Hi,
Is there a way to shrink or enlarge the size of an entire footprint (symbol), or even the size of an entire schematic to fit the page size I need?
Thank you.
Mod. Edit: Changed Title and Category to reflect the subject of the thread. JMK
please clarify what you are meaning when you are talking about footprint,
the thing your asking makes a little sense to me.
You can resize an image, for example using the transform it plugin
Resizing a footprint to fit a particular spot on a schematic. Because resizing a footprint by changing the size of each individual parts (lines) of it is very time-consuming and a royal pain in the butt.
Also resizing an entire schematic to fit a page without having to change the page size.
Clearer?
not clearer, sorry. but i think you are talking about âsymbolsâ (schematic symbols) and not âfootprintsâ (pcb parts).
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I think you are talking about symbols and should stop calling them footprints. And in which case the category of this topic is also wrong.
If you want a schematic to fit in a particular physical paper size, thatâs the job of the printing system. To make the schematic fit on the screen âpageâ you should change the page setup for a smaller or larger âpaper sizeâ. I often choose A5 for small schematics so that it isnât surrounded by lots of white space, and when I print to A4 paper, the printing system scales it up. Easy!
Nope. This in not what I need. I specifically said âwithout having to change the page sizeâ.
Same with the SYMBOLS. I need to be able resize them.
This lack of flexibility is a major pain in the butt IMHO.
Dear Kidon:
If you want resize the print output is one thing, Maybe we are talking about printing zoom.
In other hand, resize an footprint means that the real component will not fit in the place asigned when you try to mount it.
Remember that the workflow is:
- investigate/search /calculate
- Draw schematic
- Make PCB
- put the components in PCB
You will break the point 4
Best Regards
When I print a PCB to a PDF I donât care what paper size is set to. The PDF viewer and the priinting system will scale it to fit the screen/paper. If you include the title block, then you can choose the âpaper sizeâ so that it goes well with the layout size.
Same for schematics, except that the title block is included by default so choosing the âpaper sizeâ is more important.
Hi, you can change symbols to any size you want; there is a zoom wheel 
If you wish to change the 50 mil grid system, you will need to build your own symbols in new libraries.
If you wish to have a large circuit on an A4 printed sheet, change the schematic to A3 but print as A4. For a small circuit covering an A4 sheet, do as @retiredfeline suggests.
If you are discussing footprints, there is only one size: the size that is suitable to place components.
If none of the above alternatives are suitable for you, Kicad is probably not your best choice.
OK, itâs pretty clear you are talking about symbols on a Schematic, you cannot resize them but you can split your schematic over several pages, so if you want everything to be readable on A4 paper just use multiple sheets.
Using A2 then printing on A4 will make the schematic unreadable to old eyes like mine . . .
If this is true, I highly doubt that there is a good or even best choise.
I read only thing. User wants to stuff more things in one sheet than is logically to do so. Even if you could do what you want, you would propably end with a schematic which is really hard to understand.
And if it sooo much work. I think you may want to redo the schematic. Stuffing too much things in a sheet, is hardly beneficial.
Are schematic sheets and their hierarchy not something for you? Most of my root sheets look like this nowadays. I can always fit them on the page. It really helps me with navigating and keeping things organized and readable
On a side note. There are smaller symbols for some things. If you search for R_small, D_small, C_small etc. You may be able to shrink atleast some parts of thou schematic.
Kind regards, 
Bas
You can âresizeâ stuff on your monitor by just rotating the scroll wheel. Itâs also called âzoomâ.
Footprints are those things on the PCB. Resizing them almost never makes sense, because they have to match with the physical electronic parts that get soldered to them.
For the schematic symbol. All of KiCadâs libraries are based around a common scale factor. It does not make much sense to try to change this. Itâs a huge time sink with very little to no benefit.
What is your apprehension against:
The ânative sizeâ of KiCadâs symbols is pretty much on par with other programs I have used before KiCad. It was common to use A3 sheets, and then print them on A4 paper size. This shrinks everything a bit, and because of the relatively high resolution of a (laser) printer, everything is still readable. These days though, I am making more use of multiple pages in a hierarchical design instead of attempting to cram everything on a single sheet.
And like others in this thread. I am still a bit confused about what your actual problem is you are attempting to solve. Maybe it helps if you post a few screenshots, add some text about what is not good and what your desired result is.
Iâm talking about SCHEMATICS not PCB.
OK, itâs not possible. This lack of flexibility is a design flaw IMHO.
