How to convert PCB into Schematic in Altium? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: egzoz2003@yahoo.com
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 05:37:10 pm
content: Hi,Is it possible to reverse engineering a PCB board to Schematic with Altium designer ?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 09:25:27 pm
content: Not easilyhttps://www.altium.com/documentation/altium-designer/cam-editor-reverse-engineering-pcbs

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 01:26:09 pm
content: That link to the altium website is about reverse generating a PCB from CAM output. Not about creating a schematic.KiCad has a feature in which netlist data can be back ported to the schematic, and it can create wire labels attached to schematic symbols. I have not used this feature myself, and don't know how good it works.KiCad can import an altium PCB (or directly import Gerbers). And apparently altium can (or could?) import a KiCad project. I think that may be limited to the KiCad V6 file formart. I don't know if altium put any effort into keeping that feature of their softwar up to date. KiCad has just released V9.A method that always work, is to manually enter a schematic, and link them to the already existing PCB footprints. You can then "guess" the schematic, and differences will be flagged by DRC once the schematic is ported back to the PCB. Often quite big parts of a schematic can be easily guessed. This is an iterative process and thus takes some time

author: egzoz2003@yahoo.com
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 24, 2025, 09:08:48 am
content: Is is possible to do it with Altium ? Draw PCB and generate Schematic ?

author: cadguy68
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 07:02:26 pm
content: Do you mean like push a button and a schematic appears?No.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 08:07:00 pm
content: Quote from: Doctorandus_P on February 23, 2025, 01:26:09 pmAltium has been able to import KiCad 7 files for around 2 years, and KiCad 8 files for around a year. Presumably they'll update the importer to V9 soon enough.FYI, KiCad import is a separate extension in Altium that must be installed. It doesn't show up under "Get More Importers" button in the Import Wizard.

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 30, 2025, 08:32:12 pm
content: Judging from the amount of complaints on the Altium forum, the KiCad importer does not work on anything but older versions of KiCad.You also need to have an active subscription and a licence to Altium (of which there are many types of licence). Then you are able to download the extension required.KiCad can however import Altium projects (from V9.00), schematics and PCB design files.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2025, 06:13:12 am
content: One way (and the most logical) that works with any PCB design suite because it is very close to the normal workflow is to:Draw a partial schematic (Known IC's, resistors, etc)Glean or measure some connections on the PCB.Make those connections in the schematicPort the schematic to the PCB editor (footprints, netlist, etc)Run DRC. Differences between the connections taken from the schematic, and the actual connections on the PCB will be flaggedGo back to the schematic, and extend / modify it.Keep on repeating the whole process until there are no more errors when you run DRC.

author: Simmed
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2025, 06:28:40 am
content: Quote from: egzoz2003@yahoo.com on February 24, 2025, 09:08:48 amso you are sayingyou pick the component physicalthen you draw the trace on board layout connecting itemsand then you want the schematic to show the symbol and connection ?

author: egzoz2003@yahoo.com
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 04, 2025, 02:35:38 pm
content: Quote from: Simmed on April 08, 2025, 06:28:40 amYes , something like this.

author: erwining
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 22, 2025, 03:12:26 pm
content: Is the question, from a PCB file, or from a physical board?Likely it's a physical board, so a starting point would be like this video series:They take a close-up photo of the PCB, then modify it in Photoshop to see the traces better and then do the schematic in EasyEDA analogous to Altium.