Using a function like this on the PCB, where there is no uniformity in size or pad distribution, will probably mess up the whole board outlay.
For those who need/want a certain selection of items arranged in a certain manner, probably the best practice is to use a tool (mentioned by @mf_ibfeew above) or choose a suitable grid, place the items appropriately, then “Group” those items. If you want a second or more selection, repeat the before instructions and place them in another Group. Grouping items will keep those items aligned with respect to each other forevermore, or at least 'till you remove the group.
@jmk: you should correct your statement :), "Align items to grid” in the Schematic works of course on a selection of items, not only on all items on the page.
Thanks, I honestly had never tried, nor thought to try, “align” on anything but the whole page.
I know it is no defence, but I’d only ever used that function a couple of times when I copy/pasted a schematic section to a fresh schematic that had an odd grid other than 50/25 mil.
Thanks, maui, bad enough I have no clue how to install this. The “pub-action-tools” Install is greyed in kicad 8.0.6. And when I choose “install from file” I don’t know where to find what to install.
the pcb-action-tools in the Kicad built-in “app-store” is an old version (v1.0.4).
As you can see here Releases · easyw/kicad-action-tools · GitHub there are never version available which are compatible with kicad 8.0.x as @maui wrote. v1.0.4 seems not to be compatible with Kicad 8.0.x that’s why it’s grayed out
To be able to install it from the Kicad built-in “app-store” @maui might have to update the plugin here
as this might take time, you might want to try the “installed from file” method he is suggesting:
Yes that was the thing. Safari Version 18.1 automatic unzipped the file after downloading, and I rezipped it to make this installation possible as it has to be a zip what I understand? After turning off “automatic unzip”/‘Open “Safe” files after downloading’ in Safari the install worked.
Now that I’m trying to lay out a new board, here’s my re-statement of the problem.
When I initially created the layout, I clicked the “Update PCB from Schematic” button. This populated my board, with all the components off to the left of the page frame.
When I select a component to move it, the grab point is the nearest grid intersection, not the component origin. Although the components are lined up in some sort of table format, each has a different offset from the grid than those just like it elsewhere in the table. The only way to make place them in a tidy arrangement is to set the grid to something extremely small, or edit each component’s properties before placing it (or use a plug-in to do the same thing).
What would make me happy is for the grab point to be the component origin, regardless of where that origin may be defined. The area or group selection could allow grabbing at the nearest grid intersection, maintaining the relative offsets of all the components within the group.
Do you have tried the global option Preferences–>common–>Editing–>Warp mouse to origin of moved object? This “warps” the cursor to the FP origin, then that FP jumps to the enxt grid and is therefore placed on the grid.
Note however this depends on the grabbing point. Kicad uses also the individual pads as grabbing points. Maybe you should additionally switch off “pads” in the selection filter for this stage of pcb design (part placement).
I had that turned off. As best I recall, having it on produced some very annoying (to me) behavior in a previous release. Turning it on does make things better. Thanks.
