Public Release Notes for Altium Designer
Created: August 18, 2020 | Updated: März 22, 2021
| Applies to version: 20.2
Now reading version 20.2. For the latest, read: Public Release Notes for Altium Designer for version 25
The following sections list the release notes for publicly released versions of Altium Designer 20.2.
Version 20.2.8 (Update 4)
Build: 258 Date: 22 March 2021
Schematic
| 43947 | Harnesses nested by using a dot connection resulted in an invalid error message. (BC:14436) |
Version 20.2.7 (Update 3 Hot Fix)
Build: 254 Date: 18 December 2020
BOM
| 41728 | The template file name was not displayed in the Bill of Materials report. |
Data Management
| 41675 | If models are soft-deleted, the Library Migrator will still recognize them and will reuse them. |
Version 20.2.6 (Update 3)
Build: 244 Date: 28 October 2020
PCB
| 40299 | xSignals remained broken in the PCB panel after they were fixed and saved. (BC:14110) |
| 40895 | Polygons placed on top or bottom layers were not transferred properly to decals in the MCAD CoDesigner panel. (BC:14330) |
| 41040 | Polygons were not connected to the correct net in exported ODB++ files. |
| 41133 | IPC-2581 export resulted in missing pads for certain components. |
| 41134 | IPC-2581: Component designators have a different output name if the original title ended with a letter. |
Platform
| 37983 | An access violation occurred when switching to a new Workspace after disconnecting from another. |
| 41064 | Crash occurred in Extension Manager when software was installed from Offline installer and extension did not have pictures. |
| 41331 | An issue caused the software to no longer be accessible if a modal dialog was open and another application, such as Excel, was used afterward. |
Data Management
| 38702 | An exception error was displayed instead of a proper warning during Version Control operation due to unsupported protocol. |
| 41046 | When uploading an Outputjob file to the Explorer panel, the Name and Description of the item was removed. |
| 41118 | The Project Releaser used the wrong variant in PDF outputs when No Variations was used. |
Draftsman
| 40195 | Variant components were not displayed in the Draftsman document. (BC:13900). |
Version 20.2.5 (Update 2)
Build: 213 Date: 13 October 2020
Schematic
| 37492 | All violations from Connection Matrix were incorrectly added to the "Specific Violations" in the Properties panel after reloading the Schematic document. |
| 39694 | The 'Send to back' command caused the software to crash when used outside of the sheet. (BC:12218) |
| 40693 | "No top level document to compare with" error message displayed during attempted import of changes. |
PCB
| 40443 | When IPC-2581 Fabrication files were output, the project board name was appended to the component designators. |
| 40752 | Footprints with the same name from different libraries are now reported with different names in IPC-2581. |
| 40793 | No custom layers were propagated in the new footprint when created from Vault Explorer. (BC:13639) |
| 40794 | "Tented" option did not take effect for placed Vias after setting in Preferences dialog. (BC:13392) |
Draftsman
| 36441 | Solder Mask Layers were not displayed when exporting Draftsman document to PDF. (BC:14384) |
Platform
| 40767 | High CPU usage resulted in animations continuing after control was closed. |
| 40986 | Enabled outputs for the folder structure container were connected with red lines. |
Data Management
| 39248 | PartsSync feature has been added to the software to support Supply Chain in custom providers. |
| 40707 | Inability to open a project in Altium Designer through the Altium 365 viewer. |
| 40844 | Altium Designer freezes for several minutes when saving a project to a server. |
| 41011 | Errors occurred when performing a component rule check if a component had more than one footprint. (BC:14460) |
| 41115 | Software was delayed before committing a new project to the server. |
BOM
| 40524 | Parameter values with comma decimal separator removed parameter continuity in BOM. |
Import/Export
| 40545 | The IPC-2581 output generates incorrect Part Angle (Rotation) information. |
Version 20.2.4 (Update 1)
Build: 192 Date: 24 September 2020
Schematic
