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Parent page: Accessing, Defining & Managing System Preferences
The PCB Editor – General page of the Preferences dialog provides numerous controls relating to the general settings of the PCB Editor within the PCB design space.
This page is part of the main Preferences dialog that is accessed by clicking the control in the upper-right corner of the design space then selecting the General entry under the PCB Editor folder.
Snap To Center – enable to have the cursor jump automatically to a defined reference point on the object when you select it and be "held" by that point as you reposition it. When moving a free pad or via, the cursor will snap to the center of the object. When moving a component, the cursor snaps to the reference point of the component. When moving a track segment, the cursor snaps to the vertex point. If this option is disabled, objects will be "held" by the point at which you click on them.
Smart Component Snap – enable so that when you click to select a component, the cross-hair cursor appears on the nearest pad of this associated component in respect to the cursor. Disable this option so that the cross-hair cursor always appears on the pad reference point of this component when it is clicked.
Display popup selection dialog – enable to use the Popup Selection dialog in the PCB editor when selecting co-located objects. The Popup Selection dialog helps you more easily select an object located in a 'stack' of overlapping objects (typically across different layers).
Double Click Runs Interactive Properties – enable this option to either open the Properties panel when editing placed objects using double click, or disable it to open the modal dialog when editing placed objects using double click.
Small 90
– small cross-hair cursor angled at 90° (e.g., "+"). This is the default.Large 90
– cursor consists of intersecting horizontal and vertical lines spanning the width of the screen.Small 45
– same as Small 90
except that the cross-hair lines are at 45° (e.g., "X").None
– when you drag a component, only the component moves. Any attached tracks will be disconnected and left in place.Connected Tracks
– when you drag a component, any connected tracks will remain attached to the component.30°
by default. Click to edit.500mils
(12.7mm
) by default. Click to edit.Re-Center
– re-centers the display around the location where the cursor touched the edge of the main design window. It also holds the cursor position relative to its location on the board, bringing it back to the center of the display.Fixed Size Jump
– pans across in steps defined by the Step Size value. Hold the Shift key to pan in steps defined by the Shift Step value.Shift Accelerate
– pans across in steps defined by the Step Size value. Hold the Shift key to accelerate the panning up to the maximum step size, defined by the Shift Step value.Shift Decelerate
– pans across in steps defined by the Shift Step value. Hold the Shift key to decelerate the panning down to the minimum step size, defined by the Step Size value.Ballistic
– the panning will increase from the Step Size value to the Shift Step value dependent on how far past the edge of the viewing window you move the cursor. Hold the Shift key to pan in steps defined by the Shift Step value.Adaptive
– the panning will move at a constant speed when the cursor reaches the edge of the PCB window. When there are no design objects in the region where the panning is taking place, the cursor speed then slows down.Metafile
– processes Windows enhanced metafile data, however, if there is no enhanced metafile content, any Unicode text data will be processed.Text
– processes Unicode text data and discards any enhanced metafile data, however, if there is no Unicode text content, any enhanced metafile data will be processed.Choose one of the following methods for collaboration:
Server Path
– click the 'folder' icon on the right to select the server path for collaboration.Contact our corporate or local offices directly.