In Altium, how to open the symbol and PCB footprint of a given component from the schematic view?

Question

I am having a terrible time trying to learn how to use Altium - compared to RS DesignSpark PCB. Everything seems to be all over the place (especially regarding libraries).

In DesignSpark, we right click on a component in the schematic, "Edit component" and in this view we can modify everything about the component from pin mapping to schematic symbol, and PCB footprint - regardless of where the library is.

In Altium, I know how to get the pin mapping and the full paths of the libraries used - but I don't want to have to then look for matching files in the tree or Windows's explorer. That's too slow - especially given that I can't even copy the full paths.

Possible reasons to have to do that:

• Correct a mistake has been made in the footprint of a component while editing the PCB
• Create another footprint for a component in the same library where its current footprint is defined
• Correct a mistake has been made in the symbol of a component while editing the schematic, or just to adjust the pin spacing for convenient/readability in the schematic
• Add a component in the same library as another component
• Check the footprint of a component

How do you do you navigate between schematic, symbols, and footprints in Altium?

Answer 1

Only pins can be edited on the schematic, I think (with difficulty). The easiest way is to simply copy the Parts from schematic into a new library (new in the sense of, not where they're originally from, else you'd just change them there, right?), and edit them there. You don't even need to create a file to do this; simply opening a 'New' SchLib and doing the operations will suffice. (Unless maybe, say, on hitting 'Place', it prompts to save, I haven't tried?) But in any case even if a save is needed, it can just be a temporary or local project file.

This is different from PCB components, which can be edited (with some difficulty) on the PCB level via Unlock Primitives.

As for normal workflow, keeping a collection of parts in a master library, or several, or per project (copy and paste from master or diverse sources), or in a database, is the usual way. A related question is whether SCH symbols should have parameters entered per part type (e.g., 1k 1% resistor, 1k 5% resistor, 1.5k 1% resistor, ...), or generic (a resistor; enter parameters for each instance on SCH). Either way gets you where you need to go.

Answer 2

The only way I'm aware of is the cross probe tool which allows you to select the tool and click on a component (in either schematic or pcb view) and it will select the same component in the other view.

Most designers place the parts and footprints in a few libraries. Once the libraries are integrated into the PCB project (or there are ways to add footprint and part libraries to a global search folder) they can be searched and the parts added to the schematic. Once the parts are added to the schematic, you update the PCB (and altium will try and reconcile any differences between the schematic and pcb files, through component links.)