Setting Up a Draftsman Document in Altium Designer

The Altium Draftsman application creates and saves PCB drawing files (*.PCBDwf) and uses specific template formats for defining Sheet (page) properties (*.DwsDot) and Document content (*.DwfDot). The 'smart' document templates can be configured to automatically populate the document with nominated PCB drawing views and information text. When initially created, Document templates can use current Sheet templates to define the page properties (size, style, margins, etc.).

To learn more about creating Draftsman Sheet and Document templates, see Draftsman Templates Creation.

Create a New Document

A new Draftsman document is created in Altium Designer using the File » New » Draftsman Document command from the main menus or by right-clicking on the entry for the required project in the Projects panel and then choosing the Add New to Project » Draftsman Document command from the context menu. The New Document dialog opens.

The dialog allows for the selection of a predefined Document Template or the [Default] option that creates a blank A4 document – note that a Sheet Template can be applied once the new document has been created.

Create a blank or template-based Draftsman document from a specified project and PCB.
Create a blank or template-based Draftsman document from a specified project and PCB.

The list of available templates (Workspace and local templates or only Workspace templates) depends on the Templates visibility option on the Data Management - Templates page of the Preferences dialog. For the Workspace templates, the latest revision of each available template will be used. In addition, these templates are listed in the format <TemplateName> (v.<Revision>). Click the Templates button to access the Data Management - Templates page of the Preferences dialog.

If you are not connected to your Workspace, you can still work with Altium Designer (under your valid Altium Designer license), but you will not be able to access your organization's Workspace or any other services it provides. You will, therefore, not be able to use any Workspace Draftsman document 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).
A Draftsman document template can be selected as a default template for new Draftsman documents (that will be used when selecting [Default] in the New Document dialog). On the Data Management – Templates page of the Preferences dialog, either hover the cursor over the required template in the list on the Templates tab and click the Set as Default control in the Default column, or click the Add button on the Defaults tab and select Draftsman Document in the From Server menu (to choose a Workspace Draftsman Document Template from the connected Workspace) or From File menu (to choose a Draftsman document file (*.PCBDwf) or Draftsman document template file (*.SchDot) from your hard drive). The default Draftsman document template will be shown in the list on the Defaults tab of the page.

Along with the desired Draftsman template, a specific Project and board source Document found within the chosen project can be selected where multiple files are open in Altium Designer. The new document will be associated with, and therefore draw data from, the nominated project, which will become the active project. The newly created document will be added to the nominated project.

The dialog's Layers checkboxes determine which board layers (Signal/PlaneMaskPaste, or Silk, as defined by the Layer Stack) are used to generate Fabrication drawings in the document (at one per sheet) when a Fabrication document template is used. Drawing layers are always included.

Document Sheets

Draftsman files are a multi-sheet format, which allows documents to contain individual pages (sheets) that are assigned to particular types of board project production information. Sheets can be added to and removed from the current document with the Tools » Add New Sheet and Tools » Remove Sheet commands (the commands are also available on the right-click context menu). A new sheet is inserted after the sheet on which the cursor is located when the command is run and will present in accordance with the Draftsman Sheet Template (*.DwsDot) currently applied to the sheet immediately before it.

The currently active sheet number and the total number of sheets in a document are shown in the Status bar at the bottom of the design space.

Page Options

The settings for individual pages (sheets) in a Draftsman document can be defined in the Properties panel, under the Page Options tab.

Open the Properties panel from the system button, or select View » Panels » Properties from the main menu. The panel’s Document Options mode is active when no object is selected in the design space.

Changes made to the Page Options properties can be applied to the current page (), or all pages in the document (). For settings that apply to the overall Draftsman document and its constituent pages, see Document Options below.

The settings under the Page Options tab determine the base structure (size, margins, etc.) of the current page or all pages in the document. Alternatively, the page format can be defined as a custom size, or by loading a sheet Template document – when Template mode is selected, an available Draftsman sheet template can be chosen from the Template drop-down field. Alternatively, click the button to locate and load a specific Sheet Template.

The latest revision of each available Workspace Draftsman sheet template will be used. In addition, the Workspace Draftsman sheet templates are listed in the format <ItemName> (v.<Revision>).
If you are not connected to your Workspace, you can still work with Altium Designer (under your valid Altium Designer license), but you will not be able to access your organization's Workspace or any other services it provides. You will, therefore, not be able to use any Workspace Draftsman sheet 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).

If Workspace Draftsman Sheet Templates exist, then when actively connected to the Workspace they will be presented under the entry of this Workspace.
If Workspace Draftsman Sheet Templates exist, then when actively connected to the Workspace they will be presented under the entry of this Workspace.

If a Sheet Template defined the page properties in that Document template, it will need to be reapplied if the Sheet Template has changed in the interim.

Document Options

The settings for the overall Draftsman document (potentially composed of multiple sheets/pages) are defined in the Properties panel, under the General tab.

If not already active, open the Properties panel from the system button, or select View » Panels » Properties from the main menu. The panel’s Document Options mode is active when no object is selected in the design space.

The Draftsman Document Options apply to all pages of a drawing document.
The Draftsman Document Options apply to all pages of a drawing document.

The Document Options settings determine the document’s source design data, graphic styling, drawing behavior, and applied units. Changes to the settings override the panel’s default property settings, which are defined by current document template – such as the default template (Default.PCBDwf).

Note that the Document Options apply to the entire drawing document, however the Page Options apply to individual document pages (sheets). Both the Document Options and Sheet Properties are saved with the current Draftsman document, and/or in a saved document Template.

