Copying sch. symbol from one library to another

Hi All,
Just installed the latest V 5.1.5_3-x86_64 bit. and have created a new library called Alex_Library, located in my Documents folder. I wanted to copy a sh. symbol IRF740 from main KiCad library to my Alex_Library and followed this YouTube episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTuSD9vxmD8 Here are steps:

  1. Highlighted and copied IRF740 symbol.
  2. Highlighted Alex_Library>clicked right mouse btn.>there is no “paste”. Instead, two Icons “New libraty…” and “Ad Library…”
  3. Go back>selected IRF740 again than selected “Save a copy as…”
  4. Selected Alex_Library and clicked Save.
  5. Now, Alex_library has IRF740, IRF7403 and IRF70404. Two extra symbols jumped in itself.
  6. Deleting any of extra symbols causes deleting all three symbols.
  7. Save a copy as… with different name causes the same issue.
    Thanks for help in advance.

I just grabbed an IRF740 from KiCad default library and put it in a schematic. Then hover over it and press [Ctrl + e] to edit it in the Symbol Editor.

The Symbol Editor thinks it’s an BUZ11. Then:
Symbol Editor / Edit / Properties / Aliases and you see that KiCad uses the same name for a bunch of similar MOSfet’s.

The different aliases even have different descriptions (basic voltage and current rating) and different data sheet links. I’m not sure if they have different (if any) spice models. KiCad does not come with many Spice models due to licensing and other problems.

You can remove the aliases with the trash bin icon at the bottom left of the screen.

This is the 1st time I have touched the KiCad and need to adjust my experience from previous PCB software, where device would consist of sch. symbol and footprint, all together. What information should I remove in table you have shown to have only IRF740 in my library?

Any Idea on why I could not use copy and paste the IRF740 symbol from main KiCad library to my Alex_Library as per this YouTube episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTuSD9vxmD8 ? Thanks for help.

Well, the Fet itself is apparently a BUZ11, but even that is just a text string.
You can at least remove the aliases for IRF3205, IRLB88721PBF, IRLZ34N and IRLZ44N.

You can also edit the original BUZ11 to represent the data from the IRF740, and then remove all aliases. but why bother?

Because I am not willing to agree to youtube’s terms I am currently unable to view youtube video’s unless they are directly embedded in another website.
Don’t blame me, go blame youtube for their policy.

You are also working on a copy of the original symbols, in your own lib, so if you make any errors it’s easy to throw the whole component away and do it again.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Learning from mistakes is often more educational and productive than being extra careful to not make any mistakes at all.

There are also some pretty well maintained FAQ articles about libraries on this website. An index to the FAQ articles is in:

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.