Creating a Soft Design License
Related article: Licensing and the NanoBoard
Each Altium NanoBoard is shipped with a 12-month Soft Design license of Altium Designer. The license in each case is linked to that particular NanoBoard. To access and use the license, it first needs to be created.
If you have a full license option of Altium Designer – Custom Board Front-End Design or Custom Board Implementation – you will be able to use any Altium NanoBoard with that license and, in this situation, are not required to create and use the Soft Design license that accompanies your NanoBoard.
Creating the License
After connecting your NanoBoard to your PC and powering on, start Altium Designer. The software will detect the presence of your new NanoBoard and the Create Soft Design License dialog will appear.
Decide whether or not you wish to create and use the Soft Design license
that is included with your new NanoBoard.
Click Yes to create the Soft Design license. The Create License page will appear within Altium Designer. If you are already registered with Altium, and have an existing Altium Account, simply sign-in with your existing Altium Account credentials to acquire and use the Soft Design license.
Simply sign in with your Altium Account credentials to create and access your Soft Design license.
If you cannot remember your password, simply click on the Forgot your password link. The Reset Password dialog will appear. Enter your User name (the email address associated with your account) and click the Reset Password button. An email with a new temporary password will be sent to that email address, which you can use to login to your account.
If you are not an existing Altium user, you will need to register first – essentially creating a new Altium Account and receiving the credentials with which to sign-in to that account (see Registering with Altium).
When signing in to your account, if you are using your Altium Account credentials for the first time, or have reset a forgotten password, you will be prompted to define a new password, using the Set Password dialog.
For security, signing in with newly-issued Altium Account credentials (or a reset password)
requires you to set a new password.
The newly-created license will be added to your account upon signing in and a confirmatory dialog will appear.
Confirmation upon creation of your new Soft Design license
of Altium Designer!
Click OK – you will be taken to the My Account page within Altium Designer. The new Soft Design license will be presented in the Available Licenses region of the page. By default, the license is already taken for use, by you, on the computer to which you have connected the NanoBoard.
Your Soft Design license is available for you to start designing straight away!
You are now free to discover and explore the world of soft design – and remember, now that you have acquired your Soft Design license, you no longer are required to have your NanoBoard connected, although having a connected NanoBoard at your side is where the fun really begins!
The Soft Design license is provided as an On-Demand type license. For information on this type of license, including access and use, see Using an On-Demand License.
Registering with Altium
To register for the first time with Altium, and thereby create an account, simply click on the Register with Altium button, at the bottom of the Create License page. The Setup Account page will appear within Altium Designer.
Fill out your contact details – mandatory fields are indicated with a red vertical bar at the left of the field – and click the Register button. Upon successful registration, a confirmation dialog will appear and an email with your new Altium Account credentials will be sent to the email address you have provided.
Register to setup your account with Altium.
If you enter a value for the Company field, that entry will be used as the name for the account when it is created. If this field is left blank, the account will be named using the First Name and Last Name entries.
If you are already an existing Altium user and have been issued with Altium Account credentials previously, the software will detect that you are trying to register with an email address that is already being used. In this case, you will be taken back to the Create License page. Enter your existing Altium Account credentials associated with the email address you are trying to use.