Draftsman’s Document Options are available under three selectable tabs in the Properties panel, with the main graphical options arranged under the General tab.

Under the General tab, the Properties panel content is arranged in collapsible sections that are opened and closed using the ► icon associated with each section heading. The General property control information included below is arranged by matching sections, and each collapsible section is opened/closed in the same manner:

The following collapsible section contains information about the options and controls available under the panel's Parameters tab:

The following collapsible section contains information about the options and controls available under the panel's Page Options tab:

Keeping Draftsman in Sync with the Board

Draftsman extracts design data directly from the copper, component and mechanical layers in the PCB. When the PCB data has changed you can refresh the data in Draftsman by right-clicking anywhere on the document and selecting Import Changes From <BoardFileName>.PcbDoc from the context menu or by selecting the Tools » Import Changes From <BoardFileName>.PcbDoc command from the main menus (shortcut: T, I).

Note that the same-named different footprints are distinguished in the Draftsman documents, so if some of the footprints with the same name have a different structure, the change to one component's footprint will not be propagated to all components having a footprint whose name is the same (e.g., on the Board Assembly View).

Bookmarks Panel

The Bookmarks panel offers a convenient way to navigate and manage multi-sheet Draftsman documents. The panel presents an expandable tree view of the complete document structure, similar to the Projects panel, and includes all document sheets and the primary view objects within those sheets.

Use the Bookmarks panel to navigate through the Views on a multi-sheet Draftsman document.
Use the Bookmarks panel to navigate through the Views on a multi-sheet Draftsman document.

The Bookmarks panel offers a structured tree view of the sheets and objects in a Draftsman document, where each sheet entry may be expanded and collapsed via its associated ► symbol. Sheet entries in the tree are automatically named by Draftsman in descending order.

The sub-contents of each sheet entry in the panel includes the Draftsman view type objects on that sheet but not secondary drawing objects such as Dimensions, Callouts, graphic shapes, etc.

Navigation

The Bookmarks panel provides active navigation capabilities, where the sheet or drawing object selected in the tree is brought into focus in the drawing workspace. An object selected in the tree is also selected in the drawing view, which zooms to fit that object.

The tree view navigation is bi-directional, therefore, its own selection will change in response to sheets or objects that have been selected in the workspace. When a sheet or object has been selected by either approach, the Properties panel (if open) will automatically offer the property and option settings that apply to the selected object.

Panel Functions

Additional features for managing document sheets are included in the Bookmarks panel, such as the ability add and remove sheets and change their positional order in the Draftsman document structure.

The series of function buttons at the top of panel are used to manage the view and structure of the document sheets:

  • Set the style of document page view using the Single/Continuous buttons, where the option sets the workspace to show a single sheet at a time and the button enables a continuous display mode that shows all sheets in a scrollable sequence.
  • Click the Add button () to add a new document sheet to the end of the tree list. The Delete button () removes the currently selected sheet from the tree list, or if a drawing object is selected, removes that object from the sheet.
  • Use the Up () and Down () buttons to move the currently selected sheet up or down one level in the tree list order. The sheet and its object contents will change position accordingly and the sheet is renamed to match its new position in the tree.

Further options are available using the right-click context menu for a sheet or object in the tree.

  • Use the sheet right-click options to delete the selected sheet, add a new sheet to the document or access its properties in the Properties panel – which will open if not already active.
  • Use the object right-click options to delete the selected object or access its properties in the Properties panel – which will open if not already active.

The Bookmarks panel also supports drag and drop techniques for changing the sheet position order in a Draftsman document. Click, drag and drop a sheet entry to another location in the tree to move the sheet and its object contents to the new position.

When completed, the sheets are automatically renamed in the tree to match their altered order position and the drawing view will update to display the new sheet order.

The Structure shown in the Bookmarks panel can be included as bookmarks in a PDF output, by enabling the Generate Table of Contents option in the PDF Settings dialog in the OutputJob file.

Support for Design Variants

Altium Designer has the ability to create variations of a board design (Variants) and pass this variant information on to Draftsman, which in turn allows a design variation to be applied to a placed drawing View. Parameters can be added to each variant. These parameters are typically applied as special (interpreted) strings in Altium Designer documents to indicate which Variant is currently enabled.

In Draftsman, a project’s current variant selection is made from the Variation menu in the Properties region of the Properties panel, which causes a placed Board Assembly View to change to reflect the variation, and apply mesh rendering where required – see the General section in the Properties panel Document Options for Variant display settings.

Special strings, such as the VariantName and Variant Parameters can be placed in the drawing as free strings, or for a more universal solution, included in the title block of Draftsman sheet templates.

Note that a Draftsman document can have several placed Views, with each potentially set to a different Variant. Since the Variant selection is on an individual View basis, rather than at a document level, any special variant strings placed in the document are not interpreted. When the Draftsman document is printed through an Output Job, the OutJob's current Variant selection (which is at a document level) is resolved by the special strings.

When a saved Draftsman document is subsequently generated from an Altium Designer Output Job, the parameter special strings are interpreted in line with the Variant selected in the OutJob. Note that a Variant may be applied to all outputs or specific outputs.

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Note

The features available depend on your Altium product access level. Compare features included in the various levels of Altium Designer Software Subscription and functionality delivered through applications provided by the Altium 365 platform.

If you don’t see a discussed feature in your software, contact Altium Sales to find out more.

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