With a symbol of an IC, or any part, in Schematic, how does one move the pins, in order to make the Schematic easier to read.
Make your own copy of the symbol so that it’s editable, then edit it in the Symbol Editor. There’s a FAQ on how to start your own symbol (and footprint) libraries if you don’t have any yet.
You can also edit the instance in the schematic, then it will only apply to that project.
Sometimes it suffices to flip or rotate the symbol to make the schematic clearer. This does not require an editable symbol.
In other CAD programs I have used, you can just edit the pins of a symbol directly in Schematic. Move them all around the outline box. It seems time consuming to have to go back to the Symbol Editor each time I want to move a pin ?
Just right click on the symbol to bring up the context menu and one of the actions is edit in Symbol Editor. It’s the same symbol editor as for creating a variant symbol though.
You’d still have to edit the wiring too.
Very messy approach IMO. If your schematic wiring looks confusing, rearranging the symbol positions is perhaps a better idea?
The symbols are there to visualize a function. Haphazardly rearranging the pins will defeat that.
OP are you one of those people who are looking for something like this: Pin swapping in PCB?
I get the impression people who use devices like FPGAs where the pin assignment is very flexible want a feature like this to assign the most suitable pins.
Such a feature even if implemented would not be sufficient by itself in KiCad because wiring connection is by x-y location so just moving the symbol pins would change the circuit. The wiring would have to follow the pins to not alter the circuit.
If you want to move pins in schematic, then modify the library part and male your own libraries
In SCH tools, there is not the need to change symbols, if you need the symbol to change , the standard practice is to change the library symbol, then update your SCH with the new symbol, most likely from your own custom library.
No, I want to move the pins in Schematic.
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That is very unproductive. I didn’t see a way to update Schematic to reflect any
changes to a symbol.
I have to delete the symbol, modify it, reload into Schematic. Hold on, I want to move
another pin. Repeat process ???
And then I’ll have to do it all over again when I use the same symbol in a new project ??
I thought I would be cunning and just switch the pin names around in Schematic.
No luck. Cannot edit pin numbers or names.
Why are you needing to modify the symbol for every project ?
It is unconventional to modify a symbol for every type of project. Maybe ‘you are doing it wrong’
Usually, you will change the symbol 2 or 3 times to get it into a friendly arrangement, like say, having enough room to put resistors between feedback pins on a voltage regulator etc
Maybe post a copy of what you are trying to do.
-glen. (35 years professional PCB layout )
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I already explained how to edit the instance in the schematic.
Why would you want to do that? Are you one of those people who think the symbol should resemble the physical layout off the pins.l?
Maybe you should post an example to help convince us you’re not going about it the wrong way.
Which symbol requires these continuous alterations?
This is very surprising sentence.
I agree that symbol to make schematic good looking need be designed ‘with head’. Whenever I need to use new element I spend some (long) time editing its symbol according to my imagination of every possible its use. Then I specify its footprint and since that moment never edit it. For next designs I accept some little worse looking schematic over editing symbol, but one element I typically use the same way in all designs so it need not be modified. Thanks to that I can safely do "Update all symbols from library’ in my 5+ years old schematic.
My rule is that after placing symbol at schematic I never modify anything of that symbol (if I decide to change 1u to 10u I don’t modify capacitor value but change symbol for the other one. That makes me sure that symbol directly specifies a part I use and protects me for example from changing the value and not selecting the right footprint.
It seems your workflow is unconventional to say the least.
As others say, please provide an example.
For microcontrollers, FPGA’s and probably some other parts it would be handy if you could drag the pins around directly in the schematic. The default symbols are quite generic. Usually pins grouped by bus name. Some uC’s have a lot of alternate pin names defined (most / all?) of the STM32 for example, and you can already select between these alternate pin names directly in the schematic.
It’s quite easy to move the pin location in the symbol editor. Just select a symbol in the schematic, then press [Ctrl + e] to load it into the symbol editor, and save the changes back to the schematic when you close the symbol editor. However, if you can do this directly in the schematic, it saves a few key strokes and you can also see the context of how the symbol is being used. I think I already saw an intention to implement this on gitlab a few years ago, but I can’t recall any details.
What a load of rubbish. The Schematic is a theoretical depiction of the electrical circuit.
It has nothing to do with the physical layout. That is the job of the PCB. I’m working with a part here that has more than seventy pins. Not being able to arrange the pins in Schematic is a pain. Yes, I do know how to edit the pins in the Symbol Editor. I have become very good at it.
To imagine that the pin arrangement for a 70 pin device is going to be ideal across more than one project is dreaming. If you guys like your Schematics to have wires crossing all over the place, well good luck to you. I like a nice elegant Schematic where there are minimal wire crossings, and much improved clarity.
I have attached a trivial example here. I ask you guys, which schematic looks neater ?
Realy ? Thats your example ? ok each to their own but in that extremely trivial example I would buses and labels.
Not sure what planet you are on but you want get much sympathy or interest with your attitude.
Suggest you try another forum .
BTW no other tool supports what you want.
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Well if you read my post I did say the example was trivial. It was just that, an ‘Example’.