Exporting a Design to OrCAD from Altium Designer

Altium Designer includes a range of design file export options that allow native design files and data to be transferred to OrCAD^® design software. The exported files relate to schematic based data, and apply to both older legacy (DOS) systems and more recent OrCAD programs.

The OrCAD design file exporter is accessed through Altium Designer's Export feature (File » Export), where the available range of export options is relative to the currently active design file.

Altium Designer’s OrCAD Import/Exporter platform extension needs to be enabled to activate most OrCAD export options. If the extension was not already added during Altium Designer’s initial installation, it can be enabled in the Configure Platform page in Altium Designer’s Extension & Updates view. Select DXP » Extensions and Updates, the Configure link under the view’s Installed tab and then check the OrCAD option in the Importers\Exporters section.

Export OrCAD Capture Schematic

To convert an Altium Designer Schematic document (*.SchDoc) to a binary OrCAD Capture^™ schematic file (*.dsn), select the Export » Orcad v7 Capture Design command while a schematic design is the currently active Altium Designer document. The exported file’s target name and folder can be specified in the browser dialog that follows.

Export OrCAD Capture Schematic Library

To convert an Altium Designer Schematic Library document (*.SchLib) to an OrCAD Capture Schematic Library file (*.olb), select the Export » Orcad Capture Schematic Library command while a schematic library is the currently active Altium Designer document. The exported file’s target name and folder can be specified in the browser dialog that follows.

Export OrCAD SDT Schematic

To convert an Altium Designer Schematic document (*.SchDoc) to an OrCAD SDT^™ file (*.sch), select the Export » Orcad SDT Schematic command while a schematic design is the currently active Altium Designer document – the exported schematic applies to legacy OrCAD products such as OrCAD SDT^™, PC2^™ and 386+^™. The exported file’s target name and folder can be specified in the browser dialog that follows.

Export OrCAD Netlist

To generate and export an OrCAD-compatible netlist (*.net) from an Altium Designer Schematic document (*.SchDoc), first select the Export » Netlist Schematic command while a schematic design is the currently active Altium Designer document.

Next, specify the exported file’s target name and folder in the following browser dialog, and then the OrCAD/PCB2 option as the NetList format option in the Export NetList dialog. Select a Scope option of Project or Document to specify netlist generation for all available project schematics or just the currently active schematic, respectively.