List all unused project footprints and symbols

[retrosolutions]

Hi all, is there a way of easily listing all project specific footprints and symbols that are NOT in use.

I need to cleanup a project of things i’ve added during development but i cant think of any easy way to achieve this without checking each one individually. Is this possible?

Thanks.

[baldengineer]

An alternate method might be to export symbols (and footprints in PCB) in the final design to a new library.

After export, KiCad will prompt you to update the existing elements to the new library.

The downside is that the export includes built-in symbols/footprints too.

Or, maybe you can figure out a clever script to compare the “new” and “old” libraries?

[gschelotto]

The same I asked some time ago

Cleanup library symbols and footprints

Let’s take the example where my kicad schematic project uses a project-specific symbol library that is heavily loaded with components. These were created early in the design but after several iterations only a few useful references remain in the final schematics. Is there a ‘quick’ way to remove (clean up) all these unused symbols? The same with footprints and 3d models. Is there some kind of plugin to perform this cleanup?

AFAIK kicad has not an option like this. However it can be done by manipulating footprint, symbols, 3d files outside from kicad as their file format is text based.

[gschelotto]

I think the most effective method is to parse the kicad schematics and pcb files in order to remove (or keep) the unused elements of the library. For example, if a project do not use some footprint then delete the right .mod file. Also If a project do not use some symbol then remove it from the symbol file.

[retrosolutions]

Thanks all, i figured id have to manually review them. Ive cleaned up all the obvious ones but its a shame i cant know for sure without doing the busy work…