Components and ratsnest not visible after import

[Foeg]

I’m a new user as of today, using Kicad for the very first time on a mac (10.14.6)

kicad-unified-5.1.9-0-10_14.dmg

I’m running through the tutorial and when I import the netlist
into the Pcbnew tool I get no visible components or ratsnest.

The netlist is imported without errors and I can ‘find’ components - they just are not visible.
I have turned on and off the show ratsnest facility multiple times
and imported the netlist multiple times to no avail.

Is this just a rookie error or some known issue with the mac version?

[eelik]

At least you shouldn’t use netlist but Tools -> Update PCB from Schematic.

[John_Pateman]

Which tutorial? Unfortunately, when people write tutorials they often fail to mention the version in use. KiCad is very different now to even 18 months sgo. The netlist exchange method has been replaced with the ‘Update’ method that @eelik describes for a long time so the rest of the tutorial may be rather dated too. There are some resources here but even these need updating.

Learning Kicad - unofficial learning resources

Apart from the official Kicad documentation, there are many resources available on the internet showing how to use Kicad. Unfortunately, the quality is variable and significantly, many of the tutorials do not show which version is being used. There have been many changes between V4 and V5 and even between 5.0 and 5.1 I am starting a list here of unofficial and unsupported tutorials as a starting point. Please add/amend as you see fit. These do not have any official endorsement but are provided a…

[Foeg]

I’m following the tutorial here:

https://docs.kicad.org/5.1/en/getting_started_in_kicad/getting_started_in_kicad.html#kicad-work-flow

[Foeg]

I just ran a new project inserted a single MCU - NCed all the pins
did a successful ERC. and used the

@eelik

Tools -> Update PCB

flow.

The PCB window opens but there is no footprint shown.
I can search for and find the device U1 and its described
in the info bar at the bottom of Pcbnew. But still there is
no display.

[Foeg]

Text placed directly in PCBnew also does not display

If I pdf print, the component appears - also the text that I placed on the PCB.

Seems like a Mojave-mac display/KiCad problem?

[eelik]

Make sure all layers and items are selected to be visible.

[gkeeth]

Try selecting Preferences Menu -> Modern Toolset (Accelerated), if it isn’t already selected.

[Foeg]

Magic!

Preferences Menu -> Modern Toolset (Accelerated)

solved the issue.