Where are the "board" footprints?

[mron]

I’m trying to change the text on a F.Fab to F.Silkscreen. I think I can simply edit the footprint text file, changing the layer designation. I can’t find the footprint. It’s been saved as a “save will update board only”. Where is this?

[paulvdh]

It is saved directly in the [Project].kicad_pcb file. If you wish so, you can export the footprints to a separate library with PCB Editor / File / Export / Footprints to Library … (Or to a New Library). This is however an “external” “loosely coupled” library. If you want the symbols in that library part of the project, then you also have to update the links to the footprints in the schematic symbols to point to that library.

In KiCad, the Footprint Editor also doubles up as the library management tool for footprints. You can load a footprint from the PCB into the Footprint Editor, then create a library and put the footprint into that library directly from the Footprint editor. This is a convenient method if you only want to do this for a single footprint.

I guess you want to update many copies of a footprint in your project. The way to do this is to first put a single copy of a footprint into a (probably project specific) library and edit it to your liking. Then update all links in the schematic to point to the footprint in your new library. You can do this with: Schematic Editor / Tools / Edit Symbol Fields. You can use normal copy & paste there to copy the footprint links text to other schematic symbols. After that you can Schematic Editor / Tools / Update PCB from Schematic [F8] to update the PCB with the modified footprints from your new library.

[mron]

Thanks,
I got the change made. In my case a project only footprint is OK. I the library system confuses the heck out of me. When I’ve made external changes, I have gotten into trouble with multiple footprints with the same name in different libraries.

Thanks for the help!

[paulvdh]

Project specific libraries work well when you just want to make some quick changes for a specific project, or when you are experimenting with designing footprints that work best in your user case.

However, when you get confronted and confused by different footprints from different libraries, then it is high time to start organising your library structure. Make a central directory for your own global KiCad libraries, and organize and sