What NOT to Do with the Symbol Editor

It starts with me wanting to remove the “Value” entry from components like 555 timers and such.

I thought I could outsmart KiCad to get what I wanted. I navigated to the symbol editor, and change what looked to be the “Value” entry, but really was the “Name” of the part and changed it to “~”.

Just because I did this, does not mean that anyone else should.

If however, one does manage to do this dumb thing, take note that the symbol can in fact be recovered from the library with a text editor; and if one does not know what they are doing the first time around, it might take a little bit of time to work out.

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For everyone reading this later, the correct way of “removing” the value field is by hiding it.
This is achieved by setting the invisible flag in the component name properties dialog.

  • “left click -> edit” or shortcut e while hovering above the field.
  • Another option is in the “global” field properties dialog. The “T” button in the top toolbar.
    • In kicad 5 it will also be reachable via menu entries “symbol->fields”
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