Unable to save new field in symbol in my library

Schematic Library Symbols
1

EDIT: Looks like this is a Windows permission issue. Will confirm after fixing and testing.

Kicad 5.1.7, Windows 10.

This concerns a library of mine that contains a few symbols and is added to the library paths.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Open Schematic Editor
  2. Open Symbol Editor
  3. Filter down to part I want to edit. This part is in a library I created. I also created this part.
  4. Double click on part in the list on the left.
  5. Click “Edit Symbol Properties” on toolbar.
  6. Click + button to add a field. Give this field a name.
  7. Click OK, click save button.
  8. Close Symbol Editor.
  9. Repeat steps 2-5 to get to Edit Symbol Properties.
  10. New field is gone.

If instead I don’t close the Symbol Editor after adding the field and saving, and open Edit Symbol Properties again, the field shows, but when I close Edit Symbol Properties, now I have an asterisk beside my symbol, meaning that it needs to be saved. This does not make sense because I had previously saved.

I have confirmed that the lib file does get modified when I click save (via Notepad++), but the new field does not get added to the actual file upon save.

I also tried duplicating the symbol in the library after adding the new field and saving, but the duplicated part does not contain the new field (as viewed in the symbol editor and with Notepad++).

What gives? Am I misunderstanding something?

2

I’ve tried reproducing this and have no problems. I can add a field and save it.
Mind you, I’m running Linux/Lubuntu, but that shouldn’t be an issue with KiCAD.

3

Thank you for taking the time for trying to reproduce!

Looks like this is a Windows permissions issue. How on earth did my D drive suddenly become Read Only for regular users? Windows, y u gotta b like that

4

But also: why was I able to copy and save a symbol, but not a field? This doesn’t make sense.

5

I’m a bit out my league here but have an Idea that may help…

I have a memory of extra attributes of schematic symbols being saved in a separate file from the rest of the libraries.

After looking at a project of mine in which I know I’ve added an extra field to a schematic symbol I found a file with the name: “project-name.dcm” which has info about the extra attributes I added.

I’ve also got the idea that changes made with the Schematic Symbol Editor are not always immediately reflected in the schematic. It seems that sometimes I have to exit KiCad and restart it. I have never put enough effort in it to determine if this is a bug or my imagination.

All of KiCad’s files are simple readable text files, so you can monitor with a text editor if changes you think should have been made are actually put in the files.
You can download a .pdf with the description of the file formats from:
https://kicad.org/help/file-formats/
Which links to:
https://kicad.org/help/legacy_file_format_documentation.pdf

(Don’t mind the “legacy” part, My best guess it’s a bit premature for when KiCad V6 is going to be released)

6

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