How to organize libs and modules

[paulvdh]

@marera

Btw: I’m stuck to EAGLE V5.11

No you’re not.
You’ve got KiCad now

My first advise was for beginners with EDA in general. You certainly passed that some time ago.

The FAQ part of this website has quite in depth info onl lot’s of KiCad related subjects, and is searchable.
https://forum.kicad.info/search?q=library%20management%20category%3A19

Library management in KiCad version 5

Disclaimer: screenshots taken in nightly from between version 5.0 and 5.1. Version 5.0.x looks slightly different. Version 5.1.x will look like the screenshots show. This is a detailed lecture. If you want to know how to simply add some assets you downloaded to KiCad then you can read the shorter tutorial How to get a downloaded symbol, footprint or full library into KiCad version 5? Summary KiCad does not automatically detect libraries! There is no special library location (you might still ca…

If you want to be well-organized from the beginning, then keeping your own personal libraries separate from KiCad’s libraries is one thing I’d also do.

@marera

My idea is to work on a set of copies of the generic stuff. In the copies, I should be able to add symbols and footprints, or just edit the generic ones if needed.

I interpreted this as if you wanted to make a copy of all of KiCad’s libraries, and then change some of them. Still not a good idea. Just make a copy of only the library parts that you want to make a new version off.

If you’re ambitious, you can even have a look at the KLC (KiCad Library Convention) At the moment most library work is a bit suspended because of the transistion btetween KiCad V5 and V6. If you’re comfortable with Git, then even some of your parts may get into KiCad’s official libraries.

Edit:
Another small tip.
If you open the footprint editor, then that search box has a regular expression (like) kewyord search. It’s often a quick way to find Footprint names in KiCad.