There is a Bezier curve creation tool in the schematic and PCB editors:
Like the arc tool, there are some guide lines in the PCB editor, and by default it chains them as tangent to each other. The backspace key works in the same way as the arc tool. The interactive edit guides are not (yet) in the schematic editor (same for arcs). Beziers were already importable and editable once imported, but now they can be created from scratch.
There is an option in symbol editor to keep pins attached by their “roots” to rectangles when dragging edges by the central handles:
You can bypass it when needed using the corner handles.
If the shape is shared in all units, attached pins in all units are moved. If the shape is only in a single unit, only the pins in the same unit move with it.
It is now possible to set component classes on symbols in eeschema. Directive labels attached to a rule area can now take a ‘Component Class’ field - any symbols within the rule area will be assigned that component class. The ‘Component Class’ field can be set directly on symbols too:
Symbols can have more than one component class, taking on any that are defined directly on the symbol (or any of its sub-units), or from any directive labels attached to any rule areas which contain the symbol.
In the PCB editor, component classes are attached to the symbol’s footprint:
In KiCad 9, plated through-hole pads and vias will be displayed differently than in previous versions. Now, the copper annular rings for these items will be shown in the same color as other copper items on the same layer.
These changes were made to make dense and complex boards easier to understand, and as part of preparing to add support for complex padstacks (where vias and pads may have different sizes and shapes on different copper layers) to KiCad
KiCad now supports PTH pads with different copper shapes on different layers. This is one type of custom padstack; other padstack features will be added over time.
There are now optional indicators (toggled in the view menu and schematic editor settings) to indicate when pins have alternate modes available, as this was otherwise only visible by noticing the appearance of an entry in the context menu:
You can now paste images from the clipboard as reference images in Schematic and PCB Editors (and page layout)
There is a ‘Copy as Text’ action which allows you to copy the text content of text items, fields, labels, tables/tablecells, and dimensions. This can be useful when you want to copy the text out of KiCad, but not as s-expression.
PCB Editor now allows pasting text directly as text items in the same way as in schematics.
There is a scroll-action feature in PCB, Schematic, Footprint and Symbol editors. Shift-Alt-Scroll is a primary function and Ctrl-Alt-Scroll is a secondary function.
The current bindings are to use this to increment text, with the rightmost “part” being primary and the next rightmost part being secondary. For example, Shift-Alt-Scroll on “B2” goes to “B1” or “B3”, Ctrl-Alt-Scroll goes to “A2” or “C2”. This is a bit heuristic, but seems to work well for the obvious cases.
Footprint editor: pad numbers and text
PCB editor: text
Symbol editor: pin numbers or names (depending on mouse position) and text
Schematic editor: labels and text
As a side effect of being able to detect the mouse being over name or number, the symbol editor “Edit Pin” dialog now puts the initial focus on the number field if the mouse was over it when double-clicked or on ‘E’.
There is a new tool in the PCB editor called “Position Interactively”. It allows you to position an item by drawing a line and then redefining what that line should be.
The obvious use is a more direct way to manipulate objects than first getting it into a known position and then using Move Exact. However, it can also be used to set alignment in one axis or the other:
And the vector doesn’t have to be on either object, so it allows to directly use a dimension of something else and use it as a movement for the selection:
KiCad now supports vias with different diameters on different copper layers. This can be used for situations such as increasing annular ring size on one side of the board to use a via as a testpoint, or decreasing annular ring size on inner layers.