New in Altium Designer

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.

This page details the improvements included in the initial release of Altium Designer 25, as well as those added in subsequent updates. Along with delivering a range of improvements that develop and mature the existing technologies, each update also incorporates a large number of fixes and enhancements across the software based on feedback raised by customers through the AltiumLive Community's BugCrunch system, helping you continue to create cutting-edge electronics technology.

When using a Standalone or Private Server license, you may need to reactivate/refresh that license to be able to access and use new features and functionality.

Alternatively, a license file (ALF) can be activated by a Group Administrator or License Administrator through the Company Dashboard. Switch out your current license for this newly-activated one.

It is advised to restart Altium Designer after reactivating/refreshing any licensing.

You can choose to continue with your current version, update your current version, or install Altium Designer 25 alongside your current version to access the latest features. Your current version can be updated from within the software in the Extensions and Updates view. If you prefer to install Altium Designer 25 alongside your current version, visit the Altium Downloads page to download the installer, then choose New installation on the Installation Mode page of the installer.

Free Trial!

If you like what you see but are not yet a customer, why not take Altium Designer for a test drive? By filling out a simple form, you can try Altium Designer for free with 15 days of access to the full software. That's right, you will have the ability to evaluate the full Altium Designer experience with no technical limitations with unfettered access to the world's finest PCB design product. Click the link below, fill out the form, and see for yourself why more engineers and designers choose Altium than any other product available!

Altium Designer Free Trial.

Altium Designer 25.4 Copy Link Copied

Released: 13 March 2025 – Version 25.4.2 (build 15)
Released: 27 February 2025 – Version 25.4.0 (build 12)

Release Notes for Altium Designer

Schematic Capture Improvement

Support for Dynamic Parameters in Component Properties

Added visibility for dynamic (item-level) parameters in properties of a schematic component. These are parameters whose values can be changed in the source database/PLM system and synced through to placed Workspace library components, without creating new revisions of those components. Now, with a placed component selected on a schematic, such parameters are presented in the Parameters list within the Properties panel.

The Dynamic Parameters functionality allows for component updates without having to create new component revisions, which in turn would affect related designs in which those components are used. This functionality is available when synchronizing component database and Workspace data using a components synchronization configuration document (*.CmpSync), synchronizing a PLM instance and your Workspace (Altium 365 Workspace, Enterprise Server Workspace), or through use of the CSV uploader. When defining parametric attributes, you can determine whether a parameter should be pushed to the item or the revision.

Control over visibility of dynamic parameters in the Properties panel uses a combination of two advanced settings options in the Advanced Settings dialog – Schematic.UI.ShowMoreOrLessParameters and Schematic.ForceLoadDynamicParametersInIPP.

  • With Schematic.UI.ShowMoreOrLessParameters enabled and with a placed component selected on a schematic, such parameters are accessed by clicking the Show More control associated with the list of parameters.

  • The Schematic.ForceLoadDynamicParametersInIPP option, when enabled, forces all dynamic parameters to be loaded in the panel, even if the other option is disabled (and no Show More control is visible).

For more information, refer to the Working with Placed Components page.

Constraint Manager Improvements

Auto-creation of Custom Topologies for Components with More Than Two Pins

For xNets that traverse discrete elements with more than two pins (e.g., a bank of resistors in a single part), a custom topology and an xSignal are now automatically created after choosing the Custom routing topology type in the Constraint Manager.

Four xNets go from a source to a destination through a single discrete component.

When the Custom topology type is selected for one of these xNets in the Constraint Manager, the topology structure is automatically created from the xNet.

An xSignal based on the generated topology is also created.

For more information, refer to the Defining Design Requirements Using the Constraint Manager page.

Availability of the Schematic Constraints Document in the Project Tree

The schematic constraints document (Constraints.xml) is now added to the project (on first save of the Constraint Manager) and made available through the Projects panel (in the Settings/Constraints sub-folder). In addition, constraints data in the document is reloaded/refreshed after updating the project from the connected Workspace.

For more information, refer to the Defining Design Requirements Using the Constraint Manager page.

Ability to Rename Net Class in the Imported Parameter Set

Starting from this release, for a parameter set directive that includes a defined net class, it is now possible to rename the net class from the Properties panel when the directive is selected on the schematic after syncing/importing to the Constraint Manager. Rename the net class in the Properties panel and import changes to the Constraint Manager again to change the name of the net class in the Constraint Manager as well. 

Directives have been imported to the Constraint Manager. In an imported directive, the defined net class can be renamed (in this example, from Control to Ctrl).

After refreshing data in the Constraint Manager, the net class is renamed there as well.

For more information, refer to the Defining Design Requirements Using the Constraint Manager page.

Harness Design Improvement

Ability to Define 'Strip Length' and 'Pull Off Length' for Pins with No Cavity Types

When configuring cavities for a component selected on a wiring diagram, values for Strip Length and Pull Off Length can now be defined for rows where no cavity type has been specified.

While cavity types have not been specified for component pins, Strip Length and Pull Off Length can be defined for these pins.
While cavity types have not been specified for component pins, Strip Length and Pull Off Length can be defined for these pins.

For more information, refer to the Defining the Wiring Diagram page.

Import/Export Improvement

Switch Multiple Layers Off/On for Mentor Xpedition Files

Previously, you could only exclude or include layers for import one by one, which could be quite cumbersome for large designs. You can now switch layers off and on for multiple layers at once. On the Current User Layer Mappings page of the Import Wizard, select one or multiple layers to exclude or include, right-click then select Toggle selected. The selected files will now be off or on as applicable.

For more information, refer to the Importing a Design from Xpedition page.

Features Made Fully Public in Altium Designer 25.4

The following features are now officially Public with this release:

Altium Designer 25.3 Copy Link Copied

Released: 17 February 2025 – Version 25.3.3 (build 18) HotFix

Release Notes for Altium Designer 

Altium Designer 25.2 Copy Link Copied

Released: 14 January 2025 – Version 25.2.1 (build 25)

Release Notes for Altium Designer

Altium Designer 25.1 Copy Link Copied

Released: 12 December 2024 – Version 25.1.2 (build 22)

Release Notes for Altium Designer

Altium Designer 25.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 12 November 2024 – Version 25.0.2 (build 28)

Release Notes for Altium Designer

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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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