{"id":611,"date":"2017-03-21T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/eagle\/blog\/?p=611"},"modified":"2023-09-26T15:19:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T22:19:37","slug":"library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/","title":{"rendered":"Library Basics: How to Install and Use Your Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries in Autodesk EAGLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Library Basics: How to Install and Use Your Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries in Autodesk EAGLE<\/span><\/h1>\n

Autodesk EAGLE ships with a ton of free libraries right out of the box, but for some, that might be a bit of a problem. Ever heard of the <\/span>illusion of choice<\/span><\/a>? When you are given too many options, you don\u2019t end up choosing any! What if you have a particular project that you want to work on from Sparkfun or Adafruit and just need to use their specific parts?<\/span><\/p>\n

Thankfully there\u2019s a solution. This is where the Sparkfun and Adafruit parts libraries come in handy, providing you with all the parts you need for a project without any of the clutter. Let\u2019s learn how to use these libraries in Autodesk EAGLE!<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 1 – Download Your Libraries<\/h2>\n

To get started, you\u2019ll need to download the Sparkfun and\/or Adafruit libraries from their respective Github pages. Here\u2019s how:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Open the <\/span>Sparkfun Library Github<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Adafruit Library Github<\/span><\/a> pages.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n
  2. Select the green <\/span>Clone or download<\/strong> button<\/strong> and choose <\/span>Download ZIP<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Once your zip files are downloaded, go ahead and extract them to your selected folder.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"sparkfun-download\"

    Use the green Clone or download button to easily download your Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries from Github.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

    Where you choose to store your Sparkfun and Adafruit library folders is entirely up to you. To keep everything in one place, we decided to make a new folder in our <\/span>documents<\/span><\/em> directory called <\/span>eagle_external_lbrs<\/span><\/em> and then we added two Sparkfun and Adafruit library folders.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Step 2 – Update Your EAGLE Library Directory<\/h2>\n

    Now that your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries have a new home on your computer\u2019s hard drive, it\u2019s time to update your EAGLE directory so they can be found. Follow these steps to make it happen:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Open Autodesk EAGLE, and you\u2019ll be greeted with the <\/span>Control Panel.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n
    2. Next, select <\/span>Options \u00bb Directories<\/strong> to open the <\/span>Directories<\/strong> dialog.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. You\u2019ll now need to add the file path that your Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries are stored in the Libraries <\/b>field. Check out the note below on how this works.<\/span><\/span>
      \n\n\n\n
      Before You Start Deleting Files, Read This!<\/b><\/p>\n

      Instead of removing the <\/span>$EAGLEDIR\/lbr:<\/em><\/strong> path, you\u2019ll add your new file path after the default directory, using either a semicolon (;) on Windows or a colon (:) on Mac. Your new Libraries file path will look something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

      $EAGLEDIR\/lbr:\/Users\/<name>\/Documents\/eagle_external_lbrs<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

      \/Users\/<name>\/Documents\/eagle_external_lbrs<\/em><\/strong> is where we happened to store our new libraries, but your path name will likely be different. <\/span><\/p>\n

      Need an easy way to get your path name? Check out <\/span>this guide for Mac<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>this guide for Windows<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


      \n<\/span><\/li>\n

    4. Select <\/span>OK to finalize your directory changes. <\/span><\/b><\/li>\n
    5. Close and reopen Autodesk EAGLE.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      <\/b><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      When you reopen Autodesk EAGLE, check out the <\/span>Libraries <\/b>folder in your <\/span>Control Panel<\/b> and you should see your newly added folder(s).<\/span><\/p>\n

      \"eagle-control-panel-new-libraries\"

      Here\u2019s how your Libraries directory will look after adding your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

      Step 3 – Activate Your New Libraries<\/h2>\n

      Before you can start using your Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries, you\u2019ll need to activate them in Autodesk EAGLE. Here\u2019s how to do it:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Select the <\/span>Arrow icon to expand your <\/span>Libraries folder in the <\/span>Control Panel until you see your new Sparkfun and Adafruit folders.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n
      2. Next, right-click your Sparkfun and\/or Adafruit libraries folder and select <\/span>Use all<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \"sparkfun-libraries-use-all\"

