Preferences Settings

The three iterations of the Release preferences dialog

Summary

The Preferences settings dialog is used to set up how the range of Altium Designer Preferences is saved to the Designer Preferences Item on the connected Workspace. The dialog offers three modes for how preference option groups (pages in the Preferences dialog) will be applied to Altium Designer.

Access

The dialog is accessed in the following ways:

• In the Preferences dialog, click Save to server from the Save button drop-down menu. In the Choose Item dialog (this is a trimmed-down version of the Explorer panel), choose an existing Designer Preferences Item, or create a new Designer Preferences Item (and its initial planned revision) on-the-fly. After choosing the required target Item, click OK. The Edit Revision dialog will open in which you can change the Name and Description, and add release notes as required then click OK. The Release preferences dialog will open for managing how the range of Altium Designer Preferences is saved to the next revision of the targeted Designer Preferences Item.
• In the Preferences dialog, choose Load from server from the Load drop-down menu then choose the desired Item in the Choose Item dialog (this is a trimmed-down version of the Explorer panel). The Load preferences from Vault dialog will open for managing how the range of Altium Designer Preferences from the selected Designer Preferences Item is applied.

• In the Preferences dialog, click the Import From drop-down menu then choose the desired Altium Designer build. The Import settings dialog will open for managing how the range of Altium Designer Preferences from the selected build is applied.

  The Import settings dialog also will open after installing and launching your new version of Altium Designer. In this case, the dialog will suggest importing preferences from the most recent previous installation.
  Preferences can be imported from any individually installed version instance of Altium Designer (installed builds of AD10 or later), or any of the following pre-AD10 major releases of the software: Summer 09, Winter 09, Summer 08, and Altium Designer 6.

Options/Controls

• Grid
  • Options Page – use the collapsed arrows to select the desired page. Click on the desired page to select.
  • Apply Mode – displays the mode to which each preference option will be applied to Altium Designer for each Options Page when the Workspace-based Designer Preferences is used. Use the drop-down to select the desired application mode:
    • Apply and Lock – the Preferences group will be loaded in Altium Designer as read-only (not editable) options.
    • Apply First Time – the Preferences group will be loaded in Altium Designer as initial settings that can be edited.
    • Do Not Apply – the Preferences group will not be loaded in Altium Designer, allowing the existing settings to remain.
    The preferences saved to a Workspace are subsequently available in this Workspace as reusable Designer Preferences.

  • Apply – displays the mode to which each preference option will be applied to Altium Designer for each Options Page when the Workspace-based Designer Preferences is used. This option is available only when the dialog is accessed using the Save to server option.

    The Preferences modes can be set for individual option groups (pages) or entire preferences sections (for example, the PCB Editor section) by using the Apply options to set all preference groups to the currently nominated mode.
  • Import – displays the mode to which each preference option will be imported to Altium Designer for each Options Page. This option is available only when the dialog is accessed using the Import From option.

• Apply – click to select the desired application Apply Mode for all Options Page entries.

  This button is virtually the same as using the Apply Mode drop-downs.
• Show pages that are not available to import – enable to show Preferences that cannot be imported. This option is available only when the dialog is accessed using the Load from server or Import From option.
• Apply all – select to check all Apply boxes for all Options Page entries. This option is available only when the dialog is accessed using the Load from server option.
• Apply none – select to uncheck all Apply boxes for all Options Page entries. This option is available only when the dialog is accessed using the Load from server option.
• Import all – select to check all Import boxes for all Options Page entries. This option is available only when the dialog is accessed using the Import From option.
• Import none – select to uncheck all Import boxes for all Options Page entries. This option is available only when the dialog is accessed using the Import From option.