Representing a connector in the schematic

Schematic
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I can see I’m not the first person to tun into this. I’ve found a perfectly good footprint & model for the connector I want to use (TerminalBlock_Phoenix_MKDS-1,5-3-5.08_1x03_P5.08mm_Horizontal), but I’ve had no success representing it on the schematic. I’ve seen suggestions to “Just use a generic connector symbol and select that footprint,” but when I do find a way to specify that footprint, the “Update PCB” function fails, saying that no such footprint exists. That’s curious, since I can manually place that footprint on the PCB. I just can’t link the schematic to it.

All the threads I’ve found with people trying that seem to end at that point with no further replies.

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The way to do this is through the Assign Footprints action in the schematic editor. Is that what you did?

Also if the footprint is not in the standard KiCad library but one of your own did you put it in a personal library first?

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Further to @retiredfeline 's comments, this should show where and how to assign your footprint.

Have you read this official beginners guide yet?

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ksnip_20240908-1405401324×939 88.6 KB

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Thanks much. That “shelf of books” icon in the Properties dialog was actually one of the first things I tried. I really don’t know why it wasn’t working for me, but at first glance it looks OK now. I think I was trying it with with some other footprint before I discovered that Phoenix_MKDS family.

And to answer the earlier question, yes, that footprint is in one of the standard libraries that come with KiCad.

5

You can also do the whole schematic from Tools > Assign Footprints

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