Defining File-based Library Preferences for Altium Designer

Summary

The Data Management – File-based Libraries page of the Preferences dialog provides controls to manage the File-based Libraries list. The libraries defined on this list are part of the Altium Designer environment, and therefore, components/models within are available to all open projects.

The File-based Libraries list is reflected in and is also affected by changes made through the Installed tab of the Available File-based Libraries dialog. This dialog is accessed by clicking the  button at the top of the Components panel.

Access

The Data Management – File-based Libraries page is part of the main Preferences dialog that is accessed by clicking the  control in the upper-right corner of the workspace then selecting the File-based Libraries entry under the Data Management folder.

Options/Controls

File Libraries

This region displays the file libraries that are available to your design projects in Altium Designer. The following supported library types can be added to the list:

• Integrated Library
• Schematic Library
• Database Library
• SVN Database Library
• PCB 3D Model Library

For each entry in the list, the following information is presented:

• Library Name - the name of the library. For non-vault libraries, the extension is also included.
• Activated - use this control to determine whether the library is activated, and therefore available for use (enabled), or deactivated, and therefore not available for use (disabled). A deactivated library is treated as though it had been uninstalled but remains in the file library so it can be quickly re-activated.
• Path - displays where the library resides relative to the nominated path specified in the Library Path Relative To field. 
• Type - the library's type.

Additional Controls

• Library Path Relative To - any libraries added to the File Libraries list are installed relative to the folder specified in this field. Click on the folder icon at the right of this field to browse to the required folder, or enter the path to it directly.

• Move Up - click to move the selected library upward in the list (where possible).
• Move Down - click to move the selected library downward in the list (where possible).

• Install - click to access a menu offering the following installation commands:
  • Install from file - choose this command to access a standard Open dialog with which you can browse to and open the required standard, file-based library type (*.IntLib, *.SchLib, *.PcbLib , *.DbLib , *.SVNDbLib , *.PCB3DLib ).
  • Install from server - choose this command to access the Server Library dialog. If you are connected to a server, you will be able to use this dialog to create the server 'library', defining its name and the path to each server folder to be included as part of that library.
• Remove - click this button to remove the currently selected library(ies) from the list. You can select multiple libraries in the list using standard multi-select controls (Ctrl+click, Shift+click).