I don’t want to hijack this topic, but I would like a high level comment on opening in Eeschema vs. Kicad. Apparently there is a significant difference?
The former is called standalone mode and is for special situations. For example you will not be able to update to board. Normally you should go through the project file. Similarly for the PCB editor.
Thank you for clarification.
It would seem that if Eeschema can make bad things happen, as referenced prior in this thread, then there might be benefits to having a warning.
IIRC it does say somewhere on the screen that you are in standalone mode.
Most of the people who get caught are using the file association (mis)feature of their filesystem explorer where .kicad_sch has been mapped to open with eeschema. Just don’t go there unless you are instructed to open in standalone mode.
Seems like a hole that folks can fall in easily, with serious consequences.
Meh, you won’t be able to update the layout. So if you make some edits while in that mode, you will have to reopen in project mode to catch up, or go back to an older version. You keep backups, right?
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I open second schematic in standalone mode when I want to copy a block from there to first schematic opened in KiCad.
In Standalone mode the Schematic and PCB editors have File / New and File / Open functions enabled.
This does indeed happen. The standalone mode is unintuitive, and there is no easy way to distinguish between the two modes in KiCad. The only difference are some changes in the main menu.
But I can also see how it came to be incorporated in KiCad. I do not have a good alternative solution. For example what should KiCad do when you have an active project and you attempt to open a schematic or PCB file in that same KiCad instance that is not part of that project?
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