Create a Central Catalog to use a single catalog for multiple designs. You can:

Only catalog administrators can add, remove, or modify items from the Central Catalog. When you create a new item, it is created in the Internal Catalog and submitted to the Temporary Submission Directory. It is sent to the administrator who manually integrates it in the Central Catalog.

The Central Catalog should contain all items to be used when you work on a design, including artifacts, shapes, datatables, and membermaps. Items in the Central Catalog will appear in the Catalog Explorer and Datatable Explorer, but are loaded only when they are actually used. When the design is closed, only items that have instances in the design are saved with the design. Central Catalog items are stamped with the date and time whenever they are submitted or changed in the Central Catalog. The time stamp is used to identify newer items that need to be updated.

When a design's Internal Catalog is linked to a Central Catalog, it is considered dependent. Items in the Internal Catalog that appear in the Central Catalog are automatically linked to the Central Catalog. Catalog items can be filtered in the Catalog Explorer and Datatable Explorer to display items from the Internal Catalog, used from the Central Catalog, or from both catalogs.

A design is independent when its Internal Catalog does not reference a Central Catalog or have a Temporary Submission Directory. Use the Catalog Options dialog box to make a design independent.