Parent page: Working with Projects
To work on a project in Altium Designer, it should be opened first. This is performed directly from within Altium Designer using the Open Project dialog accessed by selecting the File » Open Project command from the main menus. The Open Project dialog provides a single location to open, search for and browse projects.
Opening a Workspace Project
To work on a Workspace project, you effectively check it out as a local working copy. What happens once the File » Open Project command is selected depends on whether you are a member of the Workspace team or have been shared a project outside of the Workspace team.
Workspace Team Member
The Open Project dialog will open in which you can choose which Workspace project to open from your connected Workspace (when connected to a Workspace, that Workspace will appear in the Locations region of the dialog, distinguished by the 
icon, and appear with the name given to the Workspace). Only those Workspace projects that have been shared with you (you have permission to access them) will be listed.
The Open Project dialog when the Workspace location is selected
For each project in the list, the following information is presented:
- Name – the name of the project; the location path of the project appears below the name.
-
Last Modified – the date and time the project was last modified. The date and time display in accordance with your personal computer settings. To configure each project's modification dates and times in a specific format, you can do so in your computer's system Region settings.
The Name and Last Modified columns can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking (and toggling) the header for each column.
To view and navigate through the project folder hierarchy, select the folder view button () to access project folders and the breadcrumb path in the dialog’s Search bar.
The project list view in the dialog. Hover the cursor over the image to see the folder structure view.
When the folder view is enabled in the dialog and if you have projects located in a folder, a folder entry (
) will appear, which you can double-click to view the existing projects located within.
When is clicked, the right-hand side of the dialog displays additional details about the selected project, including the basic project information (the General tab of the details pane) and all project Parameters (the Parameters tab of the details pane).
Once opened by clicking the Open button, the project will appear under an entry for the Workspace, in the Projects panel.
Choose which Workspace project to open from your connected Workspace within Altium Designer from those currently shared with you.
You have the option to open the project to the default checkout path or use the
drop-down menu to specify a custom path. The default checkout path is defined as a property of the design repository in which the project resides. For a Git repository (e.g. the
Versioned Storage repository that is native to the Workspace), this is the
Local Path field found in the
Git Repository dialog. For an SVN repository, this is the
Default Checkout Path field found in the
SVN Design Repository dialog. Access the properties dialog by selecting the entry for the repository on the
Data Management – Design Repositories page of the
Preferences dialog then clicking the
button.
Choose the Open
Project As Copy option to create a cloned version of the project under a different name. Learn more about
Cloning a Project.
When browsing the project through Altium Designer's
Explorer panel, click the
button at the top-right of the panel, to open the project in Altium Designer (adding it to the
Projects panel).
When accessing the Altium 365 location of the Open Project dialog before signing in to your Altium account, connecting to a Workspace or activating a Workspace, the right-hand side of the dialog will display the relevant text and controls.
Invited Stakeholder Outside of the Workspace Team
The Open Project dialog will open in which you can access any Workspace project that has been shared with you from the Shared With Me location.
The Open Project dialog when the Shared With Me location is selected
For each project in the list, the following information is presented:
- Name – the name of the project.
- Created By – the name of the person who created the project.
-
Last Modified – the date and time the project was last modified. The date and time display in accordance with your personal computer's settings. To configure each project's modification dates and times in a specific format, you can do so in your computer's system Region settings.
The Name and Last Modified columns can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking (and toggling) the header for each column.
Once opened by clicking the Open button, the selected project will appear under the entry Shared with me, in the Projects panel. What you can do with the project depends on the access rights you have been given to it. If editing rights were assigned to you, you will be able to edit the design normally, which would typically be the case for an external contractor. If you have viewing rights only, you will be able to comment on the WIP design.
The projects that are available under Shared With Me are those that have been shared with your sign-in name (your AltiumLive account) from an Altium 365 Workspace. Note that Altium Designer does not need to be connected to a Workspace to access shared projects.
