Beginners Query on making new schematic components

I am brand new to this, just working through the 'Getting Started…"tutorial. Running on a MAC under OS 10.10.5
When I try in 6.1 to create a new component, the component label does not appear in the Library Editor window. I have followed the instructions several times and nothing appears in the window. I have zoomed in and out in case it is off screen, but no. What am I doing wrong?

Any help much appreciated.

Jim

Not sure what tutorial you are following. A link might be a good idea.

In the meantime you can take a look at the getting to blinky tutorial. Maybe it is explained better there.
https://contextualelectronics.com/courses/getting-to-blinky/

I believe he is referring to this.

Many thanks for the replies. The link is correct. I thought that it would be clear as this is the tutorial in the ‘documentation’ link on the KiCad home page when i first downloaded it. Sorry if I caused confusion.

I am going to work through it again this morning. I did wonder if this was a ‘known’ MAC OS issue as most references seem to be to Windows or Linux based systems. However I have now printed off the Component Library Editor chapter of the Eeschema handbook and I will try to see if this helps.

Once again, many thanks for your replies.

Jim

Having worked through the Tutorial AND watched one of the videos, I did manage to get the new component on the Editor screen. I understand that it is to do with ensuring that there is a Library selected to hold the component being ‘designed’. However I do not understand _how __ I made it work. The words and the actions I followed seem a bui haphazard to a novice! More practice at doing it is definitely in order. But equally the words do seem to lack a little clarity. I am still fumbling in the dark over this issue of libraries. I do wonder if some of my confusion - other than that due to age and lack of capability! - may be related to different file systems with MAC’s to pc’s. Also possibly when I started following the Tutorial I didn’t set up the initial folders correctly or perhaos not in the correct place.
I created a folder ‘KiCad’ in ‘My documents’ and saved things to that, but navigating to that folder when saving the KiCad libraries seems difficult. It probably comes down to lack of familiarity and expertise on computers. To me they are a tool to do a job - word processing , photo saving / editing etc. Here I am needing to understand a little more of the structure.

No doubt practice will help me and maybe understanding may follow on.

Jim

I use Mac OS and don’t have any trouble creating new components.

That said, KiCad does have some issues on Mac OS. (Most notably, templates don’t work.) But it’s still usable.

The component editor is zoomed way out when you first create a new component, so the labels are really tiny. (Looks like a blue smudge around the origin.) I know you said you tried zooming in, but you might just want to try that again. That’s the only thing I can think of, anyway.

There is an easy way to zoom to a more usable level. Use the “fit schematic sheet on screen” zoom button.
(disclaimer: screenshot from an old nightly build version under fedora. Might look slightly different in stable, newer nightly build or on another operating system.)

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