Sunstone Printed Circuit Board Forum

Hi Rick, You cannot just simply swap out the associated footprint with a component, this actually requires creating a new component. Here is a post that will step you through the process. PCB Parts Creation

I'm trying to do something which ought to be simple: assign a different footprint to a part. I select the part, -Properties, it's C1, and it's an sm0603 footprint. I want to change it to an sm0805 footprint, but I can't, I can only browse through 1000's of 0805 parts of various values from Panasonic, and if I select one of those, only the copper changes to 0805, while the silkscreen stays at 0603. Any ideas? Thanks,
Rick

You could just edit the footprint and change the silkscreen. Right click on the footprint on the layout, select edit footprint and modify the silkscreen. When you save the footprint you will be creating new copy of the part. This operation will ask you if you want to updated all of the same footprints, just the selected footprint or none. If you want to use this footprint in the future you will need to pair it with a symbol using the manage part tool, or place the footprint directly on the layout using the in Insert Footprint. You will not find this modified footprint paired with a symbol in the taxonomy of parts until you pair it with us symbol using the manage parts tool.