Choose which Workspace project to open, from within Altium Designer, from those currently shared with you as an external stakeholder. Note that access is made to such projects without having access to the Workspace.
You have the option to open the project to the default checkout path or use the
drop-down menu to specify a custom path. The default checkout path is taken from the
Document Path field on the
System – Default Locations page of the
Preferences dialog.
When an updated project file name has been synchronized to the Workspace, the Workspace automatically changes the Workspace project's Name parameter to match. Conversely, when the name of a Workspace project is updated in the Workspace (via the Edit mode on the Workspace Projects page or the design client's Explorer panel), the change is propagated to the client-side when the project is next opened. When the updated project is opened (File » Open Project), the Name of the project and project file name are different dialog will open, providing the option to align the project file name with the new project Name, force the project Name to match the existing project file name, or allow the two names to be different.
Opening a Local Project
Select the Local Projects location to see the list of projects stored in the current default location as specified in the System – Default Locations page of the Preferences dialog.
The Open Project dialog when the Local Projects location is selected
For each project in the list, the following information is presented:
- Name – the name of the project; the location path of the project appears below the name. You may double-click the folder icon () to view the existing contents located within.
-
Last Modified – the date and time the project was last modified. The date and time display in accordance with your personal computer's settings. To configure each project's modification dates and times in a specific format, you can do so in your computer's system Region settings.
The Name and Last Modified columns can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking (and toggling) the header for each column.
When is clicked, the right-hand side of the dialog displays the name, last modified date/time and location of the project currently selected in the list.
Once opened by clicking the Open button, the selected project will appear in the Projects panel.
Opening a Recent Project
Select the Recent location to see the list of recently opened projects from local or Workspace sources.
The Open Project dialog when the Local Projects location is selected
For each project in the list, the following information is presented:
- Name – the name of the project; the location path of the project appears below the name.
-
Last Modified – the date and time the project was last modified. The date and time display in accordance with your personal computer's settings. To configure each project's modification dates and times in a specific format, you can do so in your computer's system Region settings.
The Name and Last Modified columns can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking (and toggling) the header for each column.
When is clicked, the right-hand side of the dialog displays the name, last modified date/time and location of the project currently selected in the list.
Searching for a Project
Use the Search field at the top of the Open Project dialog to filter the project list by entering alpha/numeric characters. When opening Workspace projects, the Search filter will also respond to Parameters/Value pairs available from Workspace projects. These include Project and Workspace parameters, and the Analytics parameters generated by the Workspace.
The Workspace project search will return a list of projects based on simple or specific search strings. Parameter Value searches are case-insensitive, whereas Parameter names are referred to in full and are case-sensitive. A space in the search string indicates a boolean AND, and quoted (literal) searches are valid.
- Enter
abc to list projects that include a parameter value that contains the character string abc
- Enter
abc 123 to list projects that include a parameter value that contains abc AND 123
- Enter
“abc 123” to list projects that include a parameter value which (literally) contains abc 123
- Enter
MyParameter=123 to list projects that include the MyParameter parameter with a value that contains 123
- Enter
“My Other Parameter”=abc to list projects that include the My Other Parameter parameter with a value that contains 123. Most project parameter names include spaces, so a quoted (literal) name is needed.
- Enter
MyParameter=abc 123 to list projects that include the MyParameter parameter with a value that contains abc, and also have any parameter with a value containing 123.
- Enter
MyParameter= to list projects that include the MyParameter parameter, regardless of its value.
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View search examples
Click the icon at the right of the Search bar to remove the currently defined search string.
When viewing the list of Workspace projects (in the folder structure view) or the list of local projects, the path to the currently selected folder will be shown in the Search bar. Click on a folder name to show the content of this folder in the dialog. Click the button at the right of the bar or use the Alt + Up Arrow shortcut to show the content of the folder one level higher.
Notes
- Click the Browse button at the bottom left of the Open Project dialog to browse to and open a project through the standard Windows Open dialog.
- Attempting to open a project that is already open will result in no action.