| 37426 | Crash occurred when Fonts were not selected for Pin names or Designators in the Schematic Library. |
| 38385 | Placing a specific violation ERC on a net also suppressed all other violations on the net. (BC:13511) |
PCB
| 40257 | Output option of "Merge Net-Tie Nets" failed for specific Footprint rotations and gaps between Pads. (BC:14014) |
| 40440 | Crash occurred during Differential Pair Routing when the Routing Layer rule was not defined for the layer. |
Draftsman
| 40267 | The total board thickness of some placed Board Assembly Views did not match when compared in the Layer Stack Manager and Draftsman document. |
| 40313 | Error message appeared during PDF exportation when file was previously opened. |
Platform
| 39450 | Local files did not recognize that a project in Altium 365 had been updated. |
| 39695 | Symbols did not appear in the preview pane of the Explorer panel. |
| 40389 | Opening Output jobs resulted in unresponsive software. (BC:14219) |
| 40399 | LayerType settings were not saved after editing a managed footprint. |
Data Management
| 39982 | Removed 'Output Jobs' type from Edit Folder dialog for Altium 365 Standard users. |
| 40160 | Improved hard-deleted projects handling by removal of the link from Version Control and link to the server project. |
| 40382 | "Unable to cast object of type" error message when editing PCL for cloned component. |
| 40617 | Project templates still appeared in the Create Project dialog after they were soft-deleted. |
Version 20.2.3
Build: 150 Date: 1 September 2020
Schematic
| 38891 | Probes were not recognized in the software. |
| 39554 | Move Selection by X, Y in the Schematic Library Editor resulted in the Properties panel not displaying the updated properties of the moved objects. (BC:13981) |
PCB
| 35894 | Error message when releasing a project where the drill symbol limit was exceeded. (BC: 12985) |
| 37104 | Width rule was not applied to the substack. Use the 'Show values for layer stack' control in the Routing Width design rule to set the width for each substack. |
| 37190 | Running DRC on a design returned inconsistent error counts related to the Return Path rule. (BC:14040) |
| 37466 | Copper features incorrectly displayed in CAMtastic. |
| 38101 | Added control over Gloss Effort to be applied to pushed traces. |
| 38472 | Broken Impedance calculations after routing on a PCB with hidden net connections. |
| 38757 | The Solder Mask Expansion and Paste Mask Expansion settings were changed after moving pads or making other updates to a pad in a PCBLIB document. (BC:13681) |
| 38798 | Crash occurred during placement of Layer Stack Table in PCB. |
| 38992 | Invalid Width values for a layer that was not set in Layerstack resulted in an invalid error. |
| 39005 | Regions with less than three counts of vertices were still present on the board and PCB List panel when the InPolygon to IsRegion clearance rule was used. |
| 39014 | Pad was displayed under Keepout area in Generated Gerber Output when “Include mid-layer pads” checkbox was disabled. |
| 39191 | Length Tuning rules were not properly saved after closing and reopening PCB. |
| 39192 | The 'Prefer Generic 3D Bodies" mode has been added to the Advanced Settings dialog as a legacy option. (BC:8872) |
| 39202 | Via Propagation Delay is now calculated in proportion to the length of the Via used. |
| 39217 | The Solder Mask Expansion and Paste Mask Expansion settings in the Pad and Via modes of the Properties panel did not reset to the previous state after using the Undo or Ctrl+Z commands. (BC:13779) |
| 39705 | PCB incorrectly activated and zoomed in on placed Comments when switching between documents. |
| 40020 | Snapping objects did not work for Embedded Board Array objects. (BC:14150) |
Draftsman
| 36791 | Dimensions, images, and fabrication views were missing during PDF output. (BC:12807) |
| 37346 | Generated Output PDF Views did not match the Draftsman document. |
| 37955 | A compatibility warning was incorrectly displayed in the same version in which the document was created.(BC:14123) |
| 38634 | Added "Draftsman.UI.SoftwareRender" option in the Advanced Settings dialog to use software rendering in Draftsman documents. |
| 39587 | PDF Outputjob files did not print solder mask polygons with cutouts correctly. |
| 39849 | Objects could scale and shift incorrectly after zooming and scrolling, which could not be fixed until the file was closed and opened again. |
| 40021 | Variant components defined by alternate parts were incorrectly presented as 'Not Fitted'. (BC:13900) |
Platform
| 37838 | Software crash upon startup. |
| 38344 | Access violation error occurred after changing any part of the path in the Script Report of an OutJob document. |
| 38368 | Removed obsolete file extensions from the Altium Designer installer. (BC:6183) |
| 38377 | Some parameters, such as ItemAndRevision, were not being interpreted for OutJob file names. |
| 38968 | Preferences located in the %APPDATA%\Altium\Altium Designer folder were not deleted unless admin rights were used. |
| 38999 | The Default Prints and Search Paths tabs on the Project Options dialog are now hidden by default. |
| 39092 | 'File In Use' dialog appears stating that actions cannot be completed if Autocad Fusion and Altium Designer are running simultaneously. (BC:10103) |
| 39397 | Added editing support for 'Shared with Me' projects in the Comments panel. |
| 39427 | Performance degradation when using File > Recent Documents/Recent Projects/Recent Project Groups commands when files from these groups were located on slow servers. |
| 39746 | Software displayed a Warning message that Network Activity is disabled and blocked startup when "Altium Portal" checkbox was disabled in System Preferences. (BC:12850) |
Data Management
| 30525 | During project migration via the Item Manager, Component parameters were replaced by Symbol model parameters. |
| 37863 | Added the ability to save the component selection after using the Refresh command. (BC:13295) |
| 38247 | The "Rename" option has been added to the Projects panel to rename files. (BC:4530; BC:1708) |
| 38310 | Fixed regression that caused an inability to connect to AltiumLive after disabling the 'Data Management Server' option from the System - Network Activity page of the Preferences dialog then restarting Altium Designer. |
| 38583 | Added 'Include Standard (No BOM) Items' option to the Pick and Place Setup dialog. |
| 38591 | Component Synchronization did not support views and did not show all tables. (BC:13599) |
| 38776 | Inaccessible Excel-based DBlib components when Excel file of current library was opened. (BC:13387) |
| 38820 | Parameters were incorrectly overlapping when made visible after placement from server to document. |
| 38892 | Added the ability to Rename managed projects. (BC:10422) |
| 39023 | Memory leak in Draftsman. |
| 39065 | 'Exception has been thrown by the target of invocation' error message as a result of the enabling of FIPS when using Components. |
| 39073 | The ActiveBOM document is now named using the naming rule provided by the project template. (BC:13744) |
| 39162 | A 'Connection' dialog has been added to connect to available workspaces. |
| 39280 | Content Vault was not accessible when not already connected to a workspace. |
| 39382 | Added the ability for managed Items to be used as New Document Defaults. |
| 39451 | Version Control's 'Commit Whole Project' command did not warn the user of unsaved files. |
| 39552 | Resistors were displayed without reloading the entire list in the Explorer panel. |
| 39735 | "Navigate to" command from Search in the Explorer panel did not work. (BC:14026) |
| 39781 | DBLib column values created from Query Expressions were displaying the incorrect Design Item ID. |
| 39927 | Error occurred during Project Releaser due to missing template or insufficient user rights. |
BOM
| 35692 | Exception error after signing out of Altium Live account and opening BOM document. |
| 39242 | Component revision state for managed components was not available in ActiveBOM for unmanaged designs. |
Import/Export
| 36186 | When importing files using the PADS importer, PADS Logic library files were not imported. |
| 39196 | PCBs imported from Eagle resulted in the creation of duplicated Mechanical Layer Pairs listed in the View Configuration panel. |
Simulation
| 39446 | Case models of digital elements were not found. |
The following sections list the release notes for publicly released versions of Altium NEXUS 3.2.
Version 3.2.8 (Update 4)
Build: 89 Date: 22 March 2021
Schematic
| 43947 | Harnesses nested by using a dot connection resulted in an invalid error message. (BC:14436) |
Version 3.2.7 (Update 3 Hot Fix)
Build: 87 Date: 18 December 2020
BOM
| 41728 | The template file name was not displayed in the Bill of Materials report. |
Data Management
| 41675 | If models are soft-deleted, the Library Migrator will recognize them and not reuse them. |
Version 3.2.6 (Update 3)
Build: 83 Date: 28 October 2020
PCB
| 40299 | xSignals remained broken in the PCB panel after they were fixed and saved. (BC:14110) |
| 40895 | Polygons placed on top or bottom layers were not transferred properly to decals in the MCAD CoDesigner panel. (BC:14330) |
| 41040 | Polygons were not connected to the correct net in exported ODB++ files. |
| 41133 | IPC-2581 export resulted in missing pads for certain components. |
| 41134 | IPC-2581: Component designators have a different output name if the original title ended with a letter. |
Platform
| 37983 | An access violation occurred when switching to a new Workspace after disconnecting from another. |
| 41064 | Crash occurred in Extension Manager when software was installed from Offline installer and extension did not have pictures. |
| 41331 | An issue caused the software to no longer be accessible if a modal dialog was open and another application, such as Excel, was used afterward. |
Data Management
| 38702 | An exception error was displayed instead of a proper warning during Version Control operation due to unsupported protocol. |
| 41046 | When uploading an Outputjob file to the Explorer panel, the Name and Description of the item was removed. |
| 41118 | The Project Releaser used the wrong variant in PDF outputs when No Variations was used. |
Draftsman
| 40195 | Variant components were not displayed in the Draftsman document. (BC:13900). |
Version 3.2.5 (Update 2)
Build: 68 Date: 13 October 2020
Schematic
| 37492 | All violations from Connection Matrix were incorrectly added to the "Specific Violations" in the Properties panel after reloading the Schematic document. |
| 39694 | The 'Send to back' command caused the software to crash when used outside of the sheet. (BC:12218) |
| 40693 | "No top level document to compare with" error message displayed during attempted import of changes. |
PCB
| 40443 | When IPC-2581 Fabrication files were output, the project board name was appended to the component designators. |
| 40752 | Footprints with the same name from different libraries are now reported with different names in IPC-2581. |
| 40793 | No custom layers were propagated in the new footprint when created from Vault Explorer. (BC:13639) |
| 40794 | "Tented" option did not take effect for placed Vias after setting in Preferences dialog. (BC:13392) |
Draftsman
| 36441 | Solder Mask Layers were not displayed when exporting Draftsman document to PDF. (BC:14384) |
Platform
| 40767 | High CPU usage resulted in animations continuing after control was closed. |
| 40986 | Enabled outputs for the folder structure container were connected with red lines. |
Data Management
| 39248 | PartsSync feature has been added to the software to support Supply Chain in custom providers. |
| 40707 | Inability to open a project in Altium Designer through the Altium 365 viewer. |
| 40844 | Altium Designer freezes for several minutes when saving a project to a server. |
| 41011 | Errors occurred when performing a component rule check if a component had more than one footprint. (BC:14460) |
| 41115 | Software was delayed before committing a new project to the server. |
BOM
| 40524 | Parameter values with comma decimal separator removed parameter continuity in BOM. |
Import/Export
| 40545 | The IPC-2581 output generates incorrect Part Angle (Rotation) information. |
Version 3.2.4 (Update 1)
Build: 63 Date: 24 September 2020
Schematic
| 37426 | Crash occurred when Fonts were not selected for Pin names or Designators in the Schematic Library. |
| 38385 | Placing a specific violation ERC on a net also suppressed all other violations on the net. (BC:13511) |
