New Pick and Place Generator

Altium Designer 17.0 introduces a new Pick and Place Generator that allows you to select pick and place options before generating the output. The generator makes it easier to prepare your pick and place text file without always needing to perform post-process functions. Among other functions, you can filter components by parameters (by layer, type, or footprint), customize columns, and set the type of units and output format. The generator also allows you to select filters in the header as well as sort data by one or several columns. In the settings at the bottom of the new generator, you can choose not to include  parameters in the generated output that are being used to filter by, by enabling Exclude Filter Parameters. To include all components that are not fitted in the output .txt file, enable Include Variation Components.

You can access the new generator from the PCB editor in one of two ways. To generate a pick and place text file from an OutJob, double-click Generates pick and place files under Assembly Outputs in the Outputs region of the OutJob. 

Accessing the generator from an Outjob

From the PCB Editor, click File » Assembly Outputs » Generates pick and place files.

The new Pick and Place Generator

The new generator presents a list of parameters from which you can choose to be included in the output file (shown in the green area in the below image). The purple area in the new generator gives you a preview of the information that will be included in the output file (purple area in the image), and as shown in the yellow area in the image, there are several additional settings, which is where you can set the types of units and the format of the output.

A filter is being configured, based on the Comment. To exclude the Comment from the generated output, enable the Exclude Filter Parameters option.

The output text file will be generated when you click OK. An example of the output file is shown below.

Example output .txt file