3.1 Starting a new schematic entry in orcad

Before you begin

It is helpful to be very organized when you are designing. OrCAD will create many files and if you keep all of them in the same directory, it can quickly become very confusing. I like to make a directory hierarchy and put associated files into subdirectories. Before beginning, navigate to the directory in which you will keep your project and create the following subdirectories:

• sch - for your schematics.
• lib - for symbol and footprint libraries.
• board - for your board files.
• comps - for component datasheets.
• assy - for assembly related documents.

Starting a new schematic entry

To create a new project, first start OrCAD Capture and click File-->New-->Project . You will see the following dialog box.

Browse to the sch directory that you created and name the project Elec424Tutorial . You now have an empty project workspace. You should see an empty schematic page and a project window like the following.