PCB
| 40257 | Output option of "Merge Net-Tie Nets" failed for specific Footprint rotations and gaps between Pads. (BC:14014) |
| 40440 | Crash occurred during Differential Pair Routing when the Routing Layer rule was not defined for the layer. |
Draftsman
| 40267 | The total board thickness of some placed Board Assembly Views did not match when compared in the Layer Stack Manager and Draftsman document. |
| 40313 | Error message appeared during PDF exportation when file was previously opened. |
Platform
| 39450 | Local files did not recognize that a project in Altium 365 had been updated. |
| 39695 | Symbols did not appear in the preview pane of the Explorer panel. |
| 40389 | Opening Output jobs resulted in unresponsive software. (BC:14219) |
| 40399 | LayerType settings were not saved after editing a managed footprint. |
Data Management
| 39248 | PartsSync plugin has been added to load data from Excel or similar sources to the software. |
| 39982 | Removed 'Output Jobs' type from Edit Folder dialog for Altium 365 Standard users. |
| 40160 | Improved hard-deleted projects handling by removal of the link from Version Control and link to the server project. |
| 40382 | "Unable to cast object of type" error message when editing PCL for cloned component. |
| 40617 | Project templates still appeared in the Create Project dialog after they were soft-deleted. |
Version 3.2.3
Build: 52 Date: 1 September 2020
Schematic
| 38891 | Probes were not recognized in the software. |
| 39554 | Move Selection by X, Y in the Schematic Library Editor resulted in the Properties panel not displaying the updated properties of the moved objects. (BC:13981) |
PCB
| 35894 | Error message when releasing a project where the drill symbol limit was exceeded. (BC: 12985) |
| 37104 | Width rule was not applied to the substack. Use the 'Show values for layer stack' control in the Routing Width design rule to set the width for each substack. |
| 37190 | Running DRC on a design returned inconsistent error counts related to the Return Path rule. (BC:14040) |
| 37466 | Copper features incorrectly displayed in CAMtastic. |
| 38101 | Added control over Gloss Effort to be applied to pushed traces. |
| 38472 | Broken Impedance calculations after routing on a PCB with hidden net connections. |
| 38757 | The Solder Mask Expansion and Paste Mask Expansion settings were changed after moving pads or making other updates to a pad in a PCBLIB document. (BC:13681) |
| 38798 | Crash occurred during placement of Layer Stack Table in PCB. |
| 38992 | Invalid Width values for a layer that was not set in Layerstack resulted in an invalid error. |
| 39005 | Regions with less than three counts of vertices were still present on the board and PCB List panel when the InPolygon to IsRegion clearance rule was used. |
| 39014 | Pad was displayed under Keepout area in Generated Gerber Output when “Include mid-layer pads” checkbox was disabled. |
| 39191 | Length Tuning rules were not properly saved after closing and reopening PCB. |
| 39192 | The 'Prefer Generic 3D Bodies" mode has been added to the Advanced Settings dialog as a legacy option. (BC:8872) |
| 39202 | Via Propagation Delay is now calculated in proportion to the Length of the Via used. |
| 39217 | The Solder Mask Expansion and Paste Mask Expansion settings in the Pad and Via modes of the Properties panel did not reset to the previous state after using the Undo or Ctrl+Z commands. (BC:13779) |
| 39705 | PCB incorrectly activated and zoomed in on placed Comments when switching between documents. |
| 40020 | Snapping objects did not work for Embedded Board Array objects. (BC:14150) |
Draftsman
| 36791 | Dimensions, images, and fabrication views were missing during PDF output. (BC:12807) |
| 37346 | Generated Output PDF Views did not match the Draftsman document. |
| 37955 | A compatibility warning was incorrectly displayed in the same version in which the document was created.(BC:14123) |
| 38634 | Added "Draftsman.UI.SoftwareRender" option in the Advanced Settings dialog to use software rendering in Draftsman documents. |
