Excellon Editor

The Excellon Editor changes the drills and slots of an Excellon object. Use it to add, copy, array, resize, and delete holes, manage the tool list, and filter features. Each change is one undo step.

Where to find it

• Select an Excellon object in the Project tree. Then select Edit > Edit Object (shortcut E). See Excellon Object.
• Other ways to start: the Editor button in the Edit Toolbar, the Edit item in the Project menu, the Edit item in the canvas right-click menu, or the Excellon Editor button in the object panel.
• Exit with the Exit Editor button in the editor panel, with Edit > Exit Editor, or with Ctrl+S.
• Shortcut keys work on the canvas when no tool is active. See the key table below and Keyboard Shortcuts.
• The tool panels, the Tools Table, the feature panel, and the transform panel are in the Properties tab of the notebook.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-1.png — the full Excellon Editor window with the left panel, the drill tool panel, and the canvas with drills and slots.

Tool keys

Key	Tool	Requirement
D	Add drill	None
A	Drill array	Tool selected in the Tools Table
M	Drill move	A selection
C	Drill copy	A selection
R	Drill resize	None
W	Add slot	None
Q	Slot array	Tool selected in the Tools Table
T	Add tool	None. Opens the new tool diameter popup. Range: 0 to 99.9999

Inside an active tool, key presses go to that tool.

Quick start

1. Open an Excellon object in the Excellon Editor.
2. Press T and enter a diameter. Or enter the diameter in Tool Dia and press Add.
3. Select the tool row in the Tools Table.
4. Press D. The Editor Drill panel opens.
5. Click on the canvas to place each drill.
6. Press Enter to finish the drill add action.
7. Press Ctrl+S to save and return to the application.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-2.png — the Tools Table with one tool row selected and the drill add panel open.

Parameters

Tool panels: common controls

Every tool panel has the same top part. The panel title is Editor followed by the tool name, for example Editor Drill.

Parameter	Description	Default
Diameter / Tool Diameter	Section label for the tool diameter.	—
Value	Diameter of the selected tool (mm, or inch in an inch project). The field is disabled and cannot be typed in.	—
Position	Section label for the coordinates.	—
X	X coordinate of the position. Range: -10000.0000 to 10000.0000.	—
Y	Y coordinate of the position. Range: -10000.0000 to 10000.0000.	—
Projection	Length of the current segment or move. Shown as a numeric entry.	—
Trash icon	Clears the Projection entry. Not shown on the copy panel, which uses a Clear button.	—
Add	Starts or confirms the add action of this tool.	—

Drill (Add drill, key D)

Adds single drills. Click on the canvas to place each drill. The panel has only the common controls above.

Parameter	Description	Default
Projection	See the common controls.	—
Add	Starts the drill add action.	—

Drill array (key A)

Creates a linear or circular array of drills.

Parameter	Description	Default
Type	Linear: items in a line. Circular: items on a circle.	Linear
Size	Number of items in the array. Range: 1 to 100000.	5 (excellon_editor_array_size)
Direction (linear)	Direction of the linear array. X: horizontal axis. Y: vertical axis. Angle: custom angle, set by Angle.	X (excellon_editor_lin_dir)
Pitch	Distance between the elements of the array. Range: 0.0000 to 10000.0000.	2.54 (excellon_editor_lin_pitch)
Angle (linear)	Angle of the linear array. Range: -360.00 to 360.00 degrees. Two decimals.	0.0 (excellon_editor_lin_angle)
Direction (circular)	CW: clockwise. CCW: counter clockwise.	CW (excellon_editor_circ_dir)
Angle (circular)	Angle between each element of the circular array. Range: -360.00 to 360.00 degrees.	12 (excellon_editor_circ_angle)
Radius	Radius of the circular array. Range: -10000.0000 to 10000.000.	—
Add	Starts the array placement. Click to place the array (linear), or click the center position (circular).	—

If a value is outside its range, the editor shows Edited value is out of range.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-3.png — the drill array panel with Type set to Linear, then the same panel with Type set to Circular.

Slot (Add slot, key W)

Adds one slot (a hole with an oval shape).

Parameter	Description	Default
Parameters	Section label for the slot settings.	—
Length	Length of the slot. Range: 0.0000 to 10000.0000. Step 0.1.	5.0 (excellon_editor_slot_length)
Direction	Direction of the slot. X: horizontal axis. Y: vertical axis. Angle: custom angle, set by Angle.	X (excellon_editor_slot_direction)
Angle	Angle of the slot. Enabled only when Direction is Angle. Range: -360.00 to 360.00 degrees. Two decimals.	0.0 (excellon_editor_slot_angle)
Projection	See the common controls.	—
Add	Starts the slot add action.	—

Slot array (key Q)

Creates a linear or circular array of slots.