        Use all action to make your Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries ready for use.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

        <\/b><\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        You\u2019ll know that you successfully activated one of your new libraries by looking inside each folder. If you see a green dot next to each part, then this means they\u2019re ready for action!<\/span><\/p>\n

        \"sparkfun-active-libraries\"

        Not sure if your libraries are active? Just look for the green dot!<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

        One thing to keep in mind – If you only want to use your new Sparkfun or Adafruit libraries but <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>your default EAGLE libraries then you\u2019ll need to deactivate these. To do this<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Select the <\/span>Arrow<\/b> icon to expand your <\/span>Libraries<\/b> folder in the <\/span>Control Panel<\/b> until you see your default <\/span>lbr<\/span> folder. <\/span><\/li>\n
        2. Next, right-click your <\/span>lbr<\/span><\/em> folder and select <\/span>Use None<\/b>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          You\u2019ll know this worked by looking inside the <\/span>lbr<\/span><\/em> folder. If you see a gray dot next to each part library, then you have successfully deactivated them!<\/span><\/p>\n

          \"eagle-deactivated-libraries\"

          Got a gray dot next to a library? That means it\u2019s deactivated and won\u2019t show up in your searches.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

          Three Simple Steps<\/h2>\n

          That\u2019s all there is to it, three simple steps to get up and running with your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries! If you select the <\/span>Add\u00a0\"Add-icon\"<\/b> icon in an open Autodesk EAGLE project, then you should be greeted with all of your fancy new libraries, ready for use. Working with only the libraries that you need for a particular project will help you to be way more efficient in your design process. No more scouring through endless folders just to find the right electrolytic capacitor!<\/span><\/p>\n

          Ready to get started with using your very own Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries in your next PCB design software project? <\/span>Try Autodesk EAGLE for free today<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Don\u2019t pull your hair out finding the right parts for your next design project. Learn how to install and use your Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries in Autodesk EAGLE today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2425,"featured_media":440,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eagle","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInstalling Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries | EAGLE | Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to install and use your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries in Autodesk EAGLE.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Installing Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries | EAGLE | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how to install and use your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries in Autodesk EAGLE.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fusion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-21T15:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-26T22:19:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Sattel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Sattel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Installing Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries | EAGLE | Blog","description":"Learn how to install and use your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries in Autodesk EAGLE.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Installing Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries | EAGLE | Blog","og_description":"Learn how to install and use your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries in Autodesk EAGLE.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/","og_site_name":"Fusion Blog","article_published_time":"2017-03-21T15:00:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-26T22:19:37+00:00","author":"Sam Sattel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam Sattel","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/"},"author":{"name":"Sam Sattel","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d7e45d522df7d7f98d23e0a8b344ca7b"},"headline":"Library Basics: How to Install and Use Your Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries in Autodesk EAGLE","datePublished":"2017-03-21T15:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-26T22:19:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/"},"wordCount":914,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Eagle"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/","name":"Installing Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries | EAGLE | Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2017-03-21T15:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-26T22:19:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d7e45d522df7d7f98d23e0a8b344ca7b"},"description":"Learn how to install and use your new Sparkfun and Adafruit libraries in Autodesk EAGLE.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/library-basics-install-use-sparkfun-adafruit-libraries-autodesk-eagle\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Library Basics: How to Install and Use Your Sparkfun and Adafruit Libraries in Autodesk EAGLE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/","name":"Fusion Blog","description":"Product updates, tips, tutorials and community news.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d7e45d522df7d7f98d23e0a8b344ca7b","name":"Sam Sattel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/face-150x150.jpg2f98009787201817c4da1b4d6ce84681","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/face-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/face-150x150.jpg","caption":"Sam Sattel"},"description":"Senior Marketing Manger - Fusion 360, EAGLE, Fusion Lifecycle, Fusion Team","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/author\/ssattel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}