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      <title>File settings and options</title>
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      <div class="title_topic3" id="xps10_pagetitle">File settings and options</div>
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      <p class="para_topic">There are several options for the files created when exporting to ECAD or writing to ECAD. Access these settings from the PCB.xchange File menu. You can also access the most common settings from the PCB.xchange menu in NX. You can specify the following options:</p>
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            <p class="para_item">The file extension (the characters after the period &quot;.&quot; in the ECAD file names). </p>
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            <p class="para_item">The IDF version (not available on the Settings dialog box from the PCB.xchange menu in NX). </p>
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            <p class="para_item">The units when importing ECAD files. </p>
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            <p class="para_item">The default read/write directory for ECAD and NX files. </p>
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            <p class="para_item">The web browser executable for Online Help and the PCB Assembly Information command (for UNIX platforms only). </p>
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      <p class="para_topic">You can also save these settings so that they are reproduced the next time you open PCB.xchange.</p>
      <div class="title_division"> ECAD file extensions</div>
      <p class="para_division">When you create a board or library file with an Export to ECAD or an ECAD write operation, the specified extension is added to the file name(s). When you select a file for an ECAD Read operation, the contents of the ECAD File Locations directory are filtered for this extension. Type in the characters only; do not type the period (.). </p>
      <div class="title_division"> ECAD file locations</div>
      <p class="para_division">Type in a path to specify a default directory for Read/Write and Import/Export operations, or browse to a directory by selecting the file button next to the field. </p>
      <div class="title_division"> Other ECAD write defaults </div>
      <p class="para_division">You can select whether ECAD files are written in IDF 2 or IDF 3 format. See the article IDF File Formats for a comparison of the two formats.</p>
      <p class="para_division">You can also specify whether length values in the ECAD file(s) should be expressed in millimeters or in thousandths of an inch when importing from ECAD or writing to NX.</p>
      <div class="title_division"> Saving settings</div>
      <p class="para_division">To save the settings you make from the File Settings dialog box you must copy the file  <i class="fileName">%MAYA_PCB_DIR%/pcbx_ug.ini</i> (<i class="fileName">$MAYA_PCB_DIR/pcbx_ug.ini</i> on UNIX), and place the copy in the working directory or your home directory. Then, select <b class="uiTerm">File</b>&rarr;<b class="uiTerm">Settings</b> and click <b class="uiTerm">Save Settings</b>. The current settings on the <b class="uiTerm">View</b> menu and its dialog boxes are saved in the <i class="fileName"> pcbx_ug.ini</i> file you have duplicated, and PCB.xchange will reproduce the settings by reading the <i class="fileName">pcbx_ug.in</i>i file during start up.
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      <p class="para_division">When you click <b class="uiTerm">Save Settings</b> on the File Settings dialog box, PCB.xchange first looks for the file <b class="uiTerm">pcbx_ug.ini</b> in the working directory. If the file is not there, it looks in the user's home directory. If it is not there, it uses the file in the PCB.xchange installation.
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      <p class="para_division">The working directory is defined as the directory from which PCB.xchange is launched, typically the same directory from which NX is launched. The home directory is an environment variable typically defined by a system administrator for a specific user.</p>
      <p class="para_division">Note that when you click  <b class="uiTerm">Save Settings</b>, PCB.xchange also saves certain settings on the Import, Export and Write dialog boxes. See the articles  <a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('pcb/xu_nx_to_idf.html');return(false);"> Exporting NX Models to ECAD </a> and  <a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('pcb/xu_idf_to_nx.html');return(false);"> Importing ECAD Files into NX</a> for details. 
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