Iâm not interested in printing them, and I do not care about the size of the paper at all.
Letâs say you need to fit (on a schematic) 2 components in series between 2 legs of a transformer. Well, you cannot without it being a major hassle, because due the size of the symbols, only one can fit.
You either have to redraw the entire transformer to enlarge it, or redesign the components you intend to fit to make them smaller. Whichever option you choose, itâs a major pain in the butt and, INHO, a design flaw.
Forget about printing, this is not the biggest issue, but is still very inconvenient. Why would you have to change the paper size when you could just the possibility to resize the whole schematic?
âFlexibilityâ is the keyword IMO.
Regards
Resizing symbols would not work with the current grid system. If you resize symbols granularily it would place symbol pins off-grid and make it impossible to connect wires to those symbols.
If you need such granular graphics editing capability, consider typical graphics design software such as Gimp or Krita.
Iâve never seen an EDA schematic capture suite that allowed me to freely resize symbols, and Iâve used many (Eagle, Altium, Mentor, PSpice, LTSpice)
If you have two resistors that wonât fit between two pins of the transformer then you use some right angles and wires to widen the gap. Itâs always the case that somewhere somehow the symbols wonât fit and you have to draw wires with bends to create enough space. All schematics are a compromise between making the connections and legible positioning and layout.
Even if you could enlarge the transformer in the vertical direction and keep the pins on the grid which is a non-negotiable requirement, youâd have to expand the horizontal direction and have a huge transformer, or not and have a skinny transformer.
For transformer subsitute anything whose size is not ideal like big complex ICs for example. I suppose this is what drives some people to the âgraphical netlistâ style of schematic which also leaves a lot to be desired.
If you need to wire a lot of symbols like that, you can always make your own larger symbols. As mentioned, some symbols already come in different sizes.
And as I said you are mixing up footprints and symbols. You finally acknowledged that you are talking about symbols, so the title and category are wrong.
You guys, I have the solution. The answer to this somewhat strange question.
Put whatever chip, that needs resizing, inside itâs own schematic sheet.
Treat the sheet as if it were an actual symbol. Hook up hierarchial pins for all symbol pins.
You are free to give each sheet/component every size it needs.
You are free to drag any pin of that sheet to a place of your chosing.
The perfect solution for what you want to do.
That image I posted earlier. Take a look at the middle one, the CPU. That sheet merely carries an atmega with crystal and icsp connector. I made it deliberately large so it would fit in with the rest. So just look at it, as if it were the actual atmega. It allowed me to logically group IO and give them a spot of my chosing to gain some clarity.
Good luck,
Bas
I wouldnât lay it out like that, the schematic is a âwiring diagramâ not a representation of the physical layout, Iâd simply move the components a little distance away and wire them, as long as the correct connection information is conveyed to the reader and a correct netlist is generated the job is done.
Similar approach to @retiredfeline
OK, itâs not possible. This lack of flexibility is a design flaw IMHO
Itâs very well possible that you are right with this conclusion, but OTOH itâs also very well possible that most (all?) other users from Kicad, eagle, Altium CS, Designspark pcb (no experience with other tools, but at least these donât have a symbol-resize command) are right which have not missed this flexibility in previous years.
Your needed flexibility is contrary to the grid depending connectivity system in all these tools, where the connection between symbol pins depends on the exact position of these symbol. Resizing a symbol will move all smbol pins away from the designated grid, and therefore create a situation where you canât connect the symbol easily (or canât connect at all).
So for implementing a âresize symbolâ feature you have to fundamentally change the underlying connection system of kicad. You could open a gitlab issue as feature request, but Iâm sure it will get very few interest, both from other users and from the programmers.
And this (few interest) should give you a hint to maybe rethink your opinion/approach. Maybe your example is just a seldom cornercase - not important for everyday use.
Last sidenote: doubling a symbol in size should be possible without breaking connection points (pin positions on grid). Iâm still not sure how useful this would be, but if needed this would be a good candidate for a python plugin once the python API for the schematic editor is released (2035?).
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In my work i use in the usage order:
- Altium
- Kicad
- Cadence Pspice
- LTspice
- Cadence Orcad
None have component scaling. Why?: Those program are not Gimp or Photoshop to get a nice and graphical representation. Every program have one think in mind, the connectivity. You must ensure that one resistor effectively connect with another resistor. Why? because the next step is make a PCB, and you need draw a track into PCB.
I think that the best option is use some wires to do the connections