I find N and Shift + N too convenient for the PCB to remove. I’m aware that N is common, so some time ago I set up a hotkey Alt + N for Grid Properties to show me at a glance if I’m on 50mil in the Schematic.
The whole job was only about a minute which included thinking about the hotkey I would assign; not a great amount of time in the design of a Schematic and PCB, or a post on this forum.
Edit: I usually have my fast switching grids set up as 50mil & 1mil. I prefer to locate all the texts with a 1 mil setting rather than use the Ctrl. key, so it has become a habit to check the grid whenever I start using the Schematic.
I agree with this for all the same reasons. Its placement right next to ´M´ is unfortunate.
I’ve changed it but it should be somewhere else by default.
There is also another related annoying thing. The Symbol editor does not have this n shortcut where it is important so you can draw extra details of the part.
As a KiCAD newbie but someone very familiar with certain popular CAD/CAM, video and audio editing software, my preference has always been towards shortcut keys that make sense, are predictable, reliable across the application and don’t require a steep learning curve to understand and use them.
Cycling the grid-size-that-should-never-be-touched settings on the schematics is not a shortcut but a bug or a virus. It is not close of being a productive action. Especially since it is a SILENT action, it has a cyclic behavior, it is not a toggle, and sits RIGHT next to the most used hotkey m.
Seriously, this thing should be disabled or moved to another key or key combination as the default of the Eeschema.
This single key virus does not help anything in the schematic creation but it slows down the schematic creation.
I am not talking about 500+ other important shortcuts.
Also, it is super funny that the Symbol Editor Does Not Have this shortcut available and there is a place where this action would be most used.
Hi again @AlecTron
Sorry, I could have posted my last comment with a little more clarity.
That comment should really have read:
If you are new to Kicad, but not these drawing programs, there are over 500 re-assignable hotkeys that may make adaptation to this program, from another, a little easier.
I don’t have enough fingers or brain cells to count up to 30.
But seriously I don’t go searching for hotkeys. Aside from the usual ones, I just use the menu and then look at the associated hotkey and try to remember it. After about 10 tries, or maybe I’ve overflowed fingers by then, I remember.
I really cannot understand what all the fuss is about with respect to this hotkey.
If you don’t like it, change it.
The same goes for pretty much everything else in this CAD, such as:
Junction dots, Wire widths, Symbols, Footprints, Fonts, Colors, Page Sizes, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
I confirmed it works on Ubuntu. @RaptorUK confirms Windows.
Anyone else reading this thread wish to try and then confirm?
I’ll repeat my above comment: “N” is a common hotkey, which means it is used on, at least, PCB, Footprint, Symbol & Schematic Editors.
Did you disable this hotkey???
The problem is that people don’t know about it, hit it by accident and mess up the schematic without understanding why it happens. Bad usability, not a bad user.
This is starting to stray from the original post but first let me say my sympathies are with the sufferers of such accidents.
But what would be nice is if KiCad had a hierarchy of hotkey files. First the system hotkeys are read, then the group hotkeys, then user hotkeys. Last setting wins. This would allow groups to have common settings without having to edit every user’s hotkeys. Other apps have such a scheme.
Especially since KiCad comes with symbol libraries that conform to KLC and KLC requires 50 mil pin spacing.
What would help is it KiCad’s configuration by default would be that the schematics would allow only for 50 mil and 100 mil grids, while in symbol editor finer grids would be possible. If user would need finer grids in schematics then the user should be able to add the finer grids.
I think the underlying code to enable this is already there but there must be a bug as grid setting work in pcbeditor, but does not work in schematics editor or symbol editor
For example: editing the pcbnew.json in the KiCad configuration folder results the configured grids to be shown in pcbeditor and default properly selected.
Or perhaps retain the existing list, including the “User defined” and allow them to be toggled on and off BUT only have the 50mil switched on by default.
I hit this key, Every Single Minute. And so does the people that work with me.
I can configure things. But I prefer to use the original (everything original, as it is). I don’t use a single computer. I use any computer that is available. This means I have to configure this every time, everywhere. But that is not enough, this hotkey is chaos. It Helps Nothing. It improves Nothing. Kicad has or used to have a shortcut to toggle to an Alternative grid, that is enough if ever needed. But having such an annoying hotkey to cycle through levels of issues easily accessible, near the move hotkey can be only considered a bug. It might be thought by users that don’t use keyboards that much, and for users coming from other not-so-easy-to-use and not-so-flexible-as-kicad CADs.
Kicad is different, it is fast, it is flexible, and it is easy to use. It cannot be ruined by a hotkey that was added just “to mimic other CAD” or something. I would say something different instead, IF you need this hotkey, why not You setting the shortcut instead of many of us having to remove it in the first place?
