Hopefully this is the right section for this. I’m using the trial of Altium to try to convert some Protel designs to kicad. Importing to Altium is fine. When I try to import into KiCad it doesn’t see the .pcbdoc files for some reason and therefore I can’t select them. I’ve tried it in the standalone pcbeditor and from Kicad itself. Using version 8.0 of Kicad. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi nitrousdave,
I can’t help you with your problem.
I’m not sure if new members can edit headings so I took the liberty to include Altium in your heading to make your problem more noticeable for other readers.
Run the PCB editor standalone, choose File > Import > Non-KiCad Board File
I have done that. The problem is that even though there are .pcbdoc files in the folder kicad isn’t seeing them for some reason. I’ve tried saving the files as different options in Altium but it hasn’t helped.
Are you on a case-sensitive system? What if you change the extension to .PcbDoc?
Just checking, there is a file type filter in the import dialog, is it set to Altium or All supported formats?
The case matches and I’ve tried both type filters.
The next course of action is:
- Try pasting the absolute file path in the file name field
- Make sure that this folder is on a local drive, not on a network drive
- Check your file explorer settings
- Check if you have any weird shell extensions or apps
- Install latest Windows updates
- Check your system integrity
- Check your filesystem and disk drive
- Reinstall Windows
Standalone mode is not needed (anymore?) in KiCad. I have done a few imports, and I think my method was:
- Create an empty KiCad project.
- Put the altium files in the same directory.
- (from within the project) PCB Editor / File / Import Non-KiCad Board File.
From which dialog is this screenshot:
(And why did you cut off the title bar of that window?)
At the bottom, the screenshot shows:
Edit: Oops: Only now I see the file extension name is cut off and not complete.
But that file extension is not in the supported list of: PCB Editor / File / Import Non-KiCad Board File
There are some more (other) things you can do:
- Get some smallish altium project form the 'net (for example from github), I have done some test cases with Nucleo boards from the ST website myself.
- Create an empty KiCad project, put the altium schematic and pcb in that same directory, then attempt to convert them to KiCad.
- With problems, report them here, including the source of your project so we have a common base.
- Gain some “experience” on this forum so you can upload files, or post more screenshots.
There’s some issues, for example, the project file gets overwritten if you do this.
I think that folder also contains the .PcbDoc file along with .PCB file.
That may be, but I explicitly started with an empty KiCad project.
Possible / probable, but still guesswork, and I don’t like drawing conclusions out of guesswork.
And what is that *.CMPct file extension from anyway?
I don’t see the file extension in KiCad, and a short search on the 'net also does not give sensible results.
Perhaps I should have explained the screenshots. The first one is from file explorer just to show there is at least one .pcbdoc file in the folder and the second one was from kicad showing that it does not see it or the other.pcbdoc files. I have tried pcbeditor in standalone and from within kicad.
It’s .CMPcbDoc (Windows shows all extensions in “All supported formats” entry)
Well, this is what I get for working too late on this. The problem was all mine. I failed to notice that the pcbdoc files were in the correct folder but that Kicad was still looking at the other folder I setup. Not all the pads imported correctly, but that’s fixable. Thanks for the help.
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Stay of the Nitrous Dave it’ll kill you in the end. 
Be sure to charge them the nitrate instead of the day rate.
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