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).

1. 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.

   In a nutshell, project management is focused on securely storing and tracking changes throughout the design process, and ultimately, channeling the resulting design through to the creation of a physical item – such as an assembled PCB to be used in the final product. To meet these needs, Altium Designer provides a range of project management approaches that offer increasing levels of sophistication and capabilities, yet simplify the process from a designer's perspective. These range from local file-based storage and management, to local/remote Version Control System (VCS) storage approaches, and through to its advanced and recommended form where the management of design data is centered on the capabilities of a Workspace.

   A connected Workspace and its internal VCS service hosts and manages Altium Designer projects, and also provides simplified VCS operations, inherent design collaboration capabilities, advanced design data sharing, history tracking, Lifecycle management, and much more. Projects that are integrated with a Workspace are accessed directly from Altium Designer, such as from the Projects panel, or from the Workspace itself through its browser-based interface.

   Thanks to the intelligence built into the services provided by a Workspace, tasks such as VCS operations are simplified and automated, and additional design collaboration features such as user access control (sharing), commenting and history are available directly from within Altium Designer. The end result is a robust and secure project storage format and location that can become the central point for collaborative project design.

   When connected to a Workspace with one or more active process definitions for the Project Creations process theme, the ability to create a new project through the Create Project dialog is restricted to Local and VCS type projects only. Instead, the creation of Workspace-based projects comes under the control of active process definitions. Learn more about Process-based Project Creation.

2. 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.

   If you do not connect to your Workspace, you can still work with Altium Designer (under your valid Altium Designer license), but you will not be able to access that Workspace or any other services it provides. You will, therefore, not be able to use any Workspace project templates. You will only be able to use file-based templates defined locally and available from the templates folder specified on the Data Management – Templates page of the Preferences dialog (if the Template visibility option is set to Server & Local on this page).

   Learn more about Creating a Project Template.

3. Enter a Project Name and, optionally, a project Description.

   The project name should start with and can contain A-Z, a-z, or 0-9. Underscores, dashes, and spaces are allowed, but the latter can only be used within the middle of the name (leading and trailing spaces will be ignored). You can not use the following words: AUX, COM1-COM9, LPT1-LPT9, CON, NUL, and PRN. In addition, the name cannot contain the following characters: \ . / ? % * : | " < >.

The Create Project dialog includes further options:

• 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.

  The Version Control option is available only when connected to an Altium 365 Workspace. When connected to an Enterprise Server Workspace, this option is effectively checked.

• 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.

  The Constraint Management option is enabled in the Create Project dialog by default when the System.ConstraintManager option is enabled in the Advanced Settings dialog.

• 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.

  • 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.

    If the user that creates a project in the connected Workspace does not have write permissions to the default project folder, the system will automatically create a user-specific Personal Folder structure for storing the new project. This appears as a top-level folder based on the member’s email address (for an Altium 365 Workspace) or username (for an Enterprise Server Workspace), with a My Projects sub-folder that stores that user’s projects. The folder structure/hierarchy is available only to the signed-in user and administrators – it is not visible to other users. Learn more about Managing Project Creation Permissions (Altium 365 Workspace, Enterprise Server Workspace).

  • 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.

   

• 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.

  Workspace-side project-level parameters can be edited within the Workspace. By contrast, design-side parameters are saved in the project file (*.PrjPcb), and can be edited in Altium Designer. Project-level parameters of both types can be viewed on the Parameters tab of the Project Options dialog (Project » Project Options) and may be used as Special Strings in Altium Designer.

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.

The newly created project committed to the Versioned Storage design repository in the Workspace.

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).

The Workspace Folder will, by default, be the same folder in which the original project is stored. Click to open the Choose Folder dialog (a trimmed-down version of the Explorer panel) to change folder as required. The Local Storage will, by default, be set to use the location defined on the System - Default Locations page of the Preferences dialog. Click to open a standard Windows dialog with which to change this location as required.

Copy a Workspace project from within Altium Designer.

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.

Add a specific or another type of document to a 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.

• 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.

Soft delete in action. Here, a project is being deleted, along with its related release (if manufacturing packages had been created from any releases, those would also be deleted).