Hi. I’m having a heck of a time getting “change grid properties” to work in my footprint editor.
Here’s what I’m running into:
Seems like I’m doing something totally wrong, but researching on this forum and the internet in general points me to the dialog box that I’m already changing, yet it fails to change.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Best,
AJ
OK, please disregard this question…I KNEW it had to be something totally obvious, and yet, what throws me is the “different” location that grid setting is done between Schematic Editor and Footprint editors.
Evidently in the Footprint editor, the dropdown for the grid is in this top bar, here, NOT in the Grid Properties dialog box like it is in the Schematic editor.
Ah, the nuances of KiCad…
Modifying grid properties are very much the same in the Schematic, Symbol, PCB and Footprint Editors, but the PCB and Footprint editors have extra quick selections in the toolbars. This makes sense to me. In the schematic you normally set the grid once and rarely modify it. And because of this putting grid settings in the toolbar is not very useful. On the PCB (and in footprints) switching between different grid settings for different tasks is common, and having quick access is much more important, so it makes sense to put them on the toolbar.
And often, there are many ways to do the same thing.
I can’t make much sense of your video where you are waving the mouse around, but don’t give further context, but I assume you missed the upper bottom in the left toolbar. It is a visual indication for whether the grid is on or off. With a right click on it, you also have (a bit) quicker access to the grid settings.
Another way of changing grids is in the context menu when you right click anywhere on the drawing canvas. Grid settings are on the bottom of the context menu.
Thank you, finding that icon is helpful. Are you showing a version here early than v7 by chance? It looks a bit different than mine with the menus.
That screenshot is from V7.0.10.
I also have KiCad-Nightly V7.99, but that is easily recognizable because it has a second icon with “grid overrides” in the top of the left toolbar.
There are a bunch of settings that influence how KiCad looks. Panels can be en / dis -abled. Different OS’s ( I’m running Linux Mint with Xfce as desktop). Desktop settings, themes, etc.
Yet another way to change grids in the Symbol & Schematic Editors is with the hotkeys.
I re-assigned the N hotkey to Grid Properties (Grid Settings) (different names, same menu)
The N hotkey now brings up the Grid Settings instead of “Switch to next Grid” which solves the problem of miss-keying the “M” key.
Next Grid is now “Alt + N” which is consistent with Previous Grid “Shift + N”
7.99 (the soon to be 8.0.0) has had some changes to Grid to improve consistency.
The hotkey “Grid Properties” has been replaced with “Edit Grids”. When used, this now shows similar Grid Preference windows for all four Editors.
You may add, delete and change whatever you wish.
Thank you, more great help, thank you so much!!!
Things like this are quite easy to discover yourself. When working on a project, clicking on an unfamiliar icon and not understanding it’s result can be a distraction that sucks up time. A natural tendency is to just avoid such icons and menu items. As an alternative, you can dedicate some time to reading parts of the manual (https://docs.kicad.org/), or a local copy under the “help” menu) and combine it with experimenting with those functions. Making a backup just before you start doing this gives you ease of mind you won’t loose any part of your project.
Thanks, Paul, again, good advice. We all learn differently, and it’s true! The process of me constructing this question and thread caused me to [initially] find the answer to my own question. My own version of doing exactly as you say, exploring and learning on my own, using this method. Had I not gone through the steps to articulate the problem in the way I did and post it, I would never have seen the answer on my own…much less gotten such additional great ideas, as you and jmk have provided. Thank you both!
Best,
AJ
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