Good afternoon, all!
I hope your doing well.
I was following on how to create a custom schematic symbol on the KiCad documentation online.
But when I read on how to make a custom schematic symbol, I couldn’t find the “New Component” icon on the “Library Editor” icon in KiCad 6.0. I couldn’t see the “New Component” icon anywhere at all as shown in Picture 4.
Where do we see the “New Component” icon in KiCad 6.0 so we can finally create a custom schematic symbol?
Thank you!
Hello & welcome @boom_tarat_tarat
You’ve found it! 
The op-amp with the gold star icon inside your blue circle.
Hover over that icon and you will see a message “create a new symbol”
Hello @jmk !
Thank you for the help!
But when I pressed that icon is that the message “No symbol library selected” appears.
Thank you8 for the help, @jmk !..
The Kicad libraries in the list shown on that page are read only libraries.
You will need to create a personal library in which to place your created symbol.
The sequence is:
Create a personal global library.
Add that library to the list on your screen grab.
Highlight that new empty library.
Click on the “create new symbol”
Have you created a personal library yet?
Hello, @jmk ! Good evening!
I finally figured out how to find the “New Component” Icon in KiCad 6.0! It really doesn’t have a “New Component” Icon on KiCad 6.0 but in order to create a custom schematic or add a new, custom component, these are the steps.
To create a new component which is a custom schematic in KiCad 6.0:
Step 1: Press the Op - Amp looking icon as shown in Picture 1:
Step 2: Create a brand - new library as shown in Picture 2:
Step 3: Choose the “Global” Library table as shown in Picture 3:
Step 4: Put your custom schematic on the folder where you will put your custom schematic. This folder will serve as your library. You have created this library folder before adding this custom schematic as shown in Picture 4:
Step 5: Now you can see your custom schematic on the libraries on the left side as shown in Picture 5:
Step 6: To create a real custom schematic, we’ll just put anything we wish, like a rectangle with some pins on it just like in Picture 6. The steps in creating the actual custom schematic is beyond this part, but here it is I made earlier, the MYCONN3 custom schematic diagram:
Step 7: This brand new component/custom schematic can now be added as shown in Picture 7:
This is how we add a new customized component without the “New Component” Icon on KiCad 6.0.
Thank you for the help!..
That’s right. Note that if you’re creating a new global library, ideally, you’d select a folder outside where your schematic is stored, because it will be used for all your projects.
Alternatively you could create a project specific library. (But a global library usually makes more sense)
Hi @boom_tarat_tarat
A better way, because you will probably end up with many personal libraries in time, is to start by using your OS to create three Folders. Call them PersonalSymbolLibraries, PersonalFootprintLibraries & Personal3DLibraries (or something similar of your choosing.
Next, go to Kicad Symbol Editor (your very first screen grab) and click File / New Library / Global / and you will get something looking like this:
Give your new library a name (in green for my OS) (see red arrow).
NOTE: The Kicad library list is in numeric, followed by alphabetic order, so if you want your new library/s at the top of the list for your convenience, prefix it/them with a number less than 4.
eg: 1NewConn.kicad.sym.
Now navigate to the PersonalSymbolLibraryFolder you created with your OS using whatever you have in the magenta box. My OS is Linux, I think you are Windows, so may have different names in box.
Highlight the folder when you find it.
Then click Save… bottom RH corner.
Your new library is now ready to use.
Any more symbol libraries place in the same OS folder.
Footprint libraries are created in much the same way but this time use the Footprint editor and place those footprint libraries in the OS PersonalFootprintLibraryFolder.
Hope this helps,
I do it both ways, to be honest.
I have my personal global libraries similar to what @jmk describes, but I also make a local library for each project just containing the parts used there.
Why? It makes the project portable to a different machine without having to install the complete personal library there.
Yep!
I always place a newly created (or imported from a third party) symbol, footprint, or 3D first in a Global library, simply because, if I wish to use that drawing again in a future project, it is easy to find and re-use. If I place that drawing in a project library only, it is a pain to find it in the future because I have to remember in which project it was placed then open that project (because project libraries are only accessible when that project is open) and also, compared to using from a global library, it is another pain to copy drawings from one project to another.
Question on
Is there some special reason for the local libraries (are they needed?) as I thought the project files included the required files to be portable as from KiCad Docs
" Storing and and sending KiCad files
KiCad schematic and board files contain all the schematic symbols and footprints used in the design, so you can back up or send these files by themselves with no issue. Some important design information is stored in the project file (.kicad_pro), so if you are sending a complete design, make sure to include it."
This is correct, but I’ve run into problems sometimes in two situations: one is when I inadvertently started a library synchronization, the other was when the parts contain SPICE models. Both situations were not repairable, and caused a lot of work.
But in 99% it’s unneccesary.
Putting all modified schematic symbols and footprints in a local library serves as a backup against accidental overwrites, as ML9104 also mentioned.
It also makes the project more robust.
Especially for the footprints on the PCB. The PCB gets updated a lot of times during a design, and when a modification of a footprint is only on the PCB, then there is always a chance it gets reset to it’s library equivalent each time the pcb is updated.
In a similar way, if you use Schematic Editor / Tools / Update Symbols from Library and you have a habit of putting modified symbols in a personal library, you eliminate the option of accidental overwrites of symbols on your schematic.
