Simple Wires Help

- Getting Started: /manual/docs/getting-started.html
- Projects Dashboard: /manual/docs/projects.html
- Sharing Projects: /manual/docs/sharing.html
- Drawings and the Start Page: /manual/docs/drawings.html
- The Drawing Editor: /manual/docs/editor.html
- Functional Blocks and Ports: /manual/docs/blocks.html
- Master Library: /manual/docs/equipment-library.html
- Warehouses: /manual/docs/warehouses.html
- Racks and Rack Panels: /manual/docs/racks.html
- Drawing Cables: /manual/docs/cables.html
- Off Sheet Pointers: /manual/docs/off-sheet-pointers.html
- Shapes, Text and Images: /manual/docs/shapes-text-images.html
- Page Setup and Drawing Settings: /manual/docs/page-setup.html
- Printing and Exporting: /manual/docs/print-export.html
- Project Data Grids: /manual/docs/project-data.html
- Signal Types: /manual/docs/signal-types.html
- Drawing Revisions: /manual/docs/revisions.html
- Teams: /manual/docs/teams.html
- Billing and Plans: /manual/docs/billing.html
- Your Account: /manual/docs/account.html
- Themes and Appearance: /manual/docs/appearance.html
- Keyboard Shortcuts: /manual/docs/keyboard-shortcuts.html
- FAQ and Troubleshooting: /manual/docs/faq.html


# Master Library

The Master Library is a shared catalog of equipment you can drop into a drawing with its ports already
named. For items you build yourself and want to reuse, see [Warehouses]({{< relref "warehouses" >}}).

## The Master Library

Each piece of equipment in the Master Library has a manufacturer and model, a description, inputs and
outputs with their port names, connectors and signal types, and, where known, a picture and a rack height.

To open it, click **Master Library** in the library pane of a drawing. The **Master Library** dialog
opens over the editor.

> [!NOTE]
> Team members with the **POWER VIEWER** or **VIEWER** role can't open the Master Library. See
> [Teams]({{< relref "teams" >}}).

{{< screenshot name="equipment-library-dialog" alt="The Master Library dialog with search results, the Preview panel and the Place Item As options" >}}

## Finding equipment

1. Click in **Search Library...** at the top of the dialog and type at least three characters. The results
   update as you type.
2. Scroll the results. Each shows the manufacturer and model, the description, the number of inputs and
   outputs, and a picture when the library has one.
3. The results come eight at a time, sorted by manufacturer and then model. Use the arrow buttons at the
   bottom left of the dialog for the previous and next page.

The search matches words that begin with what you type. If you type several words, each one must match, so
`blackmagic router` narrows the list more than `blackmagic`.

<!-- VERIFY: which fields the search covers (the query uses a full-text contains(*) over the Equipment table; presumably manufacturer, model and description). -->

## Previewing and display options

Click a result to select it. The **Preview** panel on the right shows the item as it will be placed.

Under **Place Item As**, choose what to create:

- **Functional Block**: a block with the equipment's inputs on the left and outputs on the right.
- **Rack Panel**: a panel sized to the equipment's height in rack units.
- **Rack**: a resizable rack.

Under **Display**, clear any of **Manufacturer Name**, **Model**, **SysName**, **Alias**, **Location**,
**Image**, **Inputs** and **Outputs** to leave them off the placed item. Clearing **Inputs** or
**Outputs** hides those ports; you can show them later with **Show all ports** on the block's context
menu (see [Ports and connectors]({{< relref "blocks#ports-and-connectors" >}})). The preview updates as you
change these options.

> [!NOTE]
> On the Free plan the **Display** options are disabled and the panel reads **Display - disabled in FREE
> mode**. See [Billing and Plans]({{< relref "billing#plans" >}}).

## Placing equipment in the drawing

Click **Place in Drawing**. The dialog closes, the item is added to the drawing, and the canvas scrolls to
it and selects it. Drag it to where you want it. Click **Close** to leave without placing anything.

<!-- VERIFY: where the placed item lands (the server returns loc "0 0"); is that always the top-left of the page? -->

What you get depends on **Place Item As**:

- **Functional Block**: the inputs and outputs from the library, in name order, with their connectors and
  signal types. The block is tall enough for its ports. **SysName** is set to the equipment type followed by
  `-##`; replace `##` with the unit number. **Alias** is set to the equipment's description.
- **Rack Panel**: a panel as tall as the equipment's rack units. If the library doesn't know the height, the
  panel is one rack unit tall, drawn with a red outline, and its **Location** reads **Dimension
  Undefined**, so you can spot it and resize it. **Count in BOM** is off.
- **Rack**: an 11 RU rack you can resize. See [Racks and Rack Panels]({{< relref "racks" >}}).

If the equipment uses signal types that your project doesn't have yet, they are added to the project's
signal types, with **?** for the cable manufacturer and cable type. Fill those in on the Signal Types grid;
see [Signal Types]({{< relref "signal-types" >}}).

{{< screenshot name="equipment-library-placed-block" alt="A functional block placed from the Master Library, selected on the canvas with its ports and SysName ending in -##" >}}

## Uploading equipment to the Master Library

If you build a block for equipment the Master Library doesn't have, you can add it so it's there next
time.

1. Place a functional block (for example from **Functional Block Prototypes**) and give it the real
   **Manufacturer** and **Model**.
2. Add and name its ports, connectors and signal types to match the equipment. See
   [Functional Blocks and Ports]({{< relref "blocks" >}}).
3. Optionally set an **Alias**, which becomes the equipment description, a **SysName** such as `SPK-10`,
   whose prefix before the first hyphen becomes the equipment type, and an image.
4. Right-click the block and, under **Master Library**, choose **Upload this block**.

When the upload works, the message **Successfully uploaded to Master Library** appears.

The upload is refused, with a message saying why, when:

- **Manufacturer** is empty or still reads `Manufacturer`,
- **Model** is empty or still reads `Model`, or
- the Master Library already has that manufacturer and model. Change the name and try again.

> [!NOTE]
> Uploading isn't available on the Free plan. Only functional blocks can be uploaded.

<!-- VERIFY: is uploaded equipment visible to every Simple Wires user, or only to the uploader's team? The upload writes to the shared Equipment database. -->

{{< screenshot name="equipment-library-upload-menu" alt="The context menu of a functional block, with Upload this block under the Master Library heading" >}}

## Keeping your own items

Items you build yourself live in a warehouse, not the Master Library: your own warehouse, or one shared
with everyone on the project. See [Warehouses]({{< relref "warehouses" >}}).