Parameter	Description	Default
Length	Length of each slot. See the Slot section.	5.0 (excellon_editor_slot_length)
Direction and Angle (slot)	Slot orientation. See the Slot section.	X and 0.0 (excellon_editor_slot_direction, excellon_editor_slot_angle)
Type	Linear or Circular.	Linear
Size	Number of slots in the array. Range: 0 to 10000.	5 (excellon_editor_slot_array_size)
Direction (linear)	X, Y, or Angle.	X (excellon_editor_slot_lin_dir)
Pitch	Distance between the elements of the array. Range: 0.0000 to 10000.0000.	2.54 (excellon_editor_slot_lin_pitch)
Angle (linear)	Angle of the linear array. Range: -360.00 to 360.00 degrees.	0.0 (excellon_editor_slot_lin_angle)
Direction (circular)	CW or CCW.	CW (excellon_editor_slot_circ_dir)
Angle (circular)	Angle between each element of the circular array. Range: -360.00 to 360.00 degrees.	12 (excellon_editor_slot_circ_angle)
Radius	Radius of the circular array. Range: -10000.0000 to 10000.000.	—
Add	Starts the array placement.	—

Slot array placement shows Click to place ... (linear) or Click on the circular array Center position (circular) in the status line.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-4.png — the slot array panel with the slot section and the array section visible.

Resize (key R)

Changes the diameter of the selected drills.

Parameter	Description	Default
Resize value	New diameter. Range: 0.0000 to 10000.0000.	—
Trash icon	Sets Resize value to 0.0.	—
Resize	Applies the new diameter to the selected drills. Tooltip: "Resize a drill or a selection of drills."	—

The status line shows Click on the Drill(s) to resize ... while the tool waits for a selection.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-5.png — the resize panel with a value entered and a drill selected on the canvas.

Copy (key C)

Copies the selected drills and slots. The copy panel has a single or array mode.

Parameter	Description	Default
Projection	See the common controls.	—
Clear	Clears the Projection entry.	—
Mode	Single: one copy. Array: an array of copies.	Single
Size	Number of copies in the array. Range: 1 to 100000. Shown in Array mode.	—
Type	Linear, 2D, or Circular.	Linear
Direction (linear)	X, Y, or Angle.	X
Pitch (linear)	Distance between copies. Range: 0.0000 to 10000.0000.	1.0
Angle (linear)	Angle of the linear array. Range: -360.00 to 360.00 degrees.	—
Rows (2D)	Number of rows. Range: 0 to 10000.	1
Columns (2D)	Number of columns. Range: 0 to 10000.	1
Placement (2D)	Spacing: space between copies. Offset: each row and column is placed at a multiple of a value from the origin.	Spacing
Spacing rows (2D, Spacing)	Distance between rows. Range: 0 to 9999.	0
Spacing cols (2D, Spacing)	Distance between columns. Range: 0 to 9999.	0
Offset X and Offset Y (2D, Offset)	Offset values. Range: 0.0000 to 10000.0000.	0
Direction (circular)	CW or CCW.	CW
Angle (circular)	Angle between each copy. Range: -360.00 to 360.00 degrees.	—
Add	Starts the copy placement. Click on the reference location.	—

Press Enter to finish the copy action.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-6.png — the copy panel in Array mode with Type set to 2D.

Tools Table

The Tools Table lists the tools of the object. Select a row to make it the active tool.

Column	Description
#	Tool number.
Diameter	Tool diameter.
D	Number of drills that use the tool.
S	Number of slots that use the tool. The cell is empty when the count is zero.

The last two rows show Total Drills and Total Slots.

Control	Description
Convert Slots	Converts the slots in the selected tools to drills. Tooltip: "Convert the slots in the selected tools to drills."
Tool Dia	Diameter for a new tool. Default: 1.0 (excellon_editor_newdia). Range: 0.0000 to 10000.0000.
Add	Adds a tool with the diameter in Tool Dia. Tooltip: "Add a new tool to the tool list with the diameter specified above."
Delete Tool	Deletes the selected tool. Tooltip: "Delete a tool in the tool list by selecting a row in the tool table."

