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PCB Design Variants: Managing Multiple PCBA Versions

Product variations often require different component populations, alternate parts, or configuration settings while keeping the underlying PCB design unchanged. This article explains how structured variant management keeps these differences organized and ensures each configuration has the correct BOM and manufacturing outputs.

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New in Altium's Software
Improve Visual Accuracy with True Arcs

Discover how True Arc Rendering improves arc visualization in the PCB Editor and PCB Library Editor by displaying true arcs across 2D, 3D, and Board Planning modes. This provides a more accurate representation of board geometry and helps you work with curved features with greater precision throughout the design process.

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Collaborative Engineering with Team Ribbot
Two engineers, one board, nobody's work gets wiped out

When Team Ribbot’s electrical and mechanical engineers work on the same combat-robot design, unwanted changes can mean hours of lost work. See how Altium Designer and MCAD CoDesign let the team review and selectively accept changes, enabling seamless parallel collaboration across different locations and schedules.

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New in Altium's Software
Visualize and Refine Your Harness Designs

Create detailed views of bundle contents, control wire and cable paths, and rotate physical models to accurately represent the final harness assembly. These capabilities give you greater control over harness design and help ensure your digital model reflects the physical result.

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New in Altium's Software
Introducing Agentic Requirements Engineering

Discover a new way to work with Requirements Portal through Agentic Requirements Engineering. AI agents analyze your project data and surface proposals for your approval, reducing friction in requirements management and helping align your team's shared model with your design intent.

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New in Altium's Software
Simplify Rule Set Updates and Replacement

Learn how to import rule sets with greater flexibility in Altium. When importing rules, you can add new rules to your existing set, replace only rules that match, or completely replace the current rule set giving you full control over how design rules are updated.

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Collaborative Engineering with Team Ribbot
How Team Ribbot fits 40 kW of power into a 250-pound combat robot

What do you get when you pack the power of a small electric car into a combat robot with virtually no room to spare? In the first episode of our collaboration with Team Ribbot and Altium, explore how seamless ECAD-MCAD collaboration helps the team tackle complex design challenges, optimize high-performance designs, reduce errors, and bring products to life faster.

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New in Altium's Software
Just Released: Supplier Data Merging

Discover how the Supplier Data Merging feature brings together supplier information from your custom parts database and the Altium Parts Provider into a single, unified view. Access consolidated supplier data wherever supplier part numbers appear, including in ActiveBOM and during component selection.

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How-To's
How Altium’s Layer Stack Manager Actually Works

Take a look inside Altium's Layer Stack Manager and discover how its impedance calculator determines the ideal trace width for your target impedance. In this video, we break down the "black box" behind the calculation and show how the Simbeor-based field solver provides accurate results while eliminating the need for advanced field solver expertise.

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New in Altium's Software
Connect Requirements Directly to Your PCB Design

See how the Requirements Portal integration in Altium Designer simplifies requirements management by bringing system requirements directly into your PCB design workflow. Connect requirements to design documents, assign tasks, track verification in real time, and keep your entire team aligned with seamless synchronization in Altium 365.

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How-To's
SFP Connector Routing: High-Speed Differential Pair Design Tips

Discover practical SFP and SFP+ routing tips in our latest video, inspired by a real question from the Altium subreddit. We cover how aggressive serpentine length tuning can be, how to reduce impedance discontinuities in tight meanders, and how meandering influences mode conversion at 10G and higher data rates.

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Blog
Wire Bonding in Altium Designer

The Wire Bonding in Altium Designer article highlights how Altium Designer 25’s wire bonding feature streamlines complex designs for advanced assemblies like 3D stacked dies and RF modules. This tool enhances efficiency and precision, catering to modern electronic design needs.

Blog
Optimize PCB Design with Integrated BOM and CAD Systems

Discover how integrating BOM management and CAD systems can streamline your PCB design process in this insightful article. Learn how combining these tools enables smoother collaboration, reduces errors, and improves design efficiency, helping you optimize your workflows from concept to manufacturing.

Blog
The Essential Guide to Through-Hole Resistors

Resistors are fundamental components in electronic circuits, essential for controlling current and voltage. This article explores their basic principles, types, and key applications, helping you understand their crucial role in electronics.

Blog
Avoiding Costly Delays: Essential Tips for PCB Designers

Efficient PCB design is crucial for avoiding costly delays in product development. This article offers practical tips and best practices for PCB designers to streamline their workflows, minimize errors, and ensure timely project completion.

Blog
Mastering EMI Control in PCB Design: Component Placement for EMC

In the second article of the "Mastering EMI Control in PCB Design" series Dario Fresu explores how effective component placement can reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) in printed circuit boards. He highlights strategies such as board segregation and careful management of high-speed signals and their harmonics to ensure signal integrity and minimize emissions.

Blog
Signal Integrity Principles based on Altium Designer 24

Check out this article where Rafał Stępień dives into the essentials of maintaining signal integrity in high-speed digital systems. Discover key techniques like controlling signal reflections, reducing crosstalk, and designing differential pairs in Altium Designer 24 to ensure reliable and efficient PCB performance.

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Blog
Launch of Requirements & Systems Portal in Altium 365

The Requirements & Systems Portal is now live in Altium 365! Engineers can write, manage, and verify requirements within the Altium 365 workspace. You can link your requirements directly to schematics and PCB designs to ensure all engineers are working with the latest data. Request access today!

