Eeschema v7: Using Multiple Drawing Sheet (Layouts)

[SpaceSystemsEE]

Does anyone know if it is possible to use multiple drawing sheets (layouts) in a single schematic?

I’d like to use one Drawing Sheet for the Cover (Root) and a different Drawing Sheet for all of the other pages in my schematic.

The cover typically contains standard information that you wouldn’t want displayed on all the other sheets. For example, a Revision History block, Approvals Block, Legal Notices, etc. I’d like all of this to exist in the Drawing Sheet as opposed to manually created in the schematic to:
(1) Standardize schematic format for the entire team
(2) Allow for text variables in the legal statement (different classification codes, etc)

Is this something that is possible to do out-of-the-box? If not, how would I make a feature request for the Devs?

Apologies if these are newbish questions. I am relatively new to KiCAD after being a long time user of OrCAD / Allegro.

[Claudio.Lorini]

@SpaceSystemsEE

(1) Standardize schematic format for the entire team

you can have a look at how the ‘project templates’ works, (file-> create project from template)

@SpaceSystemsEE

(2) Allow for text variables in the legal statement (different classification codes, etc)

something like it is shown here:

How to make changes to the sheet title box and have those changes incorporated in all new projects?

then, half the job is done. Now you can place a bunch of ‘variables’ in your wks, like this: [image] then from your project you fill the variables with relevant data: [image] At last you click on the standard worksheet and browse to your wks. that should be enough. When you are familiar with the process setup the custom template mechanism for new projects, i find it very handy!

i think that if you don’t select ‘export to other sheets’ checkbox, you can place different templates on different pages:

[SpaceSystemsEE]

I did not want to use a KiCAD project template, but did figure out how to achieve what I wanted with the drawing sheets.

Each element of the drawing sheet has an option for it to be visible on all pages, first page only, and subsequent pages only. This allowed me to make a drawing sheet frame / template that is different for the cover sheet vs all of the other sheets in a schematic. This options was not immediately obvious to me when I was first working on the sheet – clearly I should have looked harder.

For those curious, I’ve attached the drawing sheet.

Space_Physics_SCH_Drawing_Sheet.kicad_wks (175.9 KB)

It’s worth pointing out that the elements that are set to be visible on subsequent pages only are not visible on the drawing sheet anymore. You can still select them if you know where they are located though.

[scandey]

I also didn’t know about the first/subsequent page feature! That’s really useful, specifically for the CUI labeling. It always seemed like there should be a way to avoid repeating the front matter on every page, but I guess I also didn’t look hard enough.

If you happen to be interested, I’d love to chat in more detail about your experience working with KiCad on space physics instrumentation design. Feel free to message me!