KiCAD misplaces symbols in schem editor

[zenerbjt]

Hi,
I work on Kicad on a computer in the office. Then when i go home, i copy the kicad project and libraries…and load them on my computer at home. For some reason it then looses a lot of the symbols in the schem when i re-open the kicad schem at home.
It must know what they are because it puts a question mark in the schem and writes down in words exactly what the symbol was (the ‘value’ field).

I can individually click each question mark and then get the correct symbol put back in there…but this takes a lot of time.

Do you know how i can avoid this happening?..or how i can quickly “re-incarnate” the symbols

[paulvdh]

What are the cache and rescue libs and how does the schematic rescue dialog work? (KiCad version 5.x and earlier)

The purpose of the cache library KiCad version 5 and earlier do not include symbol information in the schematic file format. Without any counter measure changes to the libs would change the schematic without user control (worst case a symbol is deleted from the lib and the project looses its information). This is where the cache lib comes in. Anytime a user adds a symbol to the project it is copied to the cache lib for save keeping (unless the same symbol is already in the cache). If now the li…

[Piotr]

@zenerbjt

Do you know how i can avoid this happening?

I think it should not happen provided that:

• you copy all your libraries in the same directory structure,
• you copy Users\[User]\AppData\Roaming\kicad directory (it is in Windows, don’t know how in other systems).

[steves]

There may be an issue with KiCAD here. I noticed lately that when editing a symbol in a project library with the symbol editor, all my symbols suddenly change to the question mark in the schematic. Not just the symbol I was editing. I am not sure why this is happening. I am running 5.1.4 (downloading 5.1.7 now to check if this has been fixed).

[Rene_Poschl]

@Piotr

you copy Users[User]\AppData\Roaming\kicad directory (it is in Windows, don’t know how in other systems).

That might be a bit extreme. All that needs to happen is that the global library setup is the same on both systems. Meaning the symbol and footprint library tables must be the same.

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This might be a good read: Project and libary setup for sharing and collaboration (KiCad version 5)

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Also, might be time to invest into cloud storage or version control as manual copying files from one computer to another just asks for trouble.

[Piotr]

@Rene_Poschl

All that needs to happen is that the global library setup is the same on both systems.

But it is in that directory. Isn’t it? So if you just wont to go with your work home the simplest way is to just copy the whole directory. As I don’t know the exact file set I should copy I just copy all to have at home the same settings not only regarding the libraries.

@Rene_Poschl

Also, might be time to invest into cloud storage

Probably would not help a lot if your PC is not connected to net

@Rene_Poschl

as manual copying files from one computer to another just asks for trouble.

Till now noticed no problem with it.

[Rene_Poschl]

@Piotr

@Rene_Poschl

All that needs to happen is that the global library setup is the same on both systems.

But it is in that directory. Isn’t it? So if you just wont to go with your work home the simplest way is to just copy the whole directory. As I don’t know the exact file set I should copy I just copy all to have at home the same settings not only regarding the libraries.

The problem is that this directory has other settings as well. Like for instanced the path variables. So if you copy the full directory then you need to set up everything exactly the same on all systems. If you just manage the libs correctly and understand why this is necessary then you are much better off long term.