To not always be forced to use a rectangular "Group"

Yeah, why not develop the group function to not always be a rectangular unit. Very useful both in the schematics and in the PCB…

Or is this already possible?

Different kinds of “Group”

The PCB Group outline is just a rectangle which encloses all the items which belong to that group, but it doesn’t itself force any item inside it to belong to the group. So a group isn’t rectangular; it’s just some items which belong together.

You have to be exact/careful with your words.
The “grouping” shown in the Eagle-video is in fact a selection inside Kicad. As far as I know it’s currently not possible to select an irregular (==nonrectangular) area in Kicad (at least I have not found such function).

The answer from @eelik hints to the “group”-functionality implemented in pcbnew, but this is different than the selection. (Albeit all grouped items must be selected before the group-generation). It allows you to group items together such that these items are treated as one item for future commands/operations.

Yes, it seems it’s a completely different thing what you describe, the “group” thing in Kicad to make anything similar as in the video is a forever click-click-click nightmare. And during experiencing this nightmare we might all start wondering why we even starting trying to do this…

Remember that you can make a rectangular selection, and then de-select a few items by clicking on them while holding down Shift + Ctrl. It took me a while to remember that; not sure if it was available in 5.X versions. I often find the need to de-select wires when dragging in schematic capture because selected wires seem to remain fixed in length.

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Thanks BobZ, but shift+ctrl doesn’t work at all for this in my system, and even if it would have worked the “feel” of this is very difficult compared to clicking the selection form from the starting point. This backward deselection simply doesn’t do it for me.

Even if this kind of non rectangular group marking isn’t an everyday task, I just mention this as a possible software improvement; another “it doesn’t hurt to have the possibility”.

You can also (I am at PCB in V5) add to selection another rectangle, and another rectangle and… by using Ctrl.

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In my view irregular selection is not a major requirement typically post selection deselection handles the requirements.

My general take (using 6.00) is that selecting and moving work differently in 5.X and 6.0. In 5.X you would not move anything without first hitting M or G in schematic or D in pcb layout. But in 6.0 there is some implicit assumption of moving after an initial selection. I could reproduce this and attach a .gif if needed. There may be a way to turn this off. I would appreciate an explanation by someone who more fully understands the change.

I’m not sure if this is in v6.0 (I have 6.99 open), but…

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Ahh, yes. Thanks! The tendency to move items without me clicking D or M or G often throws me. So I have switched it in both schematic and pcb layout…

What was often happening to me in 6.0 was I intended to add another rectangle. But instead of doing that, KiCad would start moving the first rectangle. Changing the preferences as I have done now might fix that.

5.1.12.
Whenever I select something at schematic the elements selected starts to be moved (without need to press M or D or G). I don’t remember to switch anything in preferences regarding that so in my opinion it is default behavior.
At PCB it works a little different. When I rectangle select some region nothing happens (except showing it is selected). Then I can click + drag selected region. I also need not to use M or D or G.

Can you check to see if there is such option in preferences? I am not asking you to change it. I never claimed to have a great memory for this sort of thing. However I don’t remember ever moving anything in 5.1.X without first selecting M or G. I think I switched to 5.99 maybe a year ago so it has been 1.39 whiles. :slight_smile:

In schematic preferences I didn’t found any.
In Pcbnew there is only:
[v] Prefer selection to dragging

For me it was frustrating that I can’t select anything at schematic without it being moved at once (it is hard to ensure not mouse move when releasing the mouse button).

T

A major advantage of my Logitech Trackman trackball is the easy ability to click without moving the mouse. But it does not have a scroll wheel or middle button. In theory these can be implemented with software and buttons (the Logitech Trackman actually has 4 buttons) but this is problematic for me.

It also seems to me that I cannot be so wrong that my memory is completely opposite to your present experience. IMHO you should test some preference options so that KiCad allows you to select another rectangle.

Please remember that v5.1 and v6.0 are different in this respect.

Yes but what Piotr is complaining about seems opposite to my memory of 5.1. Piotr; just to confirm: You are complaining about 5.1.X, right?

I can also click without move, but when selecting (click - move - release) my habit is to release when I see the rectangle is right without ensuring I stopped mouse movement. So the selected elements are at once moved. It frustrated me at the beginning, but later I found that I can simply ignore it. If I want to select the other action (by right clicking) program remembers to bring selected elements back to their original position.

No. I’m not complaining :slight_smile: , but yes, I’m writing about 5.1.12. And everything I write I check to not lie. I have KiCad opened at second PC at my desk.
Today is the day I finalized to copy (manually) everything what I expect can be useful in future from my Protel (Win XP PC) so I will replace that third monitor with Win10 PC monitor.
Then the first job will be to install Win10 from scratch (to have only one user and not Admin) - I have never done it. The next will be to install Builder 2010 as I remember I had to connect for a moment to internet because of Builder. I don’t remember anything about my Builder licence - hope I will find that info. Then I will disconnect that Win10 PC from internet and assume to never connect it again. When it will be done I will think about installing KiCad V6 :slight_smile:

I am not worried about you lying! (A lie is intentionally untrue.) But I have 0.00 knowledge about “Builder.” I do not know why you are disconnecting a PC from the internet. But it is probably wise for some reason. Watch out for infected flash drives.