How to view the board sizes?

Layout
1

I’m starting with kicad… I’ve imported some open-hardware project from web and open it in the pcbnew.

I would like to know the board dimensions / size. how can I do that ?

I tried to select the Edge.Cuts layer, but it seems to be showing the line size…

thanks

2

If you hover the mouse, and press E, that should show the XY co-ords,

In Legacy mode, length will show in the list, if there is a selection choice.
In OpenGL mode, length (& angle,width, XY) shows on the status lines, when selected.

3

And to build up on that - if you move with the mouse to the left most upper point and hit [Space] and then to the right most lower point there is a readout of coordinates at the bottom of the screen.
The one to the right is relative to the point where you hit [Space].

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5

The problem with dimensions is, that in kicad they don’t snap to features.
So you need to draw them on the same grid as you drew the feature in question.
I normally draw everything relevant for the mechanical definition of the pcb on a grid of 0.5mm. (This includes the edge and mount holes.)
In the screenshot below you can see an example as i normally do it with my pcb’s.
I also highlighted the tool for adding such dimensions.

1882×1174 182 KB

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6

I end up setting board edges and fixing holes in absolute positions from the text entry with the the “E” key, which means that the grid does not matter

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7

Many do this, and I’ve been thinking that KiCad should have Copy XY and Paste XY buttons in all of the GUI form popups.
Not only useful for Outlines/MHoles, but also in Footprint create from DXF for example, where you want to ‘snap’ the pin to the provided DXF entity (eg circle)

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8

With grid in this case i meant resolution. (All shown measurements within my screenshot have been typed in using the text editor.)

But I also set the grid origin on the top left corner of the pcb, which allows me to use 0.5mm grid for the drawing of the dimensions. (This origin is the first thing i fix when designing a PCB.)

It also allows placing footprints exactly where i want them with the help of custom grid sizes (set x and y spacing to the desired measurements.)

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