Kicad Schematic

Schematic
1

Hello, I need some help regarding KiCad.

I need to share a schematic I’ve drawn with someone else. I want to keep the schematic as it is but hide the information (values) of each component and convert it into a PDF. Is there a way to do this in bulk, rather than making the Value visible for each component individually in the properties?

2

I think that the integrated python tooling is able to do this. You may be able to toggle the visibility box for all symbols at once. I have no experience with this myself though, so I cannot really help you further. I did google this promising video for you

If I may ask (just curious) why do you want to hide all values from a schematic?

Kind regards,

Bas

3

Thank you so much for your help. Let’s proceed by referring to the video.

The circuit diagram I drew includes our company’s technology. The names of minor parts and RLC time constants are very important technologies. However, there are times when external companies or customers request us to share the circuit diagram. In these cases, the circuit diagram is provided, but the names or values of the elements must be erased and passed on.

4

In concept you just need to go into your schematic and edit all the components to not “show” the “value” (or other) fields. Probably too much to do interactively in the GUI, so do it in the (text) schematic file:

  1. copy the project files to another folder
  2. edit the .kicad_sch file to “hide” the relevant values
  3. open it in kicad and print it

So, this is one of my resistors, specifically R1, which is a 10k, when the “10k” is visible:

(symbol (lib_id “Device:R”) (at 50.165 248.92 0) (unit 1)
(in_bom yes) (on_board yes)
(uuid 00000000-0000-0000-0000-0000596acc43)
(property “Reference” “R1” (id 0) (at 52.197 248.92 90))
(property “Value” “10k” (id 1) (at 50.165 248.92 90))
(property “Footprint” “Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal” (id 2) (at 48.387 248.92 90)
(effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
)
(property “Datasheet” “” (id 3) (at 50.165 248.92 0)
(effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)
)
(pin “1” (uuid b27f0a34-e5d5-4a9e-a37b-ed47d735e90a))
(pin “2” (uuid b024b863-cf20-41f6-98a3-e1ba662565b5))
)

To make it invisible, the:

“(property “Value” “10k” (id 1) (at 50.165 248.92 90))”

line needs to be changed to:

“(property “Value” “10k” (id 1) (at 50.165 248.92 90)
(effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) hide)”

… or any other bits you want to change…

5

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