So, what's the deal with file management and version control here?

[jwilkins8475]

I have an electronic design. It's a wonderful design, and all the parts are there - what I guess is called a 'design file', a schematic, a 2D PCB layout and a 3D board. I completed it months ago, and it's been sitting and just waiting for me to pipe it to a CNC machine and cut it out.

But I wanted to put the ~3x5" PCB into a panel, so I could cut multiple boards out of a 12x12" blank. (Wasting FR4 causes global warming or something, probably.) Turns out, this is its own special little nightmare, but that's not what I'm here about. This time.

Like a good little designer, I made sure to 'save as' and make copies of all my files in a totally separate and distinct folder before I did anything related to panelize.ulp. And it's a good thing I did. You see, something went wrong with the panelization of the board, and it not only eliminated both copper pours (ground planes) on the top and bottom of the board, but somehow, through processes I do not understand, the dutifully named ORIGINAL and COPY versions of this design have become intermingled.

So, now, when I open the ORIGINAL version of the design file, it throws warnings because there are newer versions of the schematic, the 2D PCB, and the 3D board. Even though I've deleted all the files I labeled as COPY. Unless I open the broken versions of everything, it all becomes read-only, and any amount of 'save as' just becomes an infinite loop of copy-making because there's a 'newer version,' even though the one I just saved seconds ago should be the newest version of all.

So, the big question: How do I get my original work back to a usable state? How do I re-link the design file to the schematic I want, the 2D layout I want, and the 3d board that I want, and discard the others?

Second almost-as-big question: How do I actually panelize my PCB so that I can get multiples out of a 12x12" slab of FR4? I followed the links that this fine chap was kind enough to send me, but after trying panelize.ulp, I'm a little afraid of the 2nd one,

Third, nowhere-near-as-big question, but would be nice to know: Why is this like this? It seems as though F360 has broken many long-standing standards for both file management and/or version control for the sake of... something? Is it going to stay like this? Or is it one of those things that "someone" is "working on"?

Thanks in advance.

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @jwilkins8475 ,

Thank you for your post, there is a lot to unpack here but I'll try to be as clear as I can. First off, this is something that's being worked on, unlike mechanical data, foundationally ECAD data depends on syncing between files. So the current setup that works well for mechanical files is giving grief.

How did you make this copy? I would assume that you went into the design and did a File > Save As. If you did this the saved file preserves all of the links so the COPY you made is still linked to the original files and any modifications you make will want to be reflected in the original files.

If you want to make a truly independent copy this is the procedure:

- Make a new Electronics Design file

-Link the schematic

-In the dialog that pops up asking you to select what schematic to link find the original and MAKE SURE that you check the make a copy checkbox on the bottom right of the dialog. THIS IS THE KEY STEP.

-Repeat for the board.

The checkbox is relatively small and you would have to know to look for it in order to do this right. We recognize that this workflow needs work and it will be improved.

Now how can you recover your work? Open the last good version of both your schematic and your board. When you do this you'll see they have locks at the top of the tab. Now go File > Save As Latest (not Save As like I think you've been doing) that will make the last good version of the files the current version and you'll be able to move on from there.

If you continue to run into problems please let me know.

Best Regards,

[jwilkins8475]

Hi, Jorge.

Yes, you're absolutely right - I did a right click>save as. I assumed that saving the files as completely different names in a completely different folder would create a new set of files, but it just effectively created differently-named current-versions, like you say.

And thank you for the clear instructions for both the 'make a copy' and re-linking the good versions. I did see the 'make a copy' button referenced elsewhere, but wasn't sure if I was past that point or not, so I just closed the program and decided to wait for a response before I had the chance to screw anything else up.

Thanks again.