Creating Projects and Documents in Altium Designer
The starting point for every design created in Altium Designer is a project. An Altium Designer project collects together a set of design documents whose output ultimately defines a single implementation of what you intend to create. For example, the schematics and PCB in a PCB project include the file set required to manufacture a printed circuit board. In contrast, the file set you output from a harness project is used to purchase and assemble a wiring harness, and the logical schematic and physical assembly files in a multi-board project output the file set to manufacture and assemble a complete product with multiple connected PCBs.
The project's set of design documents can be brought together from any accessible source, local to the machine or otherwise, the project file relating them together as a unified design. The software uses dynamic compilation to create and manage a unified data model of the project's components and their connectivity. This data model can then be used to propagate design changes between the design domains – for example, synchronizing to resolve differences between documents in the Schematic and PCB domains.
The project documents can be created and stored in your Altium Workspace, within your version control system, or locally as files on the available network.
The sections below describe how to create a new project and add design documents to an existing project.
Creating a New Project Using the Create Project Dialog
A new project can be created within Altium Designer using the Create Project dialog (File » New » Project).
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In the Locations list, select the entry for your Workspace (it will appear with the name defined for it) – you must be actively connected to the Workspace to see this option in the listing. This will be the target server in which to store your new Workspace project.
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In the Project Type list, choose the type of project you wish to create, and choose from the applicable templates available as required. The <Empty> entry will create a shell project with no initial source documents.
Learn more about Creating a Project Template.
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Enter a Project Name and, optionally, a project Description.
The Create Project dialog includes further options:
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Check the Version Control option (the default) to impose all VCS capabilities on the project, such as history and advanced sharing capabilities. When unchecked, the project is stored in the Workspace and synchronized with the local copy – a 'mirrored' project in the Simple Sync format.
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When creating a project of the PCB type, check the Constraint Management option to manage design constraints for this project using the Constraint Manager. When the option is disabled, the design rules system will be used for this project.
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When connected to an Enterprise Server Workspace, the Repository drop-down menu (if present) will list all design repositories managed through Workspace's Version Control Service, and which have been shared with you to use. Choose the repository in which to store the new project and its files – there is a single Git-based repository (
Versioned Storage
) available by default. If an SVN type repository is selected, an additional Repository Folder option is available for specifying or browsing to an alternative target folder within the repository itself. -
Click the Advanced control to specify folder paths.
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Use the Folder field to specify where the folder for the project – within the Workspace's folder structure – is to be created. The default path for new projects is specified on the Admin – Settings – Projects page of the Workspace's browser interface (by default, this will be
Projects\<ProjectName>
). Click the button to browse to and select a different Workspace folder, if required. - Use the Local Storage field to specify where the local version of the project will be stored on your hard drive. The default location is defined on the System – Default Locations page of the Preferences dialog. Click the button to browse to and select a different folder location, if required. This is the 'working' folder for the project and the local Git repository it is committed to. The project is ultimately, or at the time of committal, pushed to the centralized design repository in the Workspace (Versioned Storage), which is the remote Git repository.
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Use the Folder field to specify where the folder for the project – within the Workspace's folder structure – is to be created. The default path for new projects is specified on the Admin – Settings – Projects page of the Workspace's browser interface (by default, this will be
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Use the Parameters list area to add or remove custom Name/Value parameter pairs that are associated with the project and saved in the Workspace. Use the button to add a new parameter Name-Value pairing to the list or the button to remove a selected pairing. The Name and Value fields allow a maximum of 255 characters. When creating a Workspace project, these Workspace project parameters are saved in the Workspace with the new project as Workspace-side project-level parameters.
When a project template is selected in the Project Type list of the dialog, the Parameters list area will be loaded with parameters from this template. If required, you can change these parameters (names and/or values) or remove them. When creating a Workspace project, a parameter from the selected template will be saved as a design-side project-level parameter if the parameter name has not been changed. Otherwise, it will be saved as a Workspace-side project-level parameter.
With the project defined as required, click the button. The new project structure will be created in the specified local and Workspace folders. The project will be opened in the Projects panel, which will reflect the fully synchronized state that exists between the files in the remote design repository (in the Workspace) and the local (working copy) repository – as indicated by the associated icons. If created with the Version Control option unchecked (available in an Altium 365 Workspace only), the mirrored project will be shown in the Projects panel with an associated icon.
Alternatively, if the new project has not been assigned a template with constituent documents, the project file (*.PrjPcb
) and therefore, the structure of the project only will be created. The project is then opened in the Projects panel, which will show it as being Scheduled for addition, denoted by the associated icon. At this point you can add documents to the project, or simply save the structure to the Workspace in its current shell state. To do so, click the Save to Server control associated with the project entry in the Projects panel – also available from the right-click context menu, and from the main File menu. In the following Save to Server dialog, select/deselect files for inclusion, add an optional Comment, and then confirm the save process with the button. Once the project is added to the server, the Projects panel will reflect the fully synchronized state that exists between the files in the server repository and the local working copy, as indicated by the icons.
Copying a Project
To copy a Workspace project from within Altium Designer, right-click on the entry for the project in the Projects panel and choose the Make a copy command from the context menu. Use the Create Project Copy dialog to determine the Project Name (by default, this will be the original project name with the suffix - Copy
), Description (which is not pre-populated), the Folder path (within the Workspace), and the Local Storage path (to the working copy).
Adding and Removing a Design Document
Once a project is established design documents can be added, edited or removed from the active project. The simplest way to add new design documents to a project is to right-click on the project name in the Projects panel and select Add New to Project from the context menu options. Alternatively, choose the required document type from the Project » Add New to Project sub-menu of the main menus to add a new document to the active project.
Other types of project-relevant documents can also be added to a project, such as text files, PDFs, spreadsheets, etc. To do so, use the Add Existing to Project option (or the Project » Add Existing to Project command from the main menu of the active document's editor) and set the File Type drop-down list in the Choose Document to Add browser dialog to All Files (*.*) so all file types can be accessed.
To remove a document from the project structure, right-click on its name in the Projects panel and select the Remove from Project menu option or choose the Project » Exclude from Project command from the main menus. You will be prompted to choose:
- Delete File – to permanently remove the source document file itself.
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Exclude from Project – to remove the project's link to that document (and not delete the source document file itself). If it is currently open in the design editor window, it will be removed from its parent project but remain open in the panel as a free document. If, however, it is not currently open in the design space, removal will effectively close it.
Removing a Project
For local projects, removing a project is a case of deleting files from your hard drive. Open the project folder in Windows Explorer and delete its content.
For Workspace projects (and other Workspace content such as components and released data), flexible functionality is available for removing directly from within Altium Designer, from the Explorer panel. Operating as a 'soft delete', the removal process provides increased options and information as you proceed, including relevant links to source items for review purposes. In the Workspace, deleted content is moved to a dedicated Trash location, where it can be retrieved or completely removed from the Trash page of the Workspace's browser interface.
To soft-delete a Workspace project, navigate to the project folder in the Explorer panel, right-click its entry and select the Delete Folder command from the context menu. Confirm the deletion in the Confirm Delete dialog that appears. If the project contains released data, another confirmation dialog will open, notifying you about the fact that this data will be deleted as well. Click Delete to proceed.