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I'm working on a board using someone elses footprint library for passives, and the part outlines for some reason are really close to the pads.

I see how to use PCB list to hide part designators, but is there an easy way to hide the footprint outlines and keep the part designators?

I want to keep the part outlines in Altium but hand off gerbers to the PCB fabricator that just have the component designator.

Any ideas?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Unlock parts primitives, select all lines on overlay layer and move them to a mechanical layer.... It should work. \$\endgroup\$
    – carloc
    Aug 15, 2018 at 20:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ Anyway to do it faster...? I feel like there should be a way to auto-select the lines on the overlay layer? \$\endgroup\$
    – Leroy105
    Aug 15, 2018 at 20:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ What I've suggested is not that time taking, using "find similar objects" and "PCB inspector" should come out smoothly. Anyway AFAIK there's no simpler way, maybe someone else can hint both of us \$\endgroup\$
    – carloc
    Aug 15, 2018 at 20:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ You can't change the library and then "Update PCB Design"? \$\endgroup\$
    – The Photon
    Aug 15, 2018 at 20:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @The Photon, I could -- I feel like the footprint designer intentionally made the component outlines very large (0.1mm, he has like a more reasonable 0.4mm mechanical outline that really serves more as the outline). I guess I'm a little puzzled by the whole arrangement. It's some really nice symbol & footprint library (github.com/issus/altium-library) -- I needed to re-do symbols in mils, saved me tons of time. I'm wondering if he runs the Silk to clearance error check differently to use his footprints. \$\endgroup\$
    – Leroy105
    Aug 15, 2018 at 20:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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  1. right click on one Part -> Find similar objects
  2. ensure that "Select Matched" is checked (ON)
  3. Object Kind = Component: Same
  4. Then set "Lock Primitives" to false
  5. right click on one Track on the layer you want to change -> Find similar objects
  6. Object Kind = Track: Same; Layer = Top Overlay: Same
  7. Then change the layer and track with of all the selected components
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