The first step is to create a new schematic library file (.lib) where your custom symbol will be saved. This keeps things neatly organized compared to dumping everything into the default symbol library.
I tried following the steps in the online tutorial, but it doesn’t work for me. What extra steps/commands do I need to do in order for this to work?
Launch the KiCad Schematic Editor.***Okay that works.
Click on Preferences > Manage Symbol Libraries.***Okay that works.
In the Symbol Library Table dialog, click on the “+” button.***Okay that works.
Enter a meaningful name for your new library, like “MySymbols”.***Okay that works.
Choose where you want the .lib file to be created. Good locations are your project folder or username folder.***Okay that works, I think. What is the full file/directory name to use?
Click OK and the new library “.MySymbols” will appear in the table.***Does not compute!
Close the Symbol Library Table dialog.
–Regards, Larry
It’s a bit tricky, I agree. Mind you, I’ve not worked with 9.0 yet, so take this with a grain of salt.
The important thing is to tell KiCAD where the library is. There are two ways:
one is to enter the full path and filename, which can be tedious.
the other is to set the enviroment variables in the Preferences → Configure paths.
I don’t mind doing some programing, in fact I would rather do command line than GUI. So, in the terminal I try to make a directory such as “/home/larry” and then what? I have tried “/home/larry/LJSymbols.lib”, “home/larry/LJSymbols.keycad_sym”, but neither of those seemed to work. What path name to use?
Schematic or symbol? Assuming “schematic” was meant to be “symbol” this sounds like an ancient outdated tutorial as .lib libraries are a legacy KiCad library format. Toss that tutorial out. Use this FAQ by jmk:
The official documentation for creating a new symbol library is here:
The official documentation for managing a symbol library is here:
It’s a little unfortunate that the latter precedes the former in the text.
I created two personal folders: “/home/larry/LJSymbols” and “/home/larry/LJFootprints”. I then followed KiCad 7 & 8 Beginners Guide to Personal Symbol and Footprint Libraries. This worked for me for a couple of steps, here is what I got: To create a Symbol Library:
Open “Symbol Editor”***Okay.
Left click “File”***Okay.
Left click “New Library”***I did left click "New Library" but there was nothing for the next step of Choose "Global". The system opened a screen as if creating a new Symbol Library!?
Choose “Global”
Left click “OK”
I’ll leave that with you for now and go on to The official documentation for creating a new symbol library is here: “Schematic Editor | 9.0 | English | Documentation | KiCad”. The official documentation for managing a symbol library is here:–which is the same reference as for creating a new symbol library?
The two links point to different sections in the document. Unfortunately the forum preview obscures this.
You should have continued after choosing Global and putting the symbol library in the directory you prepared ahead of time. A symbol library is not a directory but contained in a file, which sometimes confuses users.
You didn’t read my complete reply as it ran to the right. There was no “Global” to choose! And it looks like my file name should be “/home/larry/LJSymbols.kicad_sym”. If this is so it is not clearly explained to me.
I have a schematic that I want to add symbols to this Personal Global library. How do I do that?
This is not where I normally put symbol libraries, so I have to navigate to the directory I prepared ahead of time, and also change the name to something meaningful, say MyTransistors.kicad_sym. When I’ve done that an empty symbol library is created and added to the table. That there is no > in frront of MyTransistors means it is an empty library.
In your case, the library would be in /home/larry/LJSymbols/MyTransistors.kicad_sym You can then copy symbols into this library.
This is NOT so.
The FOLDER you created with your Operating system is “/home/larry/LJSymbols”. It seems you somehow turned your Folder into a Symbol library.
Go to Preferences > Manage Symbol Libraries and scroll to the very bottom of the list of libraries.
You should find LJsymbols library with the path Home > larry > LJSymbols path beside the nickname.
Highlight the line and use the rubbish bin icon to delete this library.
Start again,
Open your symbol editor,
Left mouse button click New Library, and you will see this:
LMB click on the “Global” line then OK.
This will open a new window titled “New Library”. Use the list on the right hand side of this window to navigate to the Folder you created with your OS.
