Why worry about sharing individual PCB design files? The reason is that anytime project files are shared, there is potential for liabilities stemming from IP theft. This can include engaging with contractors, potential customers, or anyone else that won’t take a direct role in working on the design. In contrast, file-based access is useful for a number of tasks where IP needs to be protected. Project-level sharing is ideal for pushing a design into manufacturing as a Project Release, or for granting editor access to another member of a design team. There are times where it makes sense to share only a single file with a collaborator instead of sharing a project.

Altium 365 enables different levels of sharing with multiple file types through your online web instance, giving a design team the same type of data access control you’d find on other cloud file sharing platforms. If you want to eliminate liabilities and keep your team’s design data secure, consider these best practices for sharing PCB design data.

For PCB designers, this means either sharing entire design projects or sharing individual files with your manufacturer, customers, contractors, or collaborators. Even though today’s cloud platforms are immaculately secure and they allow a range of files to be easily shared, there are times where you should limit the data you’re sharing to only the critical files required.

Getting design files to customers used to require a thumb drive, DVD-RW, or emails before we had the cloud.

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