Changes to Default Altium Designer Preferences (New Feature Summary)

This release of Altium Designer sees some small, but highly beneficial changes to default settings, with regard to Altium Designer Preferences. These changes - across various areas of the software - facilitate a far better, and far more intuitive starting point when using the software, not only for all users in general, but especially for users that are new to the Altium Designer environment.

The following sections detail the changes that have been made, across the affected pages of the Preferences dialog.

System - General

On this page, the System Font option has been removed, along with its associated Change button.

Comparing default settings for the System - General page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

System - View

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• The Display shadows around menus, toolbars and panels option has been removed.
• The Emulate XP look under Windows 2000 option has been removed.
• The Open internet links in external Web browser option is now enabled by default.
• The Middle click closes document tab option is now enabled by default.

Comparing default settings for the System - View page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

System - Navigation

On this page, the Zoom Precision slider bar has been set all the way to the right (closest zoom).

Comparing default settings for the System - Navigation page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

System - Design Insight

On this page, the Mouse Hover option - associated with the display of the Document Tree - has been disabled. This also disables display of the Document Preview on mouse hover.

Comparing default settings for the System - Design Insight page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

Schematic - General

On this page, the Default Power Object Names cluster of options has been removed, with the page rearranged slightly to better use the space created.

Comparing default settings for the Schematic - General page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

Schematic - Graphical Editing

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• The Mark Manual Parameters option is now disabled by default.
• The Always Drag option is now enabled by default.
• The Display Strings As Rotated option is now enabled by default.
• The Place Sheet Entries automatically option is now enabled by default.
• The Reset Parts Designators On Paste option is now enabled by default.
• The Group Undo option is now disabled by default.

Comparing default settings for the Schematic - Graphical Editing page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

Schematic - Orcad (tm)

This page of preferences has been completely removed.

PCB Editor - General

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• The Smart Component Snap option is now enabled by default.
• The Smart Track Ends option is now enabled by default.
• The Display popup selection dialog option is now disabled by default.

Comparing default settings for the PCB Editor - General page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

PCB Editor - Display

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• The Display Options cluster has been absorbed into the DirectX Options cluster, and the cluster renamed to Display Options.
• The Use Flyover Zoom in DirectX option has been renamed Use Flyover Zoom.
• The Redraw Layers option has been removed.
• The Draft Thresholds (when not using DirectX) cluster of options has been removed.
• The Jump to Active View Configuration link has been removed.
• The page has been rearranged slightly to better use the space created.

Comparing default settings for the PCB Editor - Display page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

PCB Editor - Board Insight Display

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• In the Available Single Layer Modes cluster, the Hide Other Layers option is now enabled by default.
• In the Live Highlighting cluster, the Live Highlighting only when Shift Key Down option is now enabled by default.
• The Other cluster, with the Jump to Active View Configuration link, has been removed.

Comparing default settings for the PCB Editor - Board Insight Display page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

PCB Editor - Board Insight Modes

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• In the Display cluster, the Heads Up Opacity value has been raised from 25% to 75%.
• In the Insight Modes cluster:
  • Current Layer - the Heads Up and Hover display modes are now enabled by default, Font Size is now 12, and Font Color is now yellow.
  • Heads Up Shortcuts - the Hover display mode is now disabled by default.
  • Violation Details - the Font Color is now gold.
  • Component Details - the Font Color is now gold.

Comparing default settings for the PCB Editor - Board Insight Modes page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

PCB Editor - Interactive Routing

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• In the Routing Conflict Resolution cluster, the Current Mode is now set to HugNPush Obstacles by default.
• In the Interactive Routing Options cluster, the Automatically Terminate Routing option is now enabled by default.

Comparing default settings for the PCB Editor - Interactive Routing page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

PCB Editor - Models

On this page, in the Temporary Mesh Data cluster, the Time To Keep Unused Mesh Data option is now set to 7 days by default.

Comparing default settings for the PCB Editor - Models page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

Text Editors - Display

On this page, the following changes have been made:

• In the Visual cluster, the Show line numbers option, and its Line numbers on gutter sub-option, are now both enabled by default.
• In the Code Outlining cluster, the Buttons on Gutter sub-option is now enabled by default.

Comparing default settings for the Text Editors - Display page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

CAM Editor - Import/Export

On this page, in the Export 2 PCB - Options cluster, the Create Solid Polygons option is now enabled by default.

Comparing default settings for the CAM Editor - Import / Export page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).

CAM Editor - Drawing Modes

On this page, in the Object Snap option is now set to Auto(Cen + End) by default.

Comparing default settings for the CAM Editor - Drawing Modes page of the Preferences dialog between Altium Designer 16.0 (left) and Altium Designer 16.1 (right).