Preferences

The Preferences dialog

Summary

The Preferences dialog allows you to define various preference settings for the Altium Designer environment, as well as global options specific to various editors and their features. Settings defined in this dialog apply across projects and relevant documents.

Access

You can access this dialog in the following ways:

• Click DXP » Preferences.
• In the Projects panel, click Workspace » System Preferences.

Options/Controls

• Cloud Preferences - click the drop-down arrow to access the Cloud Preferences banner. Click Enable cloud preferences  to enable or Disable cloud preferences  to disable.

From a root options page, such as the System page shown in the image below, you have control over which sub-pages to save to the cloud. In the Cloud Preferences region, click the  to include () or exclude () an individual page.

Note that some pages cannot be saved to the cloud as part of this feature. These pages are denoted by  in the Save to Cloud column.

The Save To Cloud options of the root System page.

The dialog is comprised of a static pane on the left and a main editing region on the right that changes depending on the selection on the left.

Left-Hand Pane

This area of the dialog lists all of the individual pages of preferences available for editing. Pages are categorized into folders of functionality. Click on a child entry within one of these folder categories to load its associated page of preferences into the main editing region on the right-hand side of the dialog. The following categories are available:

• System - preferences relating to the system in general.
• Data Management - preferences relating to data management features and functionality.
• Schematic - preferences relating to features and functionality within the schematic editing domain.
• FPGA - preferences relating to features and functionality of FPGA.
• PCB Editor - preferences relating to features and functionality with the PCB Editor.
• Text Editors - preferences relating to features and functionality associated with the Text Editor.
• Scripting System - preferences relating to features and functionality of the Scripting System.
• CAM Editor - preferences relating to features and functionality of the CAM Editor.
• Simulation - preferences relating to features and functionality of Simulation.
• Wave - preferences relating to features and functionality of Wave.

Right-click Menu

The following commands are available from the right-click context menu for the pane:

• Default (Page) - use to set the options and controls on the selected child preferences page back to their defaults.
• Default (Branch) - use to set the options and controls on all child preferences pages of the selected category back to their defaults. Ensure the desired parent category folder is selected, otherwise this command will be unavailable.
• Default (All) - use to set the options and controls on all preferences pages back to their defaults.
• Connect to Cloud (Page) - use to connect the selected child preferences page to the cloud. Ensure the desired child preferences page is selected, otherwise this command will be unavailable.
• Connect to Cloud (Branch) - use to connect all child preferences pages of the selected category to the cloud. Ensure the desired parent category folder is selected otherwise this command will be unavailable.
• Connect to Cloud (All) - use to connect all preferences pages to the cloud.
• Disconnect from Cloud (Page) - use to disconnect the selected child preferences page from the cloud. Ensure the desired child preferences page is selected, otherwise this command will be unavailable.
• Disconnect from Cloud (Branch) - use to disconnect all child preferences pages of the selected category from the cloud. Ensure the desired parent category folder is selected, otherwise this command will be unavailable.
• Disconnect from Cloud (All) - use to disconnect all preferences pages from the cloud.

Main Editing Region

This region of the dialog changes in accordance with the preferences page entry currently selected in the left-hand pane. The banner at the top of the region will display the name of the page being edited, in the format <CategoryName> - <ChildPageName>. The following preferences pages can be loaded (click a link for detail of the options/controls available on a page):

• System - General
• System - View
• System - Account Management
• System - Transparency
• System - Navigation
• System - Design Insight
• System - Projects Panel
• System - Default Locations
• System - File Types
• System - New Document Defaults
• System - Desktop Layouts
• System - Printer Settings
• System - Installation
• System - Altium Vault
• System - Product Improvement
• System - Network Activity
• Data Management - Version Control
• Data Management - Design Repositories
• Data Management - Vaults
• Data Management - Publishing Destinations
• Data Management - Backup
• Data Management - File Locking
• Data Management - Local History
• Data Management - Templates
• Data Management - Installed Libraries
• Data Management - Device Sheets
• Data Management - SVN Libraries
• Data Management - Suppliers
• Schematic - General
• Schematic - Graphical Editing
• Schematic - Mouse Wheel Configuration
• Schematic - Compiler
• Schematic - AutoFocus
• Schematic - Library AutoZoom
• Schematic - Grids
• Schematic - Break Wire
• Schematic - Default Units
• Schematic - Default Primitives
• Schematic - Orcad (tm)
• FPGA - General
• FPGA - Simulation Compiler
• FPGA - Simulation Debugger
• FPGA - Synthesis
• FPGA - Place & Route
• FPGA - Devices View
• FPGA - NanoBoard Firmware Updates
• PCB Editor - General
• PCB Editor - Display
• PCB Editor - Board Insight Display
• PCB Editor - Board Insight Modes
• PCB Editor - Board Insight Color Overrides
• PCB Editor - Board Insight Lens
• PCB Editor - DRC Violations Display
• PCB Editor - Interactive Routing
• PCB Editor - True Type Fonts
• PCB Editor - Mouse Wheel Configuration
• PCB Editor - PCB Legacy 3D
• PCB Editor - Defaults
• PCB Editor - Reports
• PCB Editor - Layer Colors
• PCB Editor - Models
• Text Editors - General
• Text Editors - Display
• Text Editors - Colors
• Scripting System - Global Projects
• Scripting System - Form Designer
• CAM Editor - General
• CAM Editor - View / Language
• CAM Editor - DRC
• CAM Editor - Import / Export
• CAM Editor - Miscellaneous
• CAM Editor - Drawing Modes
• CAM Editor - Film Box
• CAM Editor - Draw Dimension
• Simulation - General
• Simulation - Mixed Sim
• Simulation - SIMetrix Interface
• Wave - General

Use the controls and options available on the loaded page to configure your preferences for that area of the software as required. This could be a combination of your company's policies and your preferred working environment.

Additional Controls

The following additional controls are provided at the bottom of the dialog:

• Set To Defaults - click to set the preferences on the selected/active child preferences page back to their defaults. The defaults available are identical to the right-click menu options. 
• Save:
  • ​Save to file - click to save your preferences to a DXP Preferences file (*.DXPPrf). The Save Preferences dialog will open from where you can select the location and name of the file.
  • Save to cloud - click to save your preferences to the cloud. 
• Load:
  • ​Load from file - click to load preferences from a DXP Preferences file (*.DXPPrf). The Load Preferences dialog will appear from where you can browse to and open the desired file.
  • Load from cloud - click to load your preferences that have been saved to the cloud.
• Import From - click to load preferences from previous versions of Altium Designer. Click to see a list of available versions.
• Release to Vault - click to release preferences to the Vault. This button is accessible only when admin users of the Vault are signed in.
• Load from Vault - click to load preferences from the Vault. This button is accessible only when admin users of the Vault are signed in.