Global replacement of footprint - can it be done?

Question

I have a problem in a footprint which is used more than 100 instances on the board. Problems are in soldermask and paste layers. What are the ways I can shorten the required repair time? Thanks.

adamwebber · Answer

Go into your footprint .PcbLib editor and select the footprint that you have updated. Under the 'Home' tab there is a button that says "Update PCB With Current Footprint". Click that button. You can also select the drop down menu but that will find any changes among ALL of your footprints and update everything. This will update all OPEN instances of your footprint.

mars01 · Answer

What James meant was that all the PCB files open in the app tabs that use the updated footprint, will be updated and therefore will have the old footprint instances replaced by the new (modified) footprint. The collision error tells you that the modifications you made to the footprint altered the PCB such that the components are breaking the Component Clearance DRC rule (which means that some components are too close now with respect to that rule).

This rule can be accessed by going to the PCB Rules and Constraints Editor (Design Rules) -> Component Clearance.