Grid Manager

The Grid Manager dialog.

Summary

The Grid Manager dialog provides a centralized location from which to define and manage all grids for the active PCB document. The dialog provides all controls necessary to facilitate creation of your own customized, local placement grids. With support for both Cartesian and Polar grid styles, you can define any number of grids for use in a document, which can even be nested as required. Tailor grids to suit both your personal placement preferences and design requirements – with the Grid Manager you'll never be short of a grid to get even the trickiest of placements achieved.

Access

The following methods can be used to open the Grid Manager:

• Use the Grids command on the menu associated to the Snap button, at the bottom-right of the main design window.  
• Use the G,M shortcuts.
• Select Tools » Grid Manager from the toolbar.

• Click the Grids button in the Board Options dialog (Design » Board Options).
• Select View » Grids » Grid Manager from the toolbar.
• From the right-click menu for the workspace (in Snap Grid sub-menu).
• Right-click in the PCB Editor and select Options » Grid Manager from the context menu.

Options/Controls

• Priority - In the workspace, priority is distinguished by drawing order. The highest priority grid (priority 1) will be drawn in front of all other grids, then the grid with priority level 2, and so on, down to the default Global Board Snap Grid, which is drawn behind all other custom grids.

Change the priority for a grid by selecting it in the list and using the Increment Priority and Decrement Priority commands, available from the dialog's right-click menu or Menu button. A number of keyboard shortcuts are also available for setting the priority:

• • U or Ctrl+Up Arrow – increase the priority of the focused grid.
  • D or Ctrl+Down Arrow – decrease the priority of the focused grid.
  • Number keys 1-9 – focus the grid with the same numeric priority. Shift focus to the default snap grid (Global Board Snap Grid) using the 0 (zero) key.
  • H or B – make the currently focused grid the highest priority (i.e. 1).
• Name - Names of the Grids.
• Description - Descriptions of the Grids
• Fine - Color used for that grid, the color is defined in the Grid Editor, double-click to edit.
• Coarse - Color used for the multiplied grid. The Multiplier is set in the Grid Editor, double-click to edit.
• Non Comp/Comp - These options are used to control whether the grid applies to all objects, only components, or only non-components. For each grid, the 2 checkboxes combine to give 4 possible options, as follows:

• Menu - Use the Menu button to access a series of menus to add/delete Grids, setup Grids or Exporting and Importing Grids. The same menu can also be accessed by right-clicking in the dialog.