User footprint library footprints missing

I recently upgraded to KiCad 7.0.7 from 6.x. Windows x64

My user-defined footprint library is showing no components.

The library is listed in the “Libraries” column. But nothing appears when I click the arrow. No footprints are inside it. Paths are set correctly AFAIK.

If I import a footprint to the library (from the library’s original location), it displays the footprint, but “save” does nothing. (Still shows unsaved and the footprint does not appear on my library list).

Any ideas? I’m stuck.

FWIW my library is stored on Dropbox but that shouldn’t matter.

I guess that is the problem.
There have been quite a lot of problems and bugs related to external storage, from a local NAS to weird services on someone else’s computer. I always manage my data locally and never had such problems. If I wanted to share data or a project, I would use such a service exclusively for the sharing and distribution part, but never while working on a project.

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I used to have my personal libraries stored on Dropbox and it caused no end of issues loading libraries and program hangs.
I stored them locally or a while but this was a bit of a pain when working in multiple locations and never having the latest library available. I now store them on Google drive and have not had any problems with accessing them or issues with the program hanging.

Unless something significant changed in v7, and a major bug was introduced, I really don’t think it’s Dropbox.

Using Dropbox folders for projects and libraries worked fine in v5 and v6, and is really (for me) the most practical way to work from multiple locations conveniently.

Anyway, the problem persists sadly. I could make new libraries I suppose, if I had to. Symbol libraries work fine, oddly.

Did you absolutely type the correct path to the library in the Library Path?

or did you (which is probably less prone to mistakes) click on the folder at the RH end of the Library Path column and navigate to your Dropbox library?

You did check to make sure the library was ticked “Active”?

You did place it in your Global Library list?

Does it show as a library in your Global Footprint Library list (will be at the bottom, under the Kicad Libraries)?

Absolutely certain with the directory, and I used the selector to be sure.

The library shows up on the list, but there are no parts inside it. If I make a new library in v7, and copy the files over, it seems to work. A bit of a pain (I may have references to the old library that won’t transfer) but probably I can live with it.

Seems like a bug to me though.

I am also experiencing weird library issues.

What I sort of did:

  1. Take a schematic symbol from the default library.
  2. Put it in the schematic, edit it with the symbol editor, change footprint links and more.
  3. Move things around (See suspected bug in: Paste special seems to be broken ) and other.

And now I’m looking at a PCB footprint for an 6Watt SMPS module, that I already exchanged at least tiwce for a 1Watt module.

However, my workflow is fuzzy, I mix up things as I go along, and at the same time I’m getting more confused about 6 or more different suspected bugs. (Already reported some on gitlab in the last week). I’m not sure what is happening with these footprints yet and I may be chasing somered herrings too.

My Symbols and Footprints are in custom folders and everytime I upgrade/update Kicad, my Footprint links go south and I need to re-establish them. It gets tiring…

Yes, I change the Paths/etc but still, it’s not perfect.

For individual FP’s on an ‘as-need’ basis, fixing the link isn’t a big deal but, when I use a FP not having a previously fixed the link, I have to go through the routine again…

Solution (for me): Create either a Plugin or Stand-Alone App to do the work. Thus, I created the App and call it from a Kicad Plugin.

Re App: Works on any text file, and that means, any Kicad text-based file (the FP’s .mod files, for example).
It Can tweak a single file or multiple (all) files in folder.

Aside from the GUI stuff in the Python code, it’s a very simple Python String ‘Search and Replace’ so, if you know some basic’s and can use Kicad’s Python console or IDLE/other IDE, that’s all you need.

I made a GUI for it and Demo the App’s use in Video. You don’t need a GUI or App - you can grab any Python File Selection code and add the Search & Replace stuff (many, many posts on Net for doing this sort of thing)…

Video Demo shows it in action - note: I grabbed a Bad FP to get it’s bad link and simply Copy/Paste into the String field…

Interesting. I wrote an FAQ on this subject some months ago (it was on symbols, but also applied to footprint libraries).
Unfortunately, it was ridiculed and pooh-poohed by some of the “superusers” here, so I withdrew/deleted it. (“why are you writing an FAQ on editing text files” was one of the comments IIRC.)
Gone forever, but on my own system it’s solved.
Too bad.

If I make a new library in v7, and copy the files over, it seems to work

What happens, if you:

  1. first rename the old library + delete it from the kicad global library table, then:
  2. if you create a new library with the old original name, but on drive C: (or whatever the standard drive is on your system) and with a short directoty structure and without special characters in the folder name and copy the content of the old library folder into the new created folder)
  3. the same as 2), but this time library created on your dropbox-drive

Don’t skip step 2). Despite “dropbox has worked in the past” the trouble-shooting should always start with the simplest configurations. Apparently something has changed, otherwise it would work.

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My symbols and footprints are in custom folders and I had to do anything with it only when upgrading from V5 to V6 and from V6 to V7.
What I needed to do was to find my library lists in KiCad configuration and copy them to not system/hidden location then at first run I had to point that files to be read/adopted by new KiCad version.
If they were not in hidden directories than I would not need to copy them as I would be able to point them when asked for it at first run.

From what I remember, I am probably (one of) the people who supposedly ridiculed it. Maybe I understood it wrongly, but I got the impression the FAQ article was about working around KiCad bugs / limitations, and I wrote that fixing the bugs / limitations should be the goal, and not making FAQ’s about workarounds. But I do know I make mistakes (also likely above average) and If I recognize them I take responsibility for them and try to fix it (in a good way).

That is unlikely. This forum uses some sourcecode management system in the background, and I can see diffs of edits made. I’m not sure how to get a whole deleted topic back though.

If you want to pursue this further, just respond here, and instead of continuing the hijack, I’ll split it off in a separate topic.

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