Duplicating a symbol directly after adding it to a schematic

Schematic
1

When I add a symbol from a library to schematic using A I can place it on my schematic.
The newly placed symbol residing on my schematic is then still selected (aka it has this blueisch frame).
I can then directly press M to move the symbol to another position. Great!

But when I press my favourite Strg-D for Duplicate I would expect to get another copy of my symbol. Instead my cursor changes to a ^ and I have to press Strg-D again to get a copy of the symbol.

Has anybody seen the ^ cursor before and can tell me what it’s for?

I know that there is the Place repeated copies radio button in the Add dialog. But using add and then duplicate I stay more flexible.

I am using
Application: KiCad Schematic Editor x64 on x64
Version: 8.0.8, release build
Platform: Windows 11 (build 26100), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
OpenGL: Intel, Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630, 4.6.0 - Build 30.0.101.1122

2

I don’t know about the ^ cursor. But you could also press the Ins hotkey which repeats the last action, in this case lets you place the same symbol again.

1 Like
3

Hey that is also a nice idea! Thanks @ekoeck !
Hitting Ins once after placing also doesn’t work for me.
I have to hit it two times!
Do you get another copy after the first invocation of Ins?

4

Ah, now I think I know, what’s happening. After placing the first symbol you have to hit ESC once. This is probably what you meant with ^ cursor.

5

@ekoeck, no I don’t have to hit the ESC -key
Once a symbol is placed the mouse cursor is still the small op amp for adding new symbols.
Then pressing Strg-D once changes the mouse cursor to a small ^ (only for a short time) then to arrow cursor (move), but the symbol is not duplicated.
Hitting Strg-D again finally will give me a copy of the symbol.

Pressing Ins does not show me the ^ Cursor. But still have to press Ins twice to give a copy of the added symbol.
Strange … :no_mouth:

6

For English speakers: “Strg” is the German equivalent of “Ctrl”.

7

Can confirm, the same happens for me as well.

The issue exists because the first action only triggers a toolchange and nothing more.

8

I have created a bug report

9

I think this is unrelated. The ^ cursor shows up when you hold the control key, which activates “toggle” / “XOR” (^) selection mode. Compare with Shift which is “add” selection mode and uses a + cursor, or Ctrl+Shift which is “subtract” selection mode and uses a - cursor.