Edit your Autodesk EAGLE electronic design files with Fusion 360. Read on to learn how to import and edit your files.

Earlier this year, Autodesk again disrupted the CAD industry by closing the gap in the electromechanical workflow for the design of smart consumer products. Autodesk Fusion 360 is the leader in cloud-based CAD mechanical and CAM design needs. With the addition of electronics design capabilities, you can now create intelligent products using one collaborative platform.  

In addition to adding electronic design needs, we‘ve made it 100% compatible with designs and libraries made with EAGLE. As a result, all of your current EAGLE designs and designs that you download online are compatible with Fusion 360. 

EAGLE to Fusion 360, Made Easy

Today, you’ll learn how to load your design and libraries made with EAGLE into Fusion 360.  To begin, If you haven’t already, download a Fusion 360 free trial here. Next, download and install Fusion 360. Once the install is complete, you’ll begin in the Design workspace.

Click on the File pull-down menu and select the option New Electronic Design. The electronic document will control the link between your schematic and your circuit board. Historically, EAGLE users would create a new design. As long as the schematic and board were in the same folder, forward and back annotation was automatically checked.   

Create & Edit Your Electronics Designs

With Fusion 360, the electronic document now monitors your schematic and circuit board. As a result, the schematic can be used in different projects with alternative PCB layouts. This means all your schematics will remain linked. From the electronic document, you’ll notice four icons at the top left corner of the editor. These options allow you to either begin a new design or load the existing design. 

For our example, we’ll be using the icon about loading existing designs. To start, click on the link to the schematic symbol icon; from the Reference to the dialog box. Here you can navigate your existing Fusion 360 project folders to find an electronic design. We’ll use the option at the bottom of the dialog box called Select from My Computer since we wish to load a file that is currently on our local hard drive.  

 Next, after finding and selecting the schematic you wish to load, click on Open.

Then navigate to \documents\projects\eagle folder to select one of the available designs.  After choosing the schematic, click on OPEN, and a new tab will open with the schematic loaded.   

NOTE: If you upload your EAGLE design files into Fusion 360 and independently open them without an electronic document, there will be no monitoring between board and schematic. 

Note that the schematic sheet preview will be located at the bottom of the editor.  Return to the electronic document tab and click on Save. This action will cascade to all opened electronic editors. 

Loading your PCB

Now it’s time to load the associated PCB. As we did earlier with the schematic, click on the PCB link icon  .  From the opened dialog box, select the option Select from my Computer then navigate your hard drive to choose the board associated with this schematic.   

The board will load into a new tab. Click on the save icon from the electronic document to conserve our progress.

To verify that the loaded schematic and board are consistent, return to the schematic editor. Select the Validate tab and run ERC. The created report will inform you that your current schematic and PCB are consistent. If the report didn’t automatically appear, please click on the error icon to review notifications. Therefore, changes will be monitored between the board and schematic from this point forward.  

Collaboration & Version Control

With the design files successfully loaded, you’ll be able to continue working on electronic design and enjoy the collaboration and versioning capabilities in Fusion 360. From this point on to open your electronic design double-click the Electronic Document from the Fusion 360 data panel, this will automatically load the Schematic, PCB, and linked 3DPCB.

Go from Autodesk EAGLE to Fusion 360 today

Ready to gain access to comprehensive electronics and PCB design tools in one
software solution for electronics engineers? Get started with a 30-day free trial of Fusion 360 today.