FME Hub FAQ

Introduction

FME Hub is a community platform where users can access and share pre-built, customized FME tools like transformers, readers, writers, templates, and web connections. No sign-up is required to access tools on FME Hub. However, by creating a free account, you can privately store your FME creations for access from anywhere. You can also share them publicly with the FME community to help others with their projects.

Follow this link to sign in or create an account.
 

FAQ

How do I download FME Hub content?

FME Hub content can be downloaded directly from the FME Hub website or in FME Workbench.
 

Downloading in FME Workbench:

1. Search for the transformer, package, reader, or writer using the Quick Add dialog or the Transformer Gallery. 


2. Double-click on the item or press Enter on your keyboard to add it to the canvas

3. If adding it for the first time, a warning dialog will appear stating that you are about to install the item. Review the warning and then click Install. 
    

4. After clicking Install, the item will be added to the canvas. After the first install, the item can be added at any time to the canvas without the need to reinstall. 

 

Downloading directly from the FME Hub:

1. Navigate to FME Hub and search for the desired transformer, reader, writer, template or package. For this example, we will look for a custom transformer. 


2. Click on the Download button in the top right corner. This will download a .fmx file which is the format custom transformers are saved as. 


3. Locate the downloaded .fmx file, then move it to the correct folder that FME can read:

Windows: C:\Users\<user_name>\Documents\FME\Transformers
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/FME/Transformers

4. Close and reopen FME Workbench after moving the .fmx file. 

5. In FME Workbench, use the Quick Add dialog or the Transformer Gallery to add the custom transformer to the canvas. It will appear under Custom Transformers, indicating that it has already been installed. 

 

What are Publisher Tiers?

Publisher tiers are different publishing levels to let users know what to expect from something downloaded from the FME Hub. There are three tiers:

• Community: A diverse range of content, anyone in the FME community can create content. There are no maintenance or quality requirements.
• Verified: Secure, production-quality solutions from trusted companies and individuals. Built for ongoing maintenance, these solutions provide peace of mind for critical workflows.
• Official: A selection of high-quality content exclusively provided by Safe Software, ensuring reliability and ongoing support.

The tier in which an FME Hub item belongs to can be seen both on the FME Hub webpage or in the quick add dialog in FME Form 2023.0+.  






See the Verified Publisher page on the FME Hub for more information on publishers. 
 

In FME Form, how do I know if Safe Software publishes the content I am trying to download?

In FME Form 2023.0+, once the user selects the transformer they’d like to download, a dialog will pop up with the publisher to whom the content belongs. The warning below will appear if a user tries downloading content owned by Safe Sandbox or community-created content.


If the transformer is owned by Safe Software Lab or was built by our development team you will see this dialog instead.


Some FME Hub content is produced directly by the Safe Software development team and is fully supported by Safe. Users can find this content in the FME Transformers section of the Transformer Gallery. These transformers are FME Packages; more information can be found on packages in the FME Packages FAQ.

 

What are the differences between the Safe Software owned FME Hub publishers?

Safe has three public publishers on FME Hub: Safe Sandbox, Safe Software Lab and Safe Software Official. 

• Safe Sandbox is used to share and store custom content of any type and is not intended for serious or professional/production use. There is no maintenance or support guarantee. 
• Safe Software Lab contains items that are not considered production quality. They are intended to be examples created by Safers to solve common challenges, which can be downloaded and updated by users. These items do not qualify for the same level of support as our normal transformers. However, if you do find an issue or have a suggestion on how to make it better, please leave a comment to let us know.
• Safe Software Verified content in Safe Verified will be updated and maintained on a regular basis. As well, support will be prioritized over Safe Labs content. However, these items cannot be held to the same standards as Safe Official content. FME Hub’s test suite has limited functionality compared to our internal test suite and therefore, these items may be less reliable.
• Software Official will only contain items that are considered production quality. This means all items have the same level of quality and support as items shipped in the product.

Help! This custom transformer has bugs or is not working as expected! Who do I contact for an update or to receive support?

You will need to contact the creator, which can be done by signing in to the FME Hub and leaving a comment on their content page. If the content is in the Safe Software Official publisher, please create a support case here.
 

I was browsing FME Hub and selected Version 1 of a transformer. If I click Download, I receive the latest version (e.g Version 2) of the transformer!

This is expected because the transformer file (.fmx) contains all versions up to the most recent. Only the latest compatible version will load when you open FME Workbench.
Example: If Version 1 was built for FME 2022.0 and Version 2 is built for FME 2023.0 build, then if you open FME 2022.0 and add the transformer, it will be Version 1.
 

Where does FME Form place all the downloaded content on my local machine?

These are the most likely places:

macOS: ~/Library/Caches/Safe Software/FME/FME Store/
Windows: ~\AppData\Roaming\Safe Software\FME\FME Store\

But you may also have content in <User>/Documents/FME/ particularly if you have set up shared directories for FME Workbench.
 

How do I remove a custom transformer definition I downloaded and installed from FME Hub?

The easiest and cleanest way to remove custom transformer definitions is through the Transformer Gallery in FME Workbench. From here, you can right-click on the transformer name and select Delete Definition. 

 

If I download content from https://hub.safe.com and it is made with a newer version of FME (e.g. FME 2023.0), what will happen if I try to use it with an older version of FME (e.g. FME 2022.0)?

The content will either not be available, or there will be a prompt warning the user that it may not be compatible and that an upgrade is required.
 

What are the terms of use for FME Hub and its content?

Please see the official FME Hub Terms of Use.
 

Can I contribute to the FME Hub?

Anyone is encouraged to contribute to the FME Hub! For more information on publishing to FME Hub and testing workspaces, please see the FME Hub documentation. 
 

Why can't I see the content I just uploaded to FME Hub in the Transformer Gallery or Reader Gallery of FME Workbench?

The FME Hub content list is automatically updated once per day. It may be necessary to click the refresh icon located in the lower right corner of the Transformer Gallery pane. Please note that for some content, e.g. Custom Formats, you may need to close all instances of FME Workbench after performing the refresh.

 

How do I format the Help Descriptions for FME Hub?

Help descriptions in FME Workbench are formatted using markdown. In FME Workbench, when editing the workspace description, enable Use Markdown to view the description in markdown.