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Component Management
Learning Hub Component Management

Library & Component Management

Learn how to build and maintain a professional PCB component library in the cloud, with version-controlled managed components, real-time supply chain intelligence, lifecycle tracking, and the Library Health Dashboard that keeps your team's parts aligned to current design, BOM, and manufacturing requirements.

Resources here cover the key library and component management capabilities available in Altium Develop and Altium Agile: migrating file-based libraries to a centralized cloud workspace, configuring managed components with lifecycle state control and in-design validation, using the Manufacturer Part Search panel with granular filters to select and place components confidently, monitoring part availability and pricing signals directly in ActiveBOM, tracking where components are used across schematics and PCBs, and managing obsolescence with automated lifecycle flags and pre-defined part alternatives.

Select Parts with Live Supply Chain Data Creating a New Component in Altium Component Library Solutions Guide to Library Migration

Guide Books

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Library management interface screenshot Library Migration: Onboarding Guide 2 min Guide Books PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers ECAD Librarians +3 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers ECAD Librarians ECAD Librarians Project Leads Project Leads Existing Customers Existing Customers Altium Designer, in conjunction with Altium 365, provides a streamlined and highly automated process to quickly migrate your existing libraries Read Article
The Engineer’s Guide to Future-Proofing Your Design Against Component Obsolescence The Engineer’s Guide to Future-Proofing Your Design Against Component Obsolescence 3 min Guide Books Procurement Managers PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers Procurement Managers Procurement Managers PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Stay ahead of component EOL risks. Learn strategies to manage obsolescence with proactive lifecycle tracking and sourcing best practices. Read Article
TVS Diode PCB Design Guidelines for Using TVS Diode for Transient Protection 10 min Guide Books PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers A TVS diode can help with your PCB layout withstand an ESD event by diverting surges away from protected components. Read Article
Altium Rigid-flex Guidebook: Your Complete Design Guide Flex and Rigid-Flex PCB Design Guidelines and Assembly in Altium Designer 14 min Guide Books Many electronic devices don’t live on a single printed circuit board. Flex and rigid-flex PCBs are used to link multiple Read Article

Webinars

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Ensure Best Designs with Professional Library Management 45 min Webinars Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers

In this webinar, you'll discover how Altium Designer facilitates robust component management, including adding part choices to mitigate supply chain

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Ensuring Electronic Component Traceability From Idea to Innovation 36 min Thought Leadership Procurement Managers Manufacturing Engineers Procurement Managers Procurement Managers Manufacturing Engineers Manufacturing Engineers

Watch the webinar to learn how to achieve full transparency, improve collaboration, and ensure compliance throughout your entire supply chain—whether

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Bridge the Information Divide: Altium 365 Meets Z2Data 54 min Webinars Electrical Engineers Procurement Managers Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Procurement Managers Procurement Managers

Watch the webinar to learn how Z2Data can help you build resilience in engineering, compliance, and procurement through the comprehensive

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Design with Confidence: Altium 365 Meets SiliconExpert 47 min Webinars PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers Procurement Managers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Procurement Managers Procurement Managers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers

Watch the webinar to learn how SiliconExpert Integration in Altium 365 can optimize your workflows and elevate your design process.

