I’ve done this before with no problems, but, now I’m on this nice new iMac and I can’t get the external plugins to populate in PCB New. Does the different version a PCB was created with change how the plugins are recognized? I checked the version info on the PCB itself and it was built with 5.1.5 but I have 5.1.10 loaded on the machine currently, would that mess up what was recognized? Given that 5.1.5 says it’s for OSX, and now I’m on OS11 I figure that could be a problem, but do I go backwards and clear out my current version? Sorry for so many questions but I know this can’t be too big a deal.
Which pcb file is loaded and whether there is one loaded at all has no relevance to plugins being recognized.
OSX and OS11 are both macos and are not that different, it’s just marketing names.
Put your plugins in ~/Library/Preferences/kicad/scripting/plugins
Here ~ is your home directory. Create scripting/plugins if needed.
Maybe this is the problem, scripting and plugins are two separate folders, right? That’s the way I have them. And the entire folder goes in plugins, not the contents of the folder? Just making sure. Regardless this is the way I have it arranged.
Depends on the plugin. If it’s a single file then drop it directly into scripting/plugins otherwise it must have a __init__.py file and that file must be in a folder one level deep under plugins. For example scripting/plugins/myawesomeplugin/__init__.py.
Found the problem, I knew it had to be something ridiculous…I had to open the “hidden” Library directory under the Home icon, I was trying to use the Mac HD directory, which looks like it has all the same things. Anyway they loaded right up, thanks for responding. It would be nice if you could send folks who help “KiCad bucks” or something!
To help clarify for other Mac users, the following…
Go to your Applications folder, locate the Kicad folder.
You’ll see the Kicad App’s.
Right-Click the one marked Kicad, and select Show Contents.
Select the Contents folder, then select the SharedSupport folder.
There you’ll find two folders; plugins and scripting
Select the Scripting folder. There, you’ll find a Plugins folder. This is where your custom plugins go (along with some Kicad plugins).
These plugins are referred to as ’Simple’ plugins.
If you want ‘Complex’ plugins, create a folder here for them.
(you can place sub folders here, too, for complex plugins.
@qu1ck With V6 looming, is it reasonable to have Kicad looking for some version verification? Have plugin developers put in the code which versions it has been tested against? Maybe the plugin page here could start adding something like versions tested against or just drop anything that doesn’t run against V6.
The Plugin Manager in v6 (which will be official way to install plugins) will have version compatibility information and will automatically hide incompatible versions.
@BlackCoffee I don’t recommend placing plugins in application folder. I’m not sure that will even work with all restrictions that apple is adding with virtual paths, notarization requirements etc.
