altium
I'm trying to rename a schematic sheet file inside Altium Designer 14 (in Project Panel).
The only way I can do it is renaming the sheet file in Windows Explorer and relink the file to the project. This is very time consuming and unproductive.
I found no way to do it directly in Altium. I tried the context menu, F2 shortcut and the File menu with no success.
Does someone knows if it can be done directly in the program? And how to do it?
I assume what you mean is you have a schematic which contains components wired together. One of those components needs to be modified for some reason, but there's no easy way to edit the component in the library itself without going to find it.
Firstly, you should really have your libraries installed in Altium. On the right is a button which brings up the libraries. Find the component in there and edit it.
This will take you straight to the schematic library with the chosen component open and ready to be edited. No messing around in Explorer.
Alternatively, you can edit some features of the component directly within the schematic; pins names/numbers, description, footprint, etc. The problem with doing this however is that those changes will be lost if you ever update the component from the libraries.
Double click on the component to bring up its dialog box. There you can edit a bunch of things. In the bottom left is the 'Edit Pins' button, which lets you edit most of the pins' properties.
I checked the available file importers for Altium and I don't see ARES or .LYT listed. Even if there were such an importer available, you would need an Altium license to be able to use it.
However, there are many many pcb fab shops available, and 90% (or more) of them accept either gerber files or ODB++ rather than design files for any particular design tool. And 90% (or more) of the design tools can produce one or both of these formats.
Gerber is the older and simpler format. But it does need some external documentation like the units (inches or mm) used, and requires more manual handling by the fab shop. ODB++ is more modern and allows more automated handling by the fab hsop, but not all tools seem to have complete support for it yet.
If your tool can't produce either gerber or ODB++ then it's time to start learning a new tool.
If your vendor won't accept gerber or ODB++, it's time to start looking for another vendor.
Best Answer
As mentioned, you can Save As, which saves a copy of your document. However, the correct way to do it is to open the Storage Manager panel (System-->Storage Manager):
From within the Storage Manager panel you can right-click on a file and choose "Rename".
I would show a picture of the storage manager but mine contains confidential files from my work, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.
Hope this helps!