Overview - What are Add-Ins for Siemens TIA Portal?
Add-Ins were added with TIA portal V16 and are a useful tool to run custom code either developed by a third party or by Siemens that utilizes the Siemens Openness API to make changes to TIA portal. This blog post will go over how to install an Add-In into TIA.
How to Install an Add-In to TIA
Okay, now that we know what Add-Ins are we’ll go through the steps of how to add one to TIA.
1. Download an Add-In from the Siemens Add-In support webpage. Be sure to grab an Add-In that is compatible with your version of TIA Portal. For this demo, I’ll be using TIA V16 and the Export-Import Add-In.
2. Once you have the file, you’ll need to extract the zipped file and move the file with the “.addin” extension into the appropriate folder. The folder path is listed below for each version of TIA. To move the file, you will need to use administrator access.
V16: C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\Portal V16\AddIns
V17: C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\Portal V17\AddIns
V18: C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\Portal V18\AddIns
V19: C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\Portal V19\AddIns
3. Now we can launch TIA portal (if you haven’t already) and go to project view. From here, you’ll need to click on the “Add-Ins” tab on the right side of the screen.
4. The details section can be expanded and can be reviewed. From here, you’ll need to change the status from Deactivated to Activated.
5. Once the Add-In is activated, the add in will show up in the context menu of wherever it is relevant. For the Export-Import Add-In, that is in the context menu when clicked on a function block.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this How-to and hopefully it helps you to install the TIA Add-Ins that you want to use. Feel free to reach out to Maskine for any PLC projects your company needs help with.
