I use the Autoplace Fields (shortcut: O) feature quite a lot when drawing my schematics, especially when adding extra text fields like supplier part numbers. Some time in the last year the way that text is placed near symbols on schematics has dramatically changed:
Text is much further away from parts (about 2-5x the whitespace gap depending on the symbol)
Labels for power power symbols are sometimes placed to the side of them rather than above/below.
In some circumstances this looks better (eg Q2 on the left) but in many others it makes it harder to work out which text labels go with which symbols (eg R7). I often end up with text overlapping other symbols or wires and have to reposition everything manually or redraw with a lot more whitespace to avoid label-symbol relationship ambiguity. Parallel resistors are a great example of where this has been very confusing (sadly I donât have old schems to hand with this for a screenshot).
Question: Is this a configurable feature? Something like a âlabel-distanceâ or the likes that I have not found? Does anyone know what terminology I should be using here to find more information in the commits?
Power symbol labels (see GNDs in middle) inconsistently placed right/below symbols.
Label text moved away from parts and closer to others (see R & C in middle), requiring moving of the parts or labels to avoid ambiguity. (Here itâs no so bad because the R & C are different, but when you have R & R next to each other or C & C itâs much easier to make mistakes when reading)
I think I might have manually positioned the C202425 supplier number on the 3pos switch, so you should probably ignore that.
This I havenât seen. When taken from the library they are below or on top as examining the symbol shows. Perhaps you imported a schematic where it was moved to the side by you?
Perhaps you imported a schematic where it was moved to the side by you?
No, the power symbols are identical. I tested just now my switching two of them around and pressing âAutoplace fieldsâ again, the visual result is identical even though the parts have been switched. Let me see if I can record a short video of this.
All I know is when I place a power symbol from the library, the label starts off below or above. I donât use Autoplace Fields. Maybe thereâs a bug which makes it think there isnât enough vertical space.
Made a 1.2MiB video showing that the power symbols all behave identically, but ânew users canât upload attachementsâ
Thankyou JMK, but that doesnât fix this problem. The Edit Text & Graphic Properties feature is a mass properties editing tool (text colour, text size, text alignment, etc), not a way of configuring how fields are autoplaced. H & V alignment refer to whether or not the text itself inside each field is left-aligned, centered or right-aligned; this has nothing to do with how the field itself is placed near the part.
(I just tested changing the text alignment as per your instructions, but it does not seem to affect any of my problems)
Exactly.
Also whenever I pressed O hotkey they return to this position.
I generally donât care what are default positions as I shift all references and values to position them âperfectlyâ
I tried Valign middle, bottom and top. It shifts the text slightly but does not change the positioning behavior of field placement. This property does not seem to have anything to do with field placement.
This avoids my second problem (labels being in odd spots) but not my first (labels being very far away from parts by default now).
Question: Is this a configurable feature? Something like a âlabel-distanceâ or the likes that I have not found? Does anyone know what terminology I should be using here to find more information in the commits?
As far as I know the Autoplace-behaviour is not really configurable. There are only two checkboxes in global Preferencesâ>Schematic Editorâ>Editing Optionsâ>Symbol field automatic placement.
Maybe (not tested) the grid size has some influence on the autoplace algorithm.
regarding the configurable âlabel-distanceâ idea: open a gitlab issue and explain this idea, could be a reasonable feature request
terminology: I think âautoplaceâ would be a good starting point for searching the code
regarding the new user status: read and follow this FAQ-article to promote yourself to the next level. Then you are allowed to upload video (and to do many more things)
I think @mf_ibfeew messed up his link.
Try this FAQ link for new members.
Great minds think alike.
I use exclusively my own symbols, so my default position is where I placed the text when I created the symbols.
Even after this, I still move all the text around on a schematic.
All I know is when I place a power symbol from the library, the label starts off below or above. I donât use Autoplace Fields. Maybe thereâs a bug which makes it think there isnât enough vertical space.
