Altium - Issue Creating New Footprint in Altium Workspace

Issue Creating New Footprint in Altium Workspace

Printed From: PCB Libraries Forum
Category: Libraries
Forum Name: Altium
Forum Description:
URL: https://www.PCBLibraries.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3628
Printed Date: 17 Mar 2026 at 1:39pm

Topic: Issue Creating New Footprint in Altium Workspace

Posted By: laurence.donkers
Subject: Issue Creating New Footprint in Altium Workspace
Date Posted: 17 Mar 2026 at 4:45am

Hi everyone,

I'm having an issue when using the Footprint Expert import scripts on a newly created footprint in my company's Altium365 Workspace.

My current workflow is this:

In the Altium Explorer panel, I navigate to our Footprint models folder and click
"(+) Add Footprint..."
This creates a new item ID (PCC-###) and opens up a new Footprint libary file based on our workspace's footprint template
I run the script generated by FPE by using File > Run Script... > From File etc.
The footprint is generated properly within the new Footprint library file, but when I open the PCB Library panel, the script-generated footprint is added as a separate footprint within the file.
If I try to "Save to server", I get a warning that two footprints are included in the file (since Altium workspace is set up to operate with max. one footprint per file)
Since this is a workspace footprint library file, Altium actually grays out the "Add" and "Delete" buttons in the PCB Library panel, so it can't be manually deleted.
If I choose to release as a single footprint, it actually deletes the script-generated footprint and keeps the template!
I can work around this by then opening the newly released footprint library file and repeating the generation from script and then I can save it. However this is really not ideal, since the process has to be repeated.

Could the generated scripts be modified so that if it detects a workspace footprint file it replaces the currently open footprint, rather than creating a new one within the same file?

Replies:

Posted By: cioma
Date Posted: 17 Mar 2026 at 12:14pm

We have the same problem, I'd say this is an issue with Altium Designer, please raise a bug on their system an repost here.

Our workaround is importing PCBL footprint (running a script) into a local PCBLib library, making a copy of "template" footprint in A365 workspace and then manually selecting and copying all the footprint data from local PCBLib to A365 workspace footprint and then committing it. Don't forget to copy footprint name, description and height as well.