Documentation and Help

Altium Designer is a fully-featured design environment, capable of performing all aspects of the electronic product development process. That means there's a lot to learn! Support for learning is provided on a number of levels, including:

• On-line help provided through Techdocs - Altium's online knowledge library, available at http://techdocs.altium.com/.
• F1 help, linking directly from each command, button, dialog, object, panel, editor, keyword and compiler error to a dedicated webpage in Techdocs.
• Shift+F1 command-specific help, press Shift+F1 while running a command for a list of command-specific shortcuts.
• On-line Support Center, available at http://supportcenter.live.altium.com/ (requires log-in).
• Altium Designer discussion forums, available at http://forum.live.altium.com/ (requires log-in).

Techdocs, the Dedicated Online Knowledge Library

Much more than a simple Wiki, Techdocs is Altium's dedicated online knowledge library. With the introduction of Techdocs, all of the knowledge has been concentrated in a single location, replacing the Knowledge Center panel, What's This dialog help, the Wiki and a number of PDFs.

Techdocs includes information about:

• Commands/Toolbar Buttons - position the cursor over a menu entry or toolbar button and press F1, presenting detailed information about that command.
• Dialogs/Panels - position the cursor anywhere over the dialog or panel and press F1, presenting detailed information about the dialog, including all controls.
• Objects - position the cursor over an object and press F1.
• Keywords - click within the keyword and press F1.

Pressing F1 over the Polygon Manager dialog or within a PCB keyword, opens a Techdocs page with detailed information about that dialog or keyword.

Further Reading