Names of new instances can be automatically generated by setting the name_format parameter in the catalog artifact's Properties dialog box. The serial number used in an automatically generated name is always greater than the last one used. Serial numbers are not automatically reused even if they are available.

The name_format is defined in the Value box, where the crosshatch sign (#) represents an incremented number. When a catalog item is named Part#, then the instances of the catalog item placed on the sheet are named sequentially as Part1, Part2, Part3, and so on. The # sign can appear anywhere in the value (for example, widget_#_rotor generates widget_1_rotor, widget_2_rotor, widget_3_rotor, and so on).

Use multiple # characters to pad the incremental numbers with 0s. For example, Widget#### generates Widget0001, Widget0002, Widget0003, Widget0004, and so on.

You can add other parameters to the name format. For example, W-<wire color>-<wire gauge>-### becomes W-Red-12awg-001, where Red and 12awg are the current values of the wire color and wire gauge parameters respectively.