Copy HMI screens between projects with the screen library

What each symptom points to

• The export finished and printed success, and the destination project shows no new screens. The export step ran and produced nothing a project can read back; the message covers the export step only. Stop retrying it and move the screens through the screen library panel instead.
• The library panel is empty after you open the other project. The screens did not hold their place across the switch. Restage the screens from the source project and confirm the panel still lists them before you drag.
• A copied screen opens with unresolved tags or dead buttons. The screen arrived; the project-wide items it points to did not move with it. Create or re-point those items in the destination project, then reopen the screen.
• The destination project will not open after the drop. Stop editing and recover the project safely before you attempt the transfer again.

Stage the screens through the screen library

1. Open the source project, the one holding the screens you need.
2. Open Tool > Screen Library. The library keeps a screen list in its lower right panel. That panel is the staging area.
3. Drag each screen you want into the lower right panel.
4. Open the destination project while the screens sit in the panel.
5. Drag the screens from the lower right panel into the destination project's main panel.
6. Open each copied screen in the destination and confirm its objects are present and its tags resolve.
7. Save the destination project with its normal save control, close it, and reopen it to confirm the screens survived the save.

Copy only the screens the job needs. The procedure moves screens as screen objects; tags, alarm definitions and screen-switch targets are project-wide items. The check in step 6 is what stands between a working copy and a panel full of dead buttons.

Example: moving 3 screens from the old project into the new one

Inputs for this case:

• 3 screens to copy: a line overview, an alarm list and a trend screen. The count is this example's; the arithmetic holds for any count.
• 2 projects: the old source project and the new destination project.
• 1 export already tried, which reported success and delivered 0 usable screens.
• Bench time for the whole move, staged and verified: about 10 minutes for 3 screens at roughly 2 minutes of checking per screen. These times are this example's; your checking pace sets the total.
• The documented path in the editor: Tool > Screen Library, from the lower right panel to the destination's main panel.

The rule in words: a screen staged in the library panel stays staged while you switch projects. Each screen needs 1 drop into the panel and 1 drop into the destination. The destination stays unsaved until every copied screen has opened cleanly.

The arithmetic:

• Drops into the library panel: 3 screens x 1 drop = 3 drops.
• Drops into the destination's main panel: 3 x 1 = 3 drops.
• Saves: 1, made after 3 of 3 copied screens have opened with their tags resolving.
• Export route, for comparison: 3 screens requested - 0 delivered = 0 usable screens.

Result: 3 screens open in the destination project, moved in 6 drops and verified in about 10 minutes, with the project saved once at the end.

Decision: if the library panel still lists all 3 screens after the destination project opens, the staging route is working and the job finishes as counted. If the panel's count falls to 0 when the destination opens, stop before saving anything. Reopen the source project, restage the 3 screens, and confirm the panel holds them before dragging a second time. If the panel empties again, the library route is not available in that editor version, and those screens move by the editor's Project Data import or get rebuilt.

Checks before the panel goes back in service

• Press through every button on every copied screen. A button that targets a screen the destination does not have is the most common leftover.
• Compare one copied screen side by side with its source version before you trust the batch.
• Save with the editor's normal save control and let the write finish before anything touches power. A panel that loses power mid-save can come back without its project; that failure has its own recovery path, covered in HMI panel loses its project after a power cycle.
• Before the project goes to the panel itself, confirm the panel's firmware matches what the project expects. The check is short and prevents a failed transfer; see check the HMI firmware revision before a project transfer.
• Keep the source project untouched. It is the master copy of those screens, the same habit as keeping a master copy of a project.

One safety line for the handover: do not put the panel back on a running machine until every copied screen has opened with the right tags and screen-switch targets. A screen that looks correct and writes to the wrong address is harder to catch than a missing screen.

When to stage and when to import

For a handful of screens, staging through the screen library is the documented route and the shortest one. For a whole project move, or when the screens must land on a panel of a different size, use the Project Data import the editor documents, or rebuild the screens at the destination panel's native resolution. Some editors can open the old project as a read-only reference beside the destination and let you drag screens straight across. That is the same staging idea with no panel in between.

Recommendation: Use the Tool > Screen Library drag route whenever a job needs a few screens from an existing project. Stage them in the library's lower right panel, drop them into the destination's main panel, and keep the destination unsaved until every copied screen opens with working tags and buttons. Treat a save and reopen of the destination project, with the new screens present in its screen list, as the test that the transfer worked.

Questions