The hardware design team uses a common design library which has expanded over many years to contain the majority of available components. When Altium is first installed it will be necessary to install the common library as per the procedure detailed in this section.

Data entry into the common library is restricted to specific library managers. The individual designer should provide all the details / symbols / footprints (if required) for new components that are to be added to the library, the managers will then verify that the item(s) comply with the library “rules” before adding them to the library.

Each time Altium is started (provided the user has access to the internal Pickering network) the versions of the library files are checked, if new versions exist they are downloaded to the local PC automatically.