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Videos

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4:22 Relink Design Components to Managed Components 5 min Videos PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Electrical Engineers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Project Leads Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers This video demonstrates how unmanaged projects can use managed components, even when a user is offline and using a local machine. In order to link this local project to an Altium 365 Workspace and integrate the resources of Altium 365 into this project, open tools and then the Item Manager. The Item Manager will scan the design and load any components within the design, showing that they are unmanaged. To relink these components located in the local library to the Altium 365 components, click auto match to match each component. If any components fail to match, users can select and navigate to the individual components and manually match them. Then, an ACL and ECO are generated, the changes are executed, and the components are updated. After this is completed, all of the components are updated to the latest revision. Configure the parameters "Visible on Add" by selecting enable for the "PackageCase" parameter and click okay. Refresh the screen and choose a component within the capacitors folder and place it. Now the case size is visible for that capacitor and the Properties Panel also displays this value. Read Article
1:14 Configure Visibility of Parameters on Components 2 min Videos PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Electrical Engineers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Project Leads Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers This video demonstrates how to enable parameters when placing a component. The first step is to open the Explorer Panel, and within components, open the capacitors folder and right click for properties. Configure the parameters "Visible on Add" by selecting enable for the "PackageCase" parameter and click okay. Refresh the screen and choose a component within the capacitors folder and place it. Now the case size is visible for that capacitor and the Properties Panel also displays this value. Read Article
4:30 Update Components to the Latest Revision 6 min Videos PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Electrical Engineers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Project Leads Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers This video demonstrates the process to update components to the latest revision. This may be necessary if a component is placed before updates need to be made in the Altium 365 Library. However, Altium 365 can help users identify any changes to components and update them. Within the Properties Panel in Altium Designer, the revision status identifies if a component is using the latest revision available. If this is not the case, users can click the refresh button to update to the latest revision. Likewise, there are also two methods to update multiple components at once. The first method is to select all of the components and right click and choose update to the latest revision in the Item Manager. Then one can open the ECO, modify any necessary components, and execute these changes. Furthermore, components can also be updated in the BOM Dock in the Active BOM. This pulls in information tied to each component, but the revision status is disabled by default. By right clicking in the column header, choosing select columns, and selecting the revision status “eye” icon, this enables the revision visibility. Users can then right click and update components to the latest revision in operations, and ensure that their part components are up to date. Read Article
7:40 Supply Chain Database to Workspace Data Synchronization 7 min Videos PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Electrical Engineers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Project Leads Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers The Altium 365 Component Library uses part choices to link library components to real world parts that you can purchase. Sometimes you want to add a part that is not known at the mayor supplier or is specifically made for you. When you have (live) data on this part (price/stock), then Altium 365 has a way to periodically upload this data into a customer data provider that your components and downstream systems can utilize as a data source. Read Article

Articles

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Library management interface screenshot Library Migration: Onboarding Guide 2 min Guide Books PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers ECAD Librarians +3 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers ECAD Librarians ECAD Librarians Project Leads Project Leads Existing Customers Existing Customers Altium Designer, in conjunction with Altium 365, provides a streamlined and highly automated process to quickly migrate your existing libraries Read Article
4:22 Relink Design Components to Managed Components 5 min Videos PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Electrical Engineers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Project Leads Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers This video demonstrates how unmanaged projects can use managed components, even when a user is offline and using a local machine. In order to link this local project to an Altium 365 Workspace and integrate the resources of Altium 365 into this project, open tools and then the Item Manager. The Item Manager will scan the design and load any components within the design, showing that they are unmanaged. To relink these components located in the local library to the Altium 365 components, click auto match to match each component. If any components fail to match, users can select and navigate to the individual components and manually match them. Then, an ACL and ECO are generated, the changes are executed, and the components are updated. After this is completed, all of the components are updated to the latest revision. Configure the parameters "Visible on Add" by selecting enable for the "PackageCase" parameter and click okay. Refresh the screen and choose a component within the capacitors folder and place it. Now the case size is visible for that capacitor and the Properties Panel also displays this value. Read Article
1:14 Configure Visibility of Parameters on Components 2 min Videos PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Electrical Engineers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Project Leads Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers This video demonstrates how to enable parameters when placing a component. The first step is to open the Explorer Panel, and within components, open the capacitors folder and right click for properties. Configure the parameters "Visible on Add" by selecting enable for the "PackageCase" parameter and click okay. Refresh the screen and choose a component within the capacitors folder and place it. Now the case size is visible for that capacitor and the Properties Panel also displays this value. Read Article
4:30 Update Components to the Latest Revision 6 min Videos PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Electrical Engineers +1 PCB Design Engineers PCB Design Engineers Project Leads Project Leads Electrical Engineers Electrical Engineers Engineering Managers Engineering Managers This video demonstrates the process to update components to the latest revision. This may be necessary if a component is placed before updates need to be made in the Altium 365 Library. However, Altium 365 can help users identify any changes to components and update them. Within the Properties Panel in Altium Designer, the revision status identifies if a component is using the latest revision available. If this is not the case, users can click the refresh button to update to the latest revision. Likewise, there are also two methods to update multiple components at once. The first method is to select all of the components and right click and choose update to the latest revision in the Item Manager. Then one can open the ECO, modify any necessary components, and execute these changes. Furthermore, components can also be updated in the BOM Dock in the Active BOM. This pulls in information tied to each component, but the revision status is disabled by default. By right clicking in the column header, choosing select columns, and selecting the revision status “eye” icon, this enables the revision visibility. Users can then right click and update components to the latest revision in operations, and ensure that their part components are up to date. Read Article