This article includes details on the purpose of a Foundation Library update and how to perform an update.

To perform a Foundation Library Update in the Toolbox, you must have Toolbox build 22.0729 or newer to have the Library Update Utility button show up in your utilities interface. 

Benefits of Foundation Library Updates

1. Performing Foundation Library updates are essential to keep up with the addition of new products, as well as new features that support future expansions. With each update, modifications and resolutions are made to the current features of the Foundation Library to improve user experience and combat defects in the software. All of the new additions and modifications are viewable within the release notes for that specific update.

1. If you are not using the current release of the Foundation Library, you may experience bugs that have been fixed and will want to consider updating. You may also want to consider updating if you are in between projects or are interested in new products or features.

1. Completing a Foundation Library update will overwrite the current library data. The software can go into the spreadsheets of your specification groups to add new products, add new subassemblies, and add new graphics. A backup of your library data will automatically occur when using the Library Update Utility, so just in case an undesired change to your data is made, an option to undo the update is available through the Library Restore Utility. An additional precaution we recommend to prevent your data from being overwritten is to create a category in the Database Explorer for your company to store custom products. The update will only overwrite data for Microvellum products, so creating this folder and renaming your products will prevent these files from being updated. An overview of the Database Explorer feature is available here. 
   

Process for Updating the Foundation Library

1. Open the Foundation Library Download (All Regions) knowledge base article to find the appropriate update zip file.
   
2. The Foundation Library downloads page contains both individual updates from the most recent build to the next, as well as large update zip packages, referred to as "cumulative updates", each of which contains multiple Foundation Library builds, starting and ending at versions which are considered the benchmarks of their respective update phase.
   
1. Phase 1, for example, contains builds 22.0729 to 23.0517, meaning that the differences between builds 22.0729 and 23.0517, while significant, are not numerous or major enough to potentially cause issues for users, and as such, it is safe to download and implement all of these updates at once. Build 23.0517, then, would be considered the minimum library version one would need to download the Phase 2 update, and so on. At the time of writing, there are 3 cumulative update phases of the Microvellum Foundation Library.
   
3. Once the download is complete, it is suggested to place the zip folder on your desktop for easier access.
   
4. Follow the instructions found on the Library Update Utility knowledge base article to complete an update of your Foundation Library.