PCB Pool design rules for Altium Designer

When I used EAGLE CAD software for laying out most of my PCBs, I recall that Beta Layout (PCB-POOL) provided a Design Rule Check (DRC) file that could be easily loaded into the board file.

Is there a similar way of setting up the design rule check in Altium Designer? Can the design rules be exported from one PCB file and imported into another PCB file? (I need to produce several PCBs using the PCB-POOL service; these PCBs have two, four, and six layers.)

I am interested in which design rules need to be set up in Altium Designer to successfully produce PCBs with PCB-POOL. There are quite a few design rules listed, and I am not certain if all of them are equally important.

Has anyone used Altium Designer to successfully produce PCBs that could be manufactured by PCB-POOL? Which rules did you have to set up, and what are the min/max constraints? Are there any gotchas that I need to be aware of before submitting my design?

To set rule for your PCB, you press 'D' and 'R' key.

To check error on your design, you can press "CC" or "CD"

You can not export design rules from one PCB to another PCB (or I don't know how to do it).

Thanks for your response, pk178.

OK, perhaps for each PCB that I design in Altium Designer, I must manually set up the design rules? Which set of rules would work well for PCB-POOL? Is there some way that I could independently check my design with another software package before it is submitted to PCB-POOL?

Yes you can export design rules from one PCB to another. In your PCB rules and Contains Editor there are two section.
Right click in the left section where the design rules are listed and select export rules or import rules.
Then another panel opens and there you highlight all the rules you would like to export. Use the same process to import PCB design rules.
Hope it make sense.

Thanks, loosemoose; that is terrific to know! I can now export rules files from one of my PCBs.

I would wonder if the rules that I've set up for one of the PCBs would be appropriate for submission to PCB-POOL. Would there be a way to check? I have to produce a number of different designs, and if I use the same design rules file with an incorrect rule, I may have to modify the PCB before it can be manufactured.

I've zipped and uploaded my exported design rules for a 6-layer PCB with 5 mil track/gap size and 8 mil minimum drill.

Could these rules be appropriate for manufacturing a PCB with PCB-POOL?

Each PCB could have different design rules, but if the technology on the PCB is the same you can use the same rules.
What the minimum trace/space is depends on the board manufacturer. Just ask them for their capabilities. 5/5 trace space is considered standard these days.

Thanks, loosemoose; PCB-POOL does indeed have 5 mil trace spacing, but I remember that for a number of years they only offered 6 mil. I guess that setting up the design rules properly in Altium is somewhat challenging for me since this is the first time that I've used the program for producing a design.

There is a .PDF file in the Altium Help folder, TR0116. It show you how to setup rules. The other one is AR0111., rules and resolving violations.
Those documents can also be shown through Altium Wiki.

Thank you, these are very helpful.