Filtering Components When Opening ECAD Files

You can create filters to suppress components or annotations and have the software apply the filters when you load ECAD boards.

When an ECAD file contains many components, it can take a long time to open in CircuitWorks. If you know there are components you do not need to see, you can create filters to identify the components to suppress. You store these filters in the \CircuitWorks\Filters folder. When you turn on a setting in the CircuitWorks Options dialog box, the software applies the filters to the ECAD file when it loads.

After the ECAD file opens, the filtered components are not visible in the graphics area, but they appear in the FeatureManager design tree as inaccessible components.

To filter components when you open an ECAD file:

  1. Open the ECAD file you want to filter.
  2. Use the filter tools to filter the file so that unnecessary components are suppressed.
  3. For Filter Settings, click Export Filters.
  4. In the Save as dialog box, navigate to the location where you store your filter files.
    The default location is install_dir\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\CircuitWorks\Filters.
  5. Click Save.
    The filters you applied to the file are saved as a .cwf file.
  6. Click File > Options.
  7. On the General page, under CircuitWorks filters:
    1. Click Apply filters on opening file.
    2. For Filters File, click to open the Select CircuitWorks Filter File dialog box.
    3. Navigate to the location of the stored filter, select it, and click Open.
  8. On the Models page, under Save the models CircuitWorks creates to these folders, ensure that Filters contains the location where you saved your exported filter.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Close the file you used as a basis for the filter.
  11. Reopen the file.
    The filter you exported is applied as the file is opened.