| 39587 | PDF Outputjob files did not print solder mask polygons with cutouts correctly. |
| 39849 | Objects could scale and shift incorrectly after zooming and scrolling, which could not be fixed until the file was closed and opened again. |
| 40021 | Variant components defined by alternate parts were incorrectly presented as 'Not Fitted'. (BC:13900) |
Platform
| 37838 | Software crash upon startup. |
| 38344 | Access violation error occurred after changing any part of the path in the Script Report of an OutJob document. |
| 38368 | Removed obsolete file extensions from the Altium NEXUS installer. (BC:6183) |
| 38377 | Some parameters, such as ItemAndRevision, were not being interpreted for OutJob file names. |
| 38968 | Preferences located in the %APPDATA%\Altium\Altium NEXUS folder were not deleted unless admin rights were used. |
| 38999 | The Default Prints and Search Paths tabs on the Project Options dialog are now hidden by default. |
| 39092 | 'File In Use' dialog appears stating that actions cannot be completed if Autocad Fusion and Altium NEXUS are running simultaneously. (BC:10103) |
| 39397 | Added editing support for 'Shared with Me' projects in the Comments panel. |
| 39427 | Performance degradation when using File > Recent Documents/Recent Projects/Recent Project Groups commands when files from these groups were located on slow servers. |
| 39746 | Software displayed a Warning message that Network Activity is disabled and blocked startup when "Altium Portal" checkbox was disabled in System Preferences. (BC:12850) |
Data Management
| 30525 | During project migration via the Item Manager, Component parameters were replaced by Symbol model parameters. |
| 37863 | Added the ability to save the component selection after using the Refresh command. (BC:13295) |
| 38247 | The "Rename" option has been added to the Projects panel to rename files. (BC:4530; BC:1708) |
| 38310 | Fixed regression that caused an inability to connect to AltiumLive after disabling the 'Data Management Server' option from the System - Network Activity page of the Preferences dialog then restarting Altium NEXUS. |
| 38583 | Added 'Include Standard (No BOM) Items' option to the Pick and Place Setup dialog. |
| 38591 | Component Synchronization did not support views and did not show all tables. (BC:13599) |
| 38776 | Inaccessible Excel-based DBlib components when Excel file of current library was opened. (BC:13387) |
| 38820 | Parameters were incorrectly overlapping when made visible after placement from server to document. |
| 38892 | Added the ability to Rename managed projects. (BC:10422) |
| 39023 | Memory leak in Draftsman. |
| 39065 | 'Exception has been thrown by the target of invocation' error message as a result of the enabling of FIPS when using Components. |
| 39073 | The ActiveBOM document is now named using the naming rule provided by the project template. (BC:13744) |
| 39280 | Content Vault was not accessible when not already connected to a server. |
| 39382 | Added the ability for managed Items to be used as New Document Defaults. |
| 39451 | Version Control's 'Commit Whole Project' command did not warn the user of unsaved files. |
| 39552 | Resistors were displayed without reloading the entire list in the Explorer panel. |
| 39735 | "Navigate to" command from Search in the Explorer panel did not work. (BC:14026) |
| 39781 | DBLib column values created from Query Expressions were displaying the incorrect Design Item ID. |
| 39927 | Error occurred during Project Releaser due to missing template or insufficient user rights. |
BOM
| 35692 | Exception error after signing out of Altium Live account and opening BOM document. |
| 39242 | Component revision state for managed components was not available in ActiveBOM for unmanaged designs. |
Import/Export
| 36186 | When importing files using the PADS importer, PADS Logic library files were not imported. |
| 39196 | PCBs imported from Eagle resulted in the creation of duplicated Mechanical Layer Pairs listed in the View Configuration panel. |
Simulation
| 39446 | Case models of digital elements were not found. |