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I'm learning Altium at job. Just curious what is the difference between the yellow rectangle and the white ones on the schematic symbols?

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    \$\begingroup\$ I think the answer is, "one is yellow and the other one is white.", but could you add a picture so we can be sure what you're asking about? \$\endgroup\$
    – The Photon
    Jun 4, 2014 at 0:18

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You can make the rectangles any color you want, with any color border you want and any of several (four) border width selections. See below (dialog from Properties):

There are 256 colors available, with selectable swatches, including 16 custom colors that you can specify in 8-bit per color RGB or 8-bit per parameter HSL (Hue-Saturation-Luminance) format.

enter image description here

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I haven't used Altium / Protel since 99SE but I remember all the standard schematic symbols used to be yellow. I wonder if in newer versions some of it depends on whether they were carried forward from older version or drawn from scratch? Not that it really changes the answer just thought that might be another reason for what the OP noticed. \$\endgroup\$
    – PeterJ
    Jun 4, 2014 at 11:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ @PeterJ Not sure about that. Most of the parts in the standard libraries (old and new) have a yellow fill. Many of the FPGA parts have a 'peach' color fill in the rectangles. Not many are white that I've noticed. And then there's the virulent green fill in the hierarchical blocks (not really schematic symbols but they have to co-exist on the same schematic). Since you can't easily fill non-rectangles many non-rectangular parts are have no fill. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 4, 2014 at 11:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ Must check out a demo of the later versions soon, sounds like they've employed an interior decorator ;) \$\endgroup\$
    – PeterJ
    Jun 4, 2014 at 11:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @PeterJ No evidence of any artistic types there. If you want see how color schemes and fonts should be done (IMHO), Apple Keynote (Powerpoint type program) is wonderful. You have to work to make things ugly. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 4, 2014 at 11:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ sorry for the late response. Yes, I do realize I can manually change the color fill to anything. I just thought if there is a common practice of using certain color for some purpose. I think @SpehroPefhany has summarized very well. Thank you guys! \$\endgroup\$ Jun 18, 2014 at 5:42

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