IndustrialAutomatedSystems (Customer) asked a question.

October 21, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Productivity Suite Feedback Suggestions

Hello,

 

I am using this programming software for somewhere around the 4th or 5th time now for a project and there are a few things that I think would make it much faster and easier to use. If any one of my suggestions are addressable in any way without modifications to the software please excuse my ignorance and direction would be much appreciated!

 

1. Structure members should inherit the parent structure's tag comment when their own comment is blank, and show it on the ladder.

 

2. Tag comments should display on parameters inside box instructions like the TMR, not just on contacts and coils.

 

3. The tag-creation popup should include a comment field, so you can document a tag as you create it.

 

4. Allow contacts and coils (normally open, normally closed and output coils) to be placed on the ladder without assigning a tag right away. They'd act as placeholders that can be defined later, so you can sketch out rung logic first and fill in the tags afterwards.

 

5. Add dedicated single-key shortcuts for normally open contacts, normally closed contacts and output coils, like the F-keys in RSLogix. That way you can lay out rungs quickly without typing mnemonics or going to the toolbar.

  • 7 answers
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Nixter and Kevin Roman like this.

  • ADC_AutomationControls_PE03 (AutomationDirect)

    Thank you for your feedback! I will pass your suggestions #2 and #4 along to our development team for evaluation.

    Regarding your suggestion #1, if you mean that UDS tags should inherit the UDS definition tag/member comments, this should already be working in the latest Productivity Suite version.

    Regarding your suggestion #3, when creating a tag from ladder the Define Tags dialog popup already includes a Comment field in the last column of the popup. I will send a request to our development team to also add a comment field to the Add Tags dialog when creating a tag from the Tag Database.

    Regarding your suggestion #5, some of the F-keys are already configured to create contacts or coils in ladder. F2 creates an NO contact, F3 creates an NC contact, F4 creates an OUT coil, and F5 creates a SET coil - see the last table in the Keyboard Shortcuts help topic (P092) for a list of these F-key shortcuts.

     

    We appreciate your help to make Productivity Suite better.

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  • ADC_AutomationControls_PE03 (AutomationDirect)

    Thank you for your feedback! I will pass your suggestions #2 and #4 along to our development team for evaluation.

    Regarding your suggestion #1, if you mean that UDS tags should inherit the UDS definition tag/member comments, this should already be working in the latest Productivity Suite version.

    Regarding your suggestion #3, when creating a tag from ladder the Define Tags dialog popup already includes a Comment field in the last column of the popup. I will send a request to our development team to also add a comment field to the Add Tags dialog when creating a tag from the Tag Database.

    Regarding your suggestion #5, some of the F-keys are already configured to create contacts or coils in ladder. F2 creates an NO contact, F3 creates an NC contact, F4 creates an OUT coil, and F5 creates a SET coil - see the last table in the Keyboard Shortcuts help topic (P092) for a list of these F-key shortcuts.

     

    We appreciate your help to make Productivity Suite better.

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    Selected as Best

    • IndustrialAutomatedSystems (Customer)

      Thank you! for #1 i was referring to Something like a TMR data type which Productivity classifies it as a PDS Structure. I have created a comment for the parent structure but when I use the .Greater BOOL in my programming it just has a blank comment unless i manually make sure it is filled.

       

      Thank you so much for the other answers! Most helpful.

       

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      • Todd Dice (Customer)

        And unlike RSLogix, in PSuite you can make ANY contact a one-shot without wasting an additional BOOL address.

         

        Also, Ctrl-F2 is a one-shot N.O., that can be set to rising or falling, and Ctrl-F3 is a one-shot N.C. that can also be set to rising or falling.

         

        My one complaint with PSuite - as a longtime former RSLogix500/5000 and Studio5000 user - is the lack of BOOL for the simple timer, like .EN, and .TT.

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      • ADC_AutomationControls_PE03 (AutomationDirect)

        @IndustrialAutomatedSystems (Customer)​ thanks for clarifying #1. Currently, if you create a PDS structure tag, such as TMR, and change the parent tag comment, you can populate the parent comment to the element comment fields by expanding the parent tag in the Tag Database and right-clicking on any of the elements and selecting 'Populate Parent Comment'. Does this work for you?

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      • Todd Dice (Customer)

        Works for me!

         

        Once set, does it apply to all tags that follow this convention, like counters for example?

      • ADC Community_02 (Automationdirect.com)

        @Todd Dice (Customer)​ .timing for STMR and TMR instructions will be in the next major release of the software.

 

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