Protected Items

Concept

The protection system prevents important items from being accidentally overwritten.

Protecting Items

1. Open the Project Explorer from the TIA Portal icon in the Activity Bar
2. Navigate to the desired item — a block, folder, tag table, or data type
3. Click the lock in the Protection column of the item's row (between the Export and Vault columns)

The Protection column shows an empty box while an item is unmarked, an red lock once it is marked, and a dimmed red lock when only part of a folder's contents is marked. Clicking the lock (or pressing Enter/Space while it has keyboard focus) toggles the mark — the click never opens the block and never expands or collapses the folder. Marking a folder marks everything inside it.

A count badge at the right of the view title bar counts every marked item — folders, tag tables, and data types as well as blocks — and its tooltip reads "Protected: N items selected"; clicking the ✕ next to it clears the whole selection at once.

Note: The protection mark is Studio's own protect-from-import/export selection — it does not change know-how protection on the PLC.

Know-how-protected blocks carry an orange KHP badge in the Project Explorer.

Marked items are:

• Skipped by Import All — they are neither deleted nor overwritten
• Excluded from export (when "Export Protected Files" is unchecked in Import/Export Settings)

Tip: Even when protected items are excluded from export, folder structure is always preserved.

Code and Attribute Updates for Protected OBs

Organization blocks (OBs) often keep stable code while their timing settings still need adjusting. When an OB is selected for protection — or is already know-how protected — two small toggle buttons appear next to its protection lock:

• C — allow code updates: during import, the OB's program code is still updated even though the block is protected.
• A — allow attribute updates: during import, the OB's attributes (such as cycle time and phase offset) are updated while the rest of the block stays untouched.

A bright button means the toggle is on; a dimmed button means it is off. Both toggles are saved as part of a profile, so a saved profile restores them together with the protection selection.

Applying Actual Know-How Protection

Marking an item with the red lock is only a selection — it does not yet change anything on the PLC. To actually know-how-protect the selected blocks, right-click the block or folder and choose Bulk Protect (or Bulk Unprotect to remove it) from the Protection submenu. Use Set Protection / Clear Protection in the same submenu to adjust the selection directly.

Profiles

A Profiles bar above the project tree saves your complete protection selection — folders, tag tables, and data types included — together with all import/export settings and the export folder as a named, per-project profile:

Profiles: [ Profile dropdown ▼ ]  ▶  [ Add profile… ]  💾  🗑  ↻  📁

Save a profile:

1. Configure your protection selection
2. Type a name in the Add profile… box
3. Click 💾 (Save)

Apply a profile:

1. Select a saved profile in the dropdown
2. Click ▶ (Apply)

Applying a profile restores the selection only — it does not protect the blocks itself (use Bulk Protect for that). Profiles are stored per project; opening a project re-applies the profile you last used.