Menu

The following command is available from the right-click context menu:

• Report – use this command to generate a report of the currently configured modification modes. The Report Preview dialog will appear with the report already loaded. Use this dialog to inspect the report using various page/zoom controls before ultimately exporting it to file or printing it.

Additional Options

• Push Component Designator Changes to Annotation File (if any) – check to include component designator changes in the annotation file.
• Set To Installation Defaults – click to return the Mode entries for all modification types to their default settings.