Part Libraries

A Part Library holds parts you reuse across harnesses. Parts in a library can be added to your harness, and parts in your harness can be added to a library.

You can have as many libraries as you like. Every harness you open sees all of them:

Your libraries stored in the cloud.
Your team’s libraries, shared by any seated member of your team.
Local library files on your computer, in the Desktop App. See Local library files.

Each library gets a number (1, 2, 3, …) in the order it is listed. The number is shown on the sync buttons in the Parts view, in the library picker, and next to parts in the part dropdowns, so you can always tell which library a part comes from.

Libraries keep track of parts by part number.

If there is a duplicate part number in your harness, you will get a Duplicate part number warning.

Creating a Library

A library is a document of its own, like a harness. To create one:

Open Main Menu → Open, switch to Part Libraries and click New library. See Open.
In the Team tab of the Open dialog, New team library creates a library that belongs to your team right away. You need a seat.
In the Desktop App, File → New Local Library… creates a .harnesslib file on your computer instead.

A new library opens in the library editor. Give it a name in the title bar, then add parts.

The Parts Library Window

The Parts Library window shows one library beside the harness you are working on. To open it, either open Main Menu → Parts library, click the Parts Library button at the bottom left of the Parts view, or press the L key.

When you have more than one library, a picker in the window’s header switches between them. Each entry shows the library’s number and name. The library you pick is the one the window’s buttons and the Parts Catalog add parts to.

Badges in the header tell you about the library shown:

Cloud / Local File - Where the library lives. Shown when you are working with local files. Click Local File to show the file on your computer.
Team - The library belongs to your team.
Read-only - You can use the parts but not change them: the library is set to read-only, or it belongs to your team and you don’t hold a seat.

Buttons

Parts Catalog - Opens the Parts Catalog to add manufacturer parts to the library
Add part - Adds a new part to the library
Add all parts from harness - Adds all the parts in your Harness to the library
Add all parts to harness - Adds all the parts in the library to your Harness
Open library in the editor - Opens the library on its own, in a new tab (or a new window in the Desktop App). See Editing a library
Library settings - Opens the Library Settings
Columns - Hide/ show part details in the library

If you have no libraries yet, the window offers to Create a library.

Editing a Library

A library can also be opened on its own, like a harness: click its tile in the Open dialog, or click Open library in the editor in the Parts Library window. The editor then shows just a Parts view for the library, with the Part Library badge after its title.

Everything you know from the Parts view works here: right-click to add parts, left-double-click to edit them, undo and redo, the Parts Catalog. Sharing, revisions and the harness exports don’t apply to a library; in the Desktop App, Export → Local File saves it as a .harnesslib file.

Changes save automatically, and every harness that is open picks them up.

Library Settings

Open Main Menu → Library settings while editing a library, or click Library settings in the Parts Library window.

Read-only - Make this library read-only stops the library’s parts from being edited or added to, from any harness. Its parts can still be used.
Units - The currency, default length unit and default gauge unit used for the library’s parts.
Team - Move to team shares the library with your team; Remove from team returns it to you. See Sharing a library with your team.
Delete - Deletes the library. This can’t be undone.

A library that belongs to a team is offered to every harness that the team’s members open. Seated members can edit it; members without a seat see it read-only.

To share one of your libraries, choose Move to team in its Library Settings, or open its options menu in the Part Libraries view of the Open dialog. You keep ownership; Remove from team returns it to personal use. See Collaborating.

Adding a Part to a Library

Open the Parts Library window, pick the library, then click the Plus button in the bottom left corner or right-click in the table. Use the Parts Catalog to add manufacturer parts.

Adding a Part from your Harness to a Library

In the Parts view, each part has one Not in … button per library, marked with the library’s number. Hover a button to see which library it is for.

Click the Not in … button for the library you want to add the part to
right-click the part and select Add to <library name>

A part needs a part number before it can be added. Read-only libraries can’t be added to.

Adding a Part from a Library to your Harness

Open the Parts Library window and pick the library.

Click the Not in … button on the part you wish to add to your harness
right-click the part and select Add to <harness name>

Part Syncing

If a part has the same part number in your harness and in a library, it is considered the same part. A part is considered in sync with a library if all the properties are the same.

Syncing is tracked per library: a part can be in sync with library 1 and out of sync with library 2 at the same time. In your harness the buttons carry the library’s number; in the Parts Library window they refer to the harness you have open.

In Sync

If a part in your harness is in sync with a library it will show

Synced with <library name> in your harness
Synced with <harness name> in the Parts Library window

Out of Sync

If a part in your harness is out of sync with a library it will show

Out of sync with <library name> in your harness
Out of sync with <harness name> in the Parts Library window

Part Updating

If a part in your harness is out of sync with a library you can either push or pull it, from the buttons next to the part or from its right-click menu.

Push to library - Updates the part in the library to match the part in your Harness

Pull from library - Updates the part in your Harness to match the part in the library

Local Library Files

In the Desktop App, a library can be a .harnesslib file on your computer instead of a cloud document. It is the same file format as a .harness file, holding only parts, so it works offline and can be kept in version control alongside your harness files.

The libraries offered to your harnesses are listed under Main Menu → Preferences → Part Libraries:

New library… - Creates a new .harnesslib file and adds it to the list
Link existing… - Adds a .harnesslib file you already have, for example one from your team’s repository
Open / Show in folder / Remove from this app - Removing a library only takes it off the list; the file stays on your computer

Local libraries are listed after your cloud libraries and take the next numbers. Edits you make to the file outside the app, for example by pulling a new version from version control, are picked up straight away.

A library can cross between cloud and local at any time: Export → Local File saves a cloud library as a .harnesslib file, and Upload to cloud… turns a local library into a cloud one. See Desktop App.