Back Annotate Footprint from Text File

Schematic
1

Hi,
New user here running V8 on Win 10

I have a text file that identifies reference des with a new footprint.
RefDes Footprint

R1 1206I
Q1 SOT23-213

And so on.

I would like to read this file into the schematic editor and update each of the RefDes with the indicated Footprint.

Any Suggestions. (Did I mess a chapter in the docs?)

Bob K.

2

I don’t think there are any ways to read an arbitrary file into KiCad to replace symbol fields/properties like footprints. The two quick ways I know of to systemically change footprints from an existing schematic are:

  • using the Symbol Fields Table (Tools > Edit Symbol Fields) which works somewhat like a spreadsheet. this option allows for grouping symbols on various fields (say you want to set all resistors to the same footprint).
  • using the Footprint Assignment dialog (Tools > Assign Footprints) which is a legacy tool with a line for each individual symbol and quite a confusing interface (IMO).

I’d personally go manually through the Symbol Fields Table, do some appropriate grouping of symbols and then type in the new footprints (or select them using the little library icon that pops up in the footprint field). If you really want to do use a text file, there might(?) be a way to write a .csv, open it in a spreadsheet, and copy/paste that column into the Fields table (assuming matching row order) but I haven’t tried it.

4

You can also copy out of the fields table into a spreadsheet, then edit the spreadsheet and paste it back in. As long as you maintain the row ordering, this can be a quick way (especially if you want to update any field contents using a spreadsheet formula)