Component reference designators losing position

Layout
1

I position the component reference designators on the PCB layout i.e. the silkscreen text. However, when I update the PCB from the schematic some component reference designators on the PCB are moved to their default positions. This only happens with some component footprints.
Is there a setting you can change to stop this happening? I do not want to have to keep manually rearranging the component reference designators every time I update the PCB layout from the schematic.
I am using version 6.0.8.

2

Interesting. Please at least show a screenshot of of the Update PCB from Schematic dialog when you do that, so that the change messages for those components are visible.

3

Hello eelik,

Thanks for getting back.

As a new user, I cannot attach files but I include a link to folder with a slide showing the issue and the footprint from SnapEDA:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1jcd3BIlhMYTlAc26k8bSDYfmu1WUASAf

The issue of reference designators losing position after updating the PCB from the schematic only occurs with some footprints and not others.

Regards,
Richard

4

Are you on Windows?
At least try updating to 6.0.11, which you can find in “Previous Releases”

5

Hello David,

Thanks for your input.

I still get the same moving reference designator issue with KiCad version 7.0.0.
I am using Windows 11 Pro. I previously had the issue with footprints for diodes but this time it is with an ESP32 module footprint, so it is obviously not linked to one type of component.

I have put the footprint I am using in the google folder.

Regards,
Richard

6

If you select the footprint and “Update Footprint”, look at Update Options.
What options are checked?.

7

I am not activating the ‘Update Footprint’ option. I only activate the ‘Update PCB from Schematic’ which has these options selected:

  • Delete footprints with no symbols.
  • Replace footprints with those specified in the schematic.

I am not sure if it is relevant but ‘Update Footprint’ has these options selected:

  • Update selected footprint
  • Update / reset 3D models.
8

Your options are the same as mine and I just don’t see this shift on V7.0.0 on Windows 10.
This is getting puzzling

9

It is strange if you cannot replicate. The shift in position is when the reference designator has been moved and the PCB is updated from the schematic. The designator appears to move back to its default position. This only occurs with some footprints. Perhaps I will try to download the footprint for the component from a different source and see if I get the same issue.

10

Maybe it’s something in the project? Could you zip the project folder and attach it here?

(I promoted you so you can add files)

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11

In the schematic editor, I linked to the footprint file again and this has cured the problem. I can only think that the link to the footprint became broken in some way, although the footprint did not disappear from the PCB layout. The reference designator is now fixed when I update the PCB from the schematic.
Thanks for your help.

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12

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