Hi,
I have a Schematic, and a PCB and started to route the tracks. Having got a reasonable looking board but needs more work, I decided to copy and paste all of the files into a new folder, then rename the working ones in the original folder.
The schematic lost most of the components, so I reversed the process, so it is now as it was, but still hardly any components on the SCH.
There is a rescue file!
Any ideas?
Camerart.
That would be your backup. 
Did you by any chance delete or otherwise damage the project_name-cache.lib file?
Hi,
It looks as though I’ve damaged something 
I’ve removed all of the copied files, so it should be as it was when it was working, including the project_name-cache.lib file? and the backup files, but, it looks as though I’ve got to start again.
There is a possibility, that I can only work with the still ok PCB file and move tracks till it’s ok, for printing. We’ll see.
Thanks, C.
could you share your project in its current stage? Maybe somebody more knowlegable can still save it. (Just create a zip archive of the project folder)
What kicad version are you running?
All of the symbols in the schematic point to the rescue lib. As you renamed the rescue lib this creates problems. In addition there does not seem to exist a sym-lib-table for this project. (The rescue lib should be added to the sym-lib-table)
Add this sym lib table file to your project directory and re open the project. (In the same folder containing the project.)
sym-lib-table (188 Bytes)
Hi R,
What does this mean? (The rescue lib should be added to the sym-lib-table)
C.
Look at the sym-lib-table file he sent you.
The rescue lib is a special automatically created lib that currently holds all your symbols.
This is the case because some time in the past kicad found out that the symbols used in the project no longer exist in any lib added to the project. When kicad discovered this you got presented with the so called rescue dialogue.
KiCad copied the symbol data from the cache lib into the rescue lib during this rescue process. It also added the rescue lib to your project. And pointed all used symbols to this lib.
In KiCad 5 the information what libs are added to the project is held by a file called “sym-lib-table”. This file exists for every project and there is also a global file somewhere in your users config directory. (This is why the library manager found under the preferences menu shows two tabs. One for the global and one for the project or local lib table.)
For some reason you seem to have deleted the sym-lib-table file or it got lost when you transferred your project from an older kicad version to version 5. This is why i created a new library table and attached it in my previous answer. I also created it in such a way that it uses the correct “alias” for the rescue lib file such that it fits what your schematic uses.
Future rescue operations might fail because of this! I guess this is because you renamed the project files. In the future do not rename the rescue lib. All other files can be renamed. If you want to rename the rescue lib as well, then you need to also change the mentions of this file name in the schematic files.
Hi R,
Thanks for taking the time to explain all of this, but sadly it goes over my head.
I have added the TXT file you sent into the folder, and re-opened the Schematic, but it is still the same. Is this what you suggested?
C.
The file must be named sym-lib-table without any file extension. (It might be that the forum added some extension to it)
If i add that file to the project you send i see all symbols as i would expect them.
To ensure it has been correctly added, open the library manager found under the preferences menu and check that there is one entry in the local library table. (That entry should point to the -rescue.lib file of your project)
Hi R,
i renamed the sym-lib-table.TXT to sym-lib-table and all of the components are back.
Thanks for your patience.
C.
Edit: I was too slow. you already updated your post. I will leave this here anyways as it might be useful to you or to others.
To see if the library is added successfully use the tool found in eeschema -> preferences -> manage symbol libraries
The dialog will look something like this:
Hi,
I’m at a point of getting mixed up again, and want to tidy my files on a PCB.
Here is an image of the files:
I want to start another folder with todays date and put all previous dates in an OLD folder. I managed to get a schematic, but in order to proceed, I have to re-annotate, which I don’t want to do. How is this done please?
C.
You should really only have one project file per folder. So move all your versions into sub directories. That way you do not need to rename your project files only the sub folder.
Something like that (screenshot from my file browser for this demo. I personally use git for version control and only make copies for produced versions.)
Hi R,
I kind of follow, but I won’t ask you to explain more, and carry on as I am doing for now at least.
Thanks, C.
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