How To Use Altium's New Re-Use Blocks

So I need to release an update to my last video about Device Sheet Symbols and Re-Use. It turns out just about now, Altium is about to (or just did) release a new feature for physical design reuse (that means, schematic AND PCB get to be saved away and reused in multiple designs).
But is it for you? How does it work? And what are the limitations, pros and cons of this fancy new Block Reuse feature anyway?
Watch this video and I will walk you through the whole experience.
Remember please subscribe as I release more of this content every week for you, the electronics engineer / PCB designer.
Also let me know your experience of this and other features and ask for more topics in the comments below.
Thanks!
-Ben.

[@bknl3491]

Thanks for making this, I'm really excited to see how this feature develops over the next year or so. Wonder how long it will take before Altium makes this really useful... Reminds me of draftsman when it first came out where it's a super cool idea, but initial implementation needed more features and smoother integration to really make it a useful tool.

[@schematica]

Yes, along with ActiveBOM (2013), Rigid-Flex (2014), xSignals (2015/16), PDNA (2016), ActiveRoute (2017), 64-bit and Multi-Board (2018), I could go on and on.... they all started weak, but over the course of 3-4 years become very good features that were usaeble.

[@yndyan021]

You can paste schematic with keeping designators by using ctrl + shift + v . I have not found the way to update reused block, placed in some schematic, when you make a changed to reuse block. Not sure how to synchronize.

[@assadij]

It's so much easier to copy the schematic, then select only what needed from PCB and paste, rather than this painful process. Even if you are going to use it many times!
I think Altium should concentrate on bug fixes instead of introducing new half-finished features.

[@schematica]

As always, so many ways to skin the cat...

[@nikolayponomarenko9457]

Check the Design Reuse panel, Explorer is a low-level browser.

[@schematica]

Thanks for the tip! Will follow up on that one.

[@kroykelby7712]

Hi, i just install version 22.4.2 but i cant see the Reuse Block under File->New. is there a way to activate it? or to show it?

[@schematica]

Try the new Design Reuse Panel. There *might* be an extension you need to enable though I don't recall having to do that.

[@spotridermtb1924]

I have a design that I want to Reuse. One of the components in this Reuses opportunity exists over 8 schematic sheets. This FPGA has 23 different parts (heterogenous part- BIG Zynq). Should I go through the multiple schematic pages selecting all the relevant components and signals all at one time creating the Reuse Block and then do the same thing with the PCB design? Or should I copy all 23 sheets of my schematic pages and make one giant schematic sheet (size J?) and make that a reuse block? How can I handle this situation? Can I make the whole design a Reuse Block as it is (23 schematic sheets) Or make one giant schematic sheet and make that a Reuse Block?

[@schematica]

IF IT SUPPORTED multi-sheet reuse, I'd make the reuse block project with the subsheets. I have not had the opportunity yet to require a multisheet reuse block. BUT... how many times will you reuse this Zync FPGA? You already have one design and will reuse it for the next, but after that? Doing all the work to factorize the Zync and it's supporting parts into a reuse block will only make sense if you plan to use the same part over and over for many projects. Otherwise I fear you'll not recover the time invested into the activity. If you are planning to reuse it once, maybe twice, it will be more efficient to fork (copy) the existing design and strip out what's not needed for the next one. My 2c...

[@nurseherozoren1040]

There are about ten pages in my project and no components are coming into the PCB except the page I use for the device page. How Can I Solve This?

[@benjaminjordan8128]

In that case either (a) those components have no footprints linked to them and/or (b) your project has errors preventing it from properly compiling and/or (c) the pages are not actually in the project. Check the messages panel and solve any errors top to bottom, and it will eventually work.

[@nurseherozoren1040]

Before adding the device page to the project, I compiled the project, verified it, and corrected the errors in the message sections, transferred all the components to the pcb, even made the layout, but after using the device page, when I said transfer it to the pcb, only the components of the schematic of the sheet I used in the device page came. Could it be that I didn't give any permission or didn't follow any rules?@@benjaminjordan8128

[@kroykelby7712]

is it only enable to Altium 365?

[@schematica]

The formal reuse block does only work with Altium 365 or a Concord Pro server connection, as mentioned in the video. If you don't see the menu item for creating a reuse block, it's likely because you're not signed into a server. You can bet Altium, like most software companies, is doing things this way to coerce customers into using the cloud.