Tutorials:
User Tips

General

When using any 'add' tool (e.g. Add Pad or Add Track) the software will stay in that mode until you click back on the 'Select' arrow. An easier way to move back to the select tool is to right-click and select cancel, or to simply press the <Esc> key on the keyboard.

'Wire Links' and 'Flying Wires' provide ways of crossing tracks on single sided PCBs. A wire link is a fixed size, flying wires can be of any length.

After moving a component, tracks may move so that they cross other components or tracks. Simply select the track you want to correct, right-click and select 'Auto Route' to correct it.

When joining components together use the connection tool to draw a straight line connection between the two pads. Then select the connection, right-click and select 'Auto Route' to convert into a track automatically.

When joining ICs, you can simply click on a pad to find its name and function within the IC (e.g. for an op-amp is the pad the inverting or non-inverting input?). Simply select the pad and then look at it's name displayed on the status bar.

After manually adding components with values (e.g. a resistor) to a PCB always right-click on the component, select 'Properties...', and then allocate a value from the 'Values' tab.

To find a component in a complicated design use the Edit > Find Component... option.

Copper text (always placed on the bottom side of the PCB) will always be automatically reversed so that it appears correctly after etching. To put copper text on the top copper layer of a double-sided board, use the copper text tool to create the text on the bottom layer. Then select the text, right-click and go to 'Layer...' and then change the layer to 'Top Copper'.

You can see how long your PCB design has taken by clicking File > Document Properties... and selecting the 'Statistics' tab.

When manually adding tracks you can allow the tracks to be placed at 45 degree angles by going to Tools > Options... > Interaction > Shapes And Tracks > PCB Track Segement Mode and setting it to 'Mitre'.

To allow more than 1 track to be added in between the same 2 items go to Tools >Options... > Interaction and check 'Allow Duplicate Tracks'.

Printing

Always perform a Quality Check (Tools menu) before printing your design.

If your PCB does not fit on the piece of paper try selecting the 'Rotate by 90' option.

When printing PCB masks make sure you only select the desired copper layer and board outline. Also make sure you select the 'All colours black' option as coloured masks do not work very well in the lightbox.

Always add some 'Copper Text' to your PCB design so you get the mask the correct way around in the lightbox.

When printing PCB masks in a laser printer make sure you use special heat resistant transparency slides - ordinary OHP slides will melt and ruin the printer!

Publishing your PCB design

To copy your PCB layout into a Word document use the mouse to draw a selection box around the items to copy (or use the Edit > Select All menu). Then select the Edit > Copy menu to copy the PCB onto the Windows clipboard. Within Word then select Edit > Paste Special and select Picture (Enhanced Metafile). You can also export the PCB as an image file by selecting the File>Export>Vector Image menu.

To display your PCB design on a website use File > Export... > Bitmap Image (BMP) to export a .bmp file. Then open this file in Windows Paint and re-save it as a .jpg internet image file.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Sometimes it can be hard to select the desired pad/track/component where the items join or overlap. In this case simply select one item and then press the <N> key to automatically move the selection to the next item.

To rotate a component, select it and then press <R> on the keyboard. The component will rotate the default rotation step (normally 90 degrees). To change the default rotation step value use the Tools > Options... > Interaction > Rotation Step to set the desired value.

To refresh the screen at any point press <F5>

To quickly copy a component, simply click on it to highlight it and then press <D> for duplicate. To copy components (or parts of PCBs) between PCB layouts use the Windows clipboard (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste)

To zoom in or out press <Z> for zoom or <U> for unzoom. The number keys <0> to <9> also move the zoom to a different level.

To move around the screen, move the mouse cursor to where you would like the centre of the screen to be and then press <P> to pan.

After doing a quality check use the <E> for Next Error keyboard key to find the next error.

To autoplace and autoroute PCBs use the <F11> and <F12> shortcut keys.

Back to the Index