Hello!
I have a problem with my self developed libraries.
In earlier versions (6 or 7), I used to have personal libraries working.
They are still stored in the same directories, but with Kicad 8.x, it looks like they are not taken into account.
There are some variables shown when configuring paths.
The default libraries coming with Kicad, called in my case KICAD8_FOOTPRINT_DIR and so on.
My libraries, let call them KICAD_MY_FOOTPRINTS and so on.
Can I give arbitrary names to these variables? I read about KICAD_USER_FOOTPRINTS, but I have
called them differently. Shouldn’t be a problem, but asking just in case.
To make it simple:
The libraries were detected in V6 and as far as I remember, V7.
They are not detected in V8.
I mean:
When I open the add component menu, I can see only the default libs in the default paths
(KICAD8_DIR) are shown, but nothing under my paths (KICAD_MYDIR) is shown.
Do I have to re-add every component one by one?
Or do I have to choose somewhere, show KICAD8DIR, show KICAD_MY_DIR, etc?
Re-adding the paths to your personal libraries is a task that needs to be done after upgrading major KiCad versions. Use the Manage Symbol Libraries and Manage Footprint Libraries actions to do this. The name of the variable that contains the path prefix doesn’t matter. For example I call mine KICAD_USER_SYMBOL_DIR but MY_KICAD_SYMBOLS is just as good.
No, you wold have had to load them into 6 and also 7; as retiredfeline writes.
Each Personal Library needs to be individually loaded into either the Symbol or Footprint library list using the folder icon at the bottom of each list. This takes a little while, but only needs doing once a year.
Path variables are only of real use if you change the location of your Personal Libraries. Using a path variable saves you re-loading changed Personal Library paths into the library lists. Path variables are of no use if the libraries are not in the list.
EDIT: Path variables are only of real use if you change the location of your Personal Libraries. However they may make your list more convenient/functional/shorter/neater/cooler.
Hello!
Thanks for your replies.
I found the trick. This morning, I did a select all which for some reason didn’t work. Maybe because I have
some unrelated txt files in the same folder to keep track of what I add… Another possible reason is that I did something wrong. I thought I had to add 200 components one by one…
Ok, even if I do that at every major version, it’s not a big deal. I just have to remember the trick, and
I will write it down just in case…
Reading the thread I was sure that you have a problem with whole libraries and not individual symbols/footprints.
The trick is to not have to do it
I use only my libraries. The biggest part of them (all typical elements) I’ve defined with KiCad V4 and all libraries are still with me.
When you run new version Schematic or PCB for the first time it asks about libraries and one of the possibilities is to use library list from previous version. The problem (under Windows) is that for showing him a list it opens a window in which system and hidden files are not shown and these lists are among them.
So the trick is to find these 2 files (library lists) and copy them into any normally accessible directories to then be able to point of them and KiCad copies them into new version.
Before running KiCad V4 for the first time I have read its pdfs and library list files were described there (I don’t know how with current documentation).
If during this first run something will go wrongly you can repeat everything from beginning (only you need is to delete all new version configuration files that were made during this first run - it also have been described in those V4 documentation).
If you use mix of KiCad and your libraries the problem is that your old library list lists your libraries and previous KiCad version libraries. What I would do in such case I don’t know. Fortunately I have only my libraries.
