EEschema PCB Footprints

Recently I tried the latest 4.0.0 RC1 version of KiCad
One of the things I noticed is that there are 2 different ways of allocated pcb footprints to a given schematic component within the schematic

The first method involves right click editing the component, then selecting “Assign Footprint” on the footprint field. I was a little dissapointed at first since the dialog doesn’t allow for filtering of pin count / library / text etc

But then I discovered a second method in the menu which is a lot more useful, under Tools -> Assign Component Footprint. This method seems to use the dialog window from cvPCB which allows you to see a list of all the components and allow for filtering by pin count / library / txt filter. This is a lot more useful than the first method.

I’d recommend for any future versions of Kicad that the dialog window used in “Assign Component Footprint” be used for the right click edit menu since this seems to be the first place users look

Great work to the devs btw, it’s nice to see a decent webpage, and a near stable version
The last time I tried kicad there didn’t seem to be any kind of stable version numbering

Yeah, this is kind of a split issue and I think your idea here has been represented before in Wishlist items on launchpad. Personally, I love the new press “F” assign footprint if I need to assign one. I’ve usually got specific Eeschema parts for specific footprints, so that work is done upfront.

They are migrating away from treating it as a separate module: .cmp files no longer exist and the program itself is kind of hidden in Eeschema.