The all new and totally FREE PCBL Toolbar for PADS was cleverly designed to allow engineers and designers to save valuable time and minimize frustration. If you use PADS 2004 or 2005, this new software can increase your productivity by allowing you to:

• Turn working layers ON or OFF instantly without going to the “Color Display” menu in PADS
• Open the eight most used dialog boxes in PADS, such as Copper Pour, Verify Design, View Nets, Preferences, etc.
• Fanout your SMD pads with precision results by setting the Pad to Via distance value in the PCBL Toolbar
• Use the PCBL Toolbar for both PADS and BlazeRouter
• Customize the Toolbar to your preferred “User Settings” using programmable preferences

Once you start using the PCBL Toolbar, you will not be able to work without it! Here are a few screenshots that highlight the some of the great features of this handy tool...

1. First, place the Toolbar files in any directory you want on your computer. You can open the program by simply selecting the file name “ViewToolbar.exe” from this directory.

The Toolbar will open at the main splash screen:

To use the program, you must open a session of PADS. Once your PCB design file is opened, you can select the “Layout” button and the program will open the first menu, as shown below. Only the active routing layers will be turned on. Unused routing layers will be grayed out.

2. The “Pref” button allows the you to setup your personal layering preferences:

3. The Element Toolbar allows you to easily turn on/off physical features:

4. The Menu Toolbar provides quick access to the most important options:

5. The Via Fanout Toolbar allows you to set the via fanout stub length and the fanout direction to speed up the process of manual fanout of all SMT pins. This feature organizes the Via Fanout with perfect symmetrical results.