Share a Project?

Projects
1

Greetings - This post really covers a couple of topics but all related to project sharing. Here goes -

  1. KiCad version? I have an older project created with KiCad 5. I may need to share this project with another person who probably uses a newer version of KiCad. What, if anything do I need to do to minimize problems?

  2. The sharing will involve the other person making changes to the schematic and editing the layout. To do that, I think that person will need access to footprints and symbols I created. Are symbols and footprints embedded into the project database or do they need to be supplied independently? If I need to supply them, how would that be done?

  3. To minimize problems, some aspects of the layout (board outline and hole locations) should be “locked” in some way so they are not accidentally changed. Is there a way to do that?

Many Thanks
Jim Wagner, Oregon Research Electronics

2

  1. KiCad V5 depends on external libraries. It has [Project]-cache.lib and [Project]-rescue.lib* files, and if both those are missing, and the original libraries are missing, then the project is damaged and needs manual repair, and this is a bit tedious (and if it has complex symbols, it’s also easy to make mistakes, but DRC in the PCB will catch mistakes. Best is to first convert the project to the newer KiCad version yourself, and fix issues before you hand off the project.

  2. In KiCad V6 and newer have all information needed is embedded in the project itself. Used symbols are saved in the schematic file, used footprints are saved in the PCB file. But not for V5 and older. If extra symbols or footprints are needed, you will have to provide the libraries for them, but that is regular library management.

  3. Yes, items can be locked KiCad. Just select a footprint and press the L hotkey to lock it other items such as tracks, graphics, zones, etc can also be locked. Newer KiCad versions have a “locked item Shadow” that makes it visible which parts are locked, and newer versions also have a filter that you can adjust so locked items can not even be selected.