MCAD CoDesigner: Onboarding Guide

Created: January 30, 2025
Updated: March 26, 2026

At a Glance

Learn how to activate your Altium 365 Workspace, install and configure CoDesigner, and get started with MCAD CoDesigner. This onboarding guide provides links to documentation, best practices, additional resources, and help.

Synchronize your design between Altium Designer and the most popular MCAD systems. ECAD-MCAD integration accelerates multi-disciplinary electronic product design with seamless collaboration between mechanical and electrical engineers.

Getting Started with CoDesigner

Onboarding Objective	Resource
Activate your Altium 365 Workspace	📄Documentation Article
Install CoDesigner	📥Webpage: Altium Downloads
Configure CoDesigner	📄Documentation Article
Introduction to CoDesigner for MCAD	🪢Getting Started Guide: SOLIDWORKS 🪢Getting Started Guide: PTC Creo 🪢Getting Started Guide: Fusion 🪢Getting Started Guide: Inventor 🪢Getting Started Guide: Siemens NX
How to initialize collaboration	🪢Getting Started Guide
Sync changes across ECAD-MCAD	🪢Getting Started Guide

Best Practices for CoDesigner

For newly designed boards, start by sending a blank board from Altium Designer to your MCAD tool to ensure that any future changes can be pulled from MCAD.
In order to keep the mechanical dimensions and constraints alive, only make changes to the board shape in your MCAD application.
Configure the naming of the Component Models and Component Linkages in the MCAD CoDesigner Section of your Altium 365 Workspace Settings.
Review these recommendations for a Mechanical Engineer.