Ease schematic pin-out of high pin-count ICs?

Schematic
1

Hi together,

is there a possibility to ease the pin-breakout of parts with a lot of pins (e.g. microcontrollers). For now I’m placing a label by hand on every pin (STRG+C), correct its name and connect it manually.

Is this the way to go in KiCad? I’m pretty sure there is an easier way - think of a large FPGA with 100’s of pins…

pinout
pinout464×624 60.8 KB

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  1. Place a label (for example with text PB0) somewhere in an empty area.
  2. Depress the **[Ins]**ert key for a while.
  3. Place a short horizontal wire under the first label.
  4. Depress the **[Ins]**ert key for a while again.
  5. Drag a box around your artwork, make a copy and place it somewhere.

Note that if you relased the **[Ins]**ert key too soon, it takes some work to make more labels, while if you have some left over, it’s quick to clean them up with a simple delete.

Do note the difference between dragging a box to the right (include only enclosed objects) or to the left (Also include items crossing the border of the box).

And there are lots more tricks in KiCad that speed up schematic entry.

1 Like
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Also break up the device into a few units to make the schematic more readable

1 Like
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I’m now at PC without KiCad co can’t check it but I’m pretty sure my KiCad works opposite.

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This drives me nuts too so I’ll fix it for v8:

6 Likes
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@paulvdh Thanks, that’s working.

Wow, that would be a great feature.

8
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It’s already done, please feel free to test it in the nightlies and let me know if you find any bugs.

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