See below:
Click in the Cyan rectangle to find your Folder you created and make sure the whole path is shown in the magenta rectangle.
Your path should show: home > larry > LJsymbols That is all.
Give the library a name and click save.
As you create more personal schematic libraries, they will show in the list under the path
eg. My new library will now be placed:
Media > jan (my computer being used by me)
JanD my D hard drive found by clicking “Other Locations” from the cyan box.
Kicad Personal Libraries 9.0.0 ( a folder containing my Kicad personal library sub-folders)
JMK9.x.x Symbol Libraries ( a folder containing all my personal symbol libraries)
Beneath the whole path is some of the list of personal symbol libraries I have created. The “New_Library”
will be added to this list as soon as I click save.
I explained that this was the starting directory that the chooser put me in, and I had to navigate to the correct directory before creating the library.
Instructions work up to a point. Okay I created “/home/larry/LJSymbols”. Went to my schematic, chose the voltage regulator I want to put in a local global symbol library. Got the symbol into the symbol editor. In the symbol editor I went to File > New Library, clicked on Global, path is now /home/larry/LJSymbols. I gave the library the name of “Volt-Regulator” (Volt-Regulator.kicad_sym), clicked on Save and this is what I got: “A file named ‘Volt-Regulator.kicad_sym’ slready exists. Do you want to replace it?” (Why there is already a file of that name I don’t know!) The file already exists in “LJSymbols”. Replacing it will overwrite its contents. I clicked on Replace and get the following: Warning. Could not create the library file “home/larry/LJSymbols/Volt-Regulator.kicad_sym”. Make sure you have write permissions and try again.
I used chmod and changed u, g, and o to rwx on both the LJSymbols folder (directory) and the existing Volt-Regulator.kicad_sym file, so there are all privileges. Tried again and got the same thing. Still need help.
There are no local global libraries. There are Global Libraries and there are Project Libraries.
If you received a message “The file already exists”, check. Go to Preferences > Manage Symbol Libraries and look.The library will probably be at the bottom of the list in the “Global” tab, beneath all the Kicad Libraries.
If the library does exist, open your Symbol Editor ( see below - red arrow) find the symbol you wish to place in the Volt-Reg Library (blue arrow), Right mouse click on that symbol and select Save Copy As (cyan arrow).
A new window will open (see below). The symbol I highlighted (e9 - blue arrow) now appears in the new window. Change the name if you wish or leave it alone. Select the library from the display in which you wish to place the symbol.
I have selected e9 (blue arrow) and I want to place it in 1aCapacitor library (green arrow) from 1aaTest1 library (magenta arrow).
You will want to move your symbol from whatever library it is into your Volt-Regulator.kicad_sym library.
Once these actions are completed, check to make sure the symbol is in your Volt-Reg. library and save it.
Finally, go back to the library where you found the symbol, Right click that symbol and , using the menu in the first screen grab, delete the Symbol from that library if you wish.
My OS is Ubuntu 22.04 as stated previously. This is on a desktop PC with dual monitors.
Yes, I want a personal Global library.
If you received a message “The file already exists”, check. Go to Preferences > Manage Symbol Libraries and look.The library will probably be at the bottom of the list in the “Global” tab, beneath all the Kicad Libraries.***What is there is: New_Library @ path /home/larry/LJSymbols/New_Library.kicad_sym. There is NO entry by the name 'Volt-Regulator.kicad_sym’.
If the library does exist… The library does not exist! Where do I go from here? I guess I could click on the “+” sign (Add empty row to table) and fill in the information. I’ll try that but wanted to let you know how far I got and what I got.
Please note the image posted.
When you create a new library, Kicad places the words “New_Library” before kicad_sym. See the red arrow.
You need to replace the words “New_Library” with the name of your choosing.
If you leave the words New_Library, you will create a library titled "New_Library.kicad_sym.
If you replace the words New_library with a name of your choosing, eg. Volt_Regulator, you will create a library named “Volt_Regulator.kicad_sym”
