Preparing Assembly Data in Altium Designer

• All Columns - a list of parameters from which you can choose to be included in the output file. Enable the Show column of the parameters you want to include in the output. The location information is expressed in three ways, corresponding to the three methods by which a component footprint's reference point can be specified in the source PCB library:
  • Center X, Center Y - coordinates for the component's center point (calculated as the middle point in between the most outer pad locations)
  • Ref X, Ref Y - coordinates for the component's user-defined reference point (the footprint's origin)
  • Pad X, Pad Y - coordinates for Pad 1 of the component.
• Grid region - this region is a preview of the information that will be included in the output file.
• Output Settings
  • Units - use this region to specify whether to use Imperial or Metric units of measurement for the component location coordinates.
  • Show Units - enable to show the units.
  • Separator - select the desired unit separator from the drop-down.
• Formats - select in which format (CSV and/or Text) you want to generate output.
• Exclude Filter Parameters - enable to exclude parameters being used for filtering (refer to the Tips section below for more information).
• Include Variation Component - enable to include variants.
• Distinguish different footprints with the same name - when enabled, if one of the footprints with the same name has been modified, only the modified footprint is changed in the output. When the option is not enabled, all footprints with the same name will show as modified in the output.
• Include Standard (No BOM) Items - enable to include standard components to support fiducials.
• Y-Flip Bottom Side Components - enable this option to reverse a sign of the Ref-Y and Pad-Y values of components on the bottom layer.

Filtering

When filtering has been applied, the Pick and Place Setup dialog appears as shown above. Additional controls in this variation include:

•  - click to delete the filtering displayed to the right. Use the checkbox to the right to enable/disable the filtering rather than deleting it fully.
• Down arrow - click to access a list of the previous filtering. Choose the desired filtering to filter the current grid.
• Customize - click to open the Filter builder dialog to create more sophisticated and complex filters.

To exclude specific parts from the report, the dialog provides the ability to apply custom filtering. To apply filtering, click the filter icon ( ) in a column header. Notice that the subsequent menu lists all individual row entries for quick selective filtering. Click the (Custom…) entry to access the Custom Filter dialog. Use the dialog to specify which rows of data to show in the BOM based on the filtering criteria defined for that column. Once applied, the filter icon turns blue ( ) to indicate custom filtering is in force for that column. Apply custom filtering to other columns of data as required – the full filter currently applied is reflected at the bottom-left of the data region. Columns being used for filtering can also be excluded from the generated pick and place files by enabling the Exclude Filter Parameters option.