Hello!
I was wondering if there is some kind of preview extension that could be added to windows or mac or linux, that allows to preview a file in the folder. For example if I have a pictures folder, there are thumbnnails showing automatically. The same features for PCBs and schematics would be very helpful.
Thanks for any hint.
Pascal
Usually this is done by the OS, creating thumbnails as required for common graphics formats like JPG, PNG, GIF, and PDF. For it to do the same for other formats it would have to be recognise Kicad file extensions and call a helper to generate a thumbnail. I donât know whether file managers can be customised for this and how.
Since thumbnails are only for quick recognition, why not print the schematic in PDF as a matter of habit, and save a 3D view of the PCB as a matter of habit, and then you have your previews when you enter that directory?
The âregistered file type handlerâ for a given file type can also provide thumbnails when the OSâ file manager requests them.
Hello!
Thanks for your replies!
The PDF solution seems to be the easiest one for me.
The âregistered file type handlerâ for a given file type can also provide thumbnails when the OSâ file manager requests them.
Ok, thatâs good, but what does it mean concretely? Is there a quick way to register a file type? If yes, how do I do that?
Pascal
Youâll need to address the person who wrote that. Edit your post and add @kpfleming so heâll see it.
It would be better to have a JPEG or PNG thumbnail in the project directory. Opening KiCad to generate a thumbnail on the fly would be far too slow
Although not showing the Kicad schematic or board files, Cuprum (https://www.wortum.com/cuprum/), a macOs Gerber viewer, comes with a quicklook plugin so you do get a preview of your Gerber files. Obviously not sufficient to identify a minor change but enough to identify your project. There is a free (and a paid for) version.
I donât believe this is something you as an end-user of KiCAD would be able to do; the KiCAD developers (and of course you can be one of those if you wish, since itâs an open source project) would need to implement file preview support in KiCAD itself and then the installer for each operating system would need to register the proper handler.
If using Windows, use app âSnip & Sketchâ select KiCad drawing, or part of, and save as jpg, png, or gif.
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