Add a tool

• Enter a diameter in Tool Dia, then press Add. You can also press T.
• The diameter must be a finite positive number. Otherwise the editor shows Please enter a finite positive tool diameter.
• The editor rounds the diameter to the displayed decimals.
• A tool with the same diameter cannot be added twice. The editor shows Tool already in the original or actual tool list.
• The new tool row is selected after it is added.

Delete a tool

• Select a tool row in the Tools Table, then press Delete Tool.
• Press Delete while the Tools Table has focus to delete the selected tool.
• Deleting a tool removes its drills and slots from the object.
• If no row is selected, the editor shows Select a tool in Tool Table.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-7.png — the Tools Table with four tools, the Total Drills and Total Slots rows, and the Add/Delete Tool section.

Feature panel

The feature panel finds drills and slots and selects or deletes them.

Parameter	Description	Default
Type	All features, Drills, or Slots.	All features
Search selected features only	Limits the search to the selected features.	—
Dia range	Diameter range, as min, max. Blank disables the filter.	Blank
Slot range	Slot length range, as min, max. Blank disables the filter.	Blank
Within	Bounds, as xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax. A feature must be fully inside the bounds.	Blank
Refresh icon	Refreshes the feature table. Tooltip: "Refresh".	—
Select matches	Selects the features that match the filters.	—
Delete matches	Deletes the features that match the filters.	—

The feature table has these columns: Feature, Type, Diameter, Center, Slot length, and Bounds. The table allows multiple row selection.

Transform selected features

The transform panel moves, rotates, mirrors and scales the selected features. Each button applies to the selected features only.

Parameter	Description	Default
Reference	Reference point for the transform. Origin, Selection center, Minimum / lower left, Lower right, Upper right, Upper left, or Point.	—
Reference X / Reference Y	Coordinates of the custom reference point. Used with Point.	—
Angle (CCW)	Rotation angle in degrees. Counter-clockwise is positive.	90 (set in the UI)
Rotate	Rotates the selected features by Angle (CCW).	—
Mirror X	Reflects the features across the horizontal X axis.	—
Mirror Y	Reflects the features across the vertical Y axis.	—
Uniform scale	Scale factor for the positions and the circular tool diameters.	1 (set in the UI)
Scale	Scales the selected features by Uniform scale.	—
Offset X / Offset Y	Distance to move the selected features on each axis.	—
Offset	Moves the selected features by Offset X and Offset Y.	—

For a slot, the overall length is the endpoint distance plus the tool diameter.

Screenshot placeholder: images/Excellon-Editor-8.png — the feature panel with Type set to Slots, a Dia range filter, and the feature table with matches.

Save and cancel

Action	Key or control	Result
Save and return	Ctrl+S	Saves the changes and returns to the application.
Exit	Exit Editor	Opens the save dialog. Tooltip: "Exit from Editor."
Cancel the current action	Esc	Cancels the current tool action and returns to the drill selection.

Exit Editor and Ctrl+S open the dialog Do you want to save the changes? with the buttons Save, Save as New, No and Cancel. Save writes the changes to the Excellon object. Save as New creates a new Excellon object and leaves the source unchanged. No leaves the editor and the changes are lost. Cancel returns to the editor.

Undo and redo

Action	Key
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z

Each editor action is one undo step. The actions include: Add drill, Drill array, Add slot, Slot array, Add tool, Delete tools, Change tool diameter, Add features, Delete features, Delete feature, Delete filtered features, and Edit slot endpoints.

The editor keeps its own operation history in the history list. Saving uses the project history. The history stops at the step limit and the memory limit of the global history settings: 100 steps (global_history_steps) and 256 MB (global_history_memory_mb).

Advanced

• Some geometry cannot be represented by a circular tool without data loss. The editor rejects such features.
• Press Ctrl+A to select all tools in the Tools Table.
• Press - to zoom out and = to zoom in. Press V to zoom to fit.
• Press Ctrl+M for the distance tool and Shift+M for the minimum distance tool.
• Press G to toggle grid snap and K to toggle corner snap.
• Press F3 to show the shortcut list.
• The default values in the tables come from the excellon_editor_* keys in defaults.py. The editor loads these keys into its controls. For the preference page, see Preferences Excellon.

See also

• Excellon Object
• Drilling
• Object Operations
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Gerber Editor
• Geometry Editor
• GCode Editor
• User Interface
• Preferences Excellon
• Tcl Command Reference
• Glossary