Quick Manual
After starting FreeRouting and choosing the design, start automatic routing with Autorouting in the toolbar or in the Routing menu. As soon as the Batch Optimizer is running you can stop the optimization any time by a left mouse click in the design and store the result.
Menus and toolbar
The Qt window has a menu bar, a toolbar and a status bar. There is no Java Web Start wrapper and no Java Control Panel.
The menus are File, Routing, Zoom, Utilities and Help. Help → Help opens this website (https://freerouting.org). Help → About... shows the program version.
The File menu holds Save, Save as, Save GUI Settings as Default, Export (Export Specctra Session File and Export Eagle Session Script) and Quit. Save writes the internal bin format. Save as accepts bin or dsn.
The Routing menu matches the left-hand toolbar group: Autorouting, Routing (manual), Select/Edit and Drag, then Undo and Redo. The toolbar repeats those four modes, then Zoom Fit All, Zoom Mouse, Undo, Redo, and the unit factor plus unit combo (mil, inch, mm, um).
Utilities opens the setup windows: Display, Parameter (Select, Route, Autoroute, Move), Rules (Clearance Matrix, Vias, Nets, Net Classes), Info, Logfile and Snapshots. Those windows are described under Setup & Miscellaneous.
Navigating the design uses the mouse wheel (zoom in/out) and the right mouse button (pan). Keyboard shortcuts such as u for Undo and a for Zoom Fit All are listed with the features below.
Overview
FreeRouting can be used for auto-routing, assist manual routing and for a manual adjustment of the design. Auto-routing is Autorouting in the menu or toolbar. For assist manual routing and for design adjustment three interactive states exist: Select/Edit, Routing (manual) and Drag. Each of these states can be entered from the Routing menu or from the toolbar.