Blog
Favorite Tools for BOM Review

Check out our article, where Lawrence Romine shares his top tools for conducting efficient Bill of Materials (BOM) reviews in PCB design. It highlights key features in Altium 365, Octopart, and ActiveBOM that help engineers avoid unsourceable components and streamline procurement.

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How to Work with Draftsman
Draftsman Document Views - Fabrication and Drill Drawings

The Draftsman Document Editor allows you to add a fabrication view and a drill drawing view to your outjob files. We’ll show you how to get them set up and details you can control from the properties panel.

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Getting Started with A365
Altium 365 - Version Control | Project History

Project History in a Nutshell: - Presents events in a chronological timeline (Creation, Commits, Releases, Clones, and MCAD Exchanges) - Auto-generates Differences Summary to view the differing entities (e.g., replaced components) - Even a non-expert can act on a revision (Download, View, Revert)

Embedded thumbnail for Resolving Conflicts in Multi-board Schematics
How to work with Multiboard
Resolving Conflicts in Multi-board Schematics

When mismatched pin names in your multi-board schematic cause disconnects and conflicts you can use Altium Designer’s tools to resolve these conflicts. We’ll show you the Connection Manager and the various solutions to solve your connection issues.

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How to Work with Draftsman
Draftsman Document Board Assembly View

The Draftsman Document can include a Board Assembly View. We’ll show you how to add it and the properties you can change to create the exact view or views you need.

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How to work with Multiboard
Placing Connections Between Boards

A multi-board design requires relationships between several board designs referred to as interboard connections. We’ll show you the different types of connections and how to connect your boards using the proper connection type.

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How-To's
Show the Net Connections Between Select Components

This video demonstrates how to show net-specific component connections. This is helpful when routing as you’re able to reduce clutter and focus on the connections on which you are working.

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How to Work with Draftsman
Draftsman Editor Settings

In this video we’ll go over the Draftsman editor settings and properties so you know how to set up the editor to be exactly what you need.

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How-To's
Assuring Your Board Is Large Enough to House All Components

This video covers how to make sure your board is big enough to house all your components.

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How-To's
How to Create an Interactive PDF of a Schematic Diagram

This video shows how to create an interactive PDF using the Smart PDF Wizard.

Embedded thumbnail for What is the Draftsman Document?
How to Work with Draftsman
What is the Draftsman Document?

Once your PCB layout is finished it’s time for review. This is where the Draftsman Document and Altium Designer’s Draftsman Editor comes in.

Embedded thumbnail for Adding Project Modules to a Multi-board Schematic
How to work with Multiboard
Adding Project Modules to a Multi-board Schematic

If you’re using multiple PCBs in your Multi-board design, Altium Designer allows you to add existing projects directly to your schematic with modules. We’ll show you how to quickly and efficiently add these projects to your Multi-board design.

Embedded thumbnail for Checking for Creepage in High Voltage Designs
How-To's
Checking for Creepage in High Voltage Designs

High voltage devices have leakage currents that propage over the surface of the board. In such devices, it's important to consider not only the standard gap between the two topological elements, but also the shortest possible path between them, taking into account cut-outs and holes. With Altium Designer 20, you can check for creepage using the new creepage distance rule.

Embedded thumbnail for Creating BGA Footprints with the Footprint Wizard
How to create a PCB Footprint
Creating BGA Footprints with the Footprint Wizard

Altium Designer makes it easy to create a BGA footprint using our IPC compliant footprint wizard. We'll show you how easily you can create and modify a BGA footprint using the footprint wizard.

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How-To's
How to Remove Unused Pad Shapes

Unused pad shapes can cause distortion among other problems so it is best to exclude them from your designs. This video shows how to remove unused pad shapes.

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How to work with Layer Stack Manager
Stackup Presets and Templates

In this video, we will learn how to apply predefined layer stacks to the board, as well as how to save the layer stack file as a template.

Embedded thumbnail for Creating a PCB Footprint Assembly Drawing
How to create a PCB Footprint
Creating a PCB Footprint Assembly Drawing

If you need to create an assembly drawing of your PCB Footprint for your outjob files we can show you how in Altium Designer. We’ll walk through all the different options for your assembly drawing in your Draftsman document, how to create your assembly drawing and assign it designators.

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Integrating Requirements June 2025 Webinar
On-Demand Webinar Mai 28, 2025
Integrating Requirements into Your PCB Design Workflow
Join our webinar where you will learn about integrated requirements tools who can help you eliminate late-stage design changes, AI support through system requirements and integration of design requirements directly in PCB Design. Don't miss it, register now!
Streamlining Team Collaboration
On-Demand Webinar Apr. 17, 2025
Streamlining Team Collaboration in Industrial PCB Projects
Join us for our upcoming webinar to discover how Altium Designer and Altium 365 can transform your team’s collaboration and take your PCB design projects to the next level. Attend for a chance to win free access to the Altium 365 Training Bundle.
PCB CoDesign Webinar
On-Demand Webinar Jan. 24, 2024
Discover How Altium Designer 24 Revolutionizes Team Dynamics in PCB Design
Expand your collaboration skills and stay ahead of the curve with PCB CoDesign. Design teams often grapple with prolonged design cycles and coordination issues, leading to delays and inefficiencies. In the current landscape, design processes are hindered by fragmented collaboration, resulting in increased layout times and difficulties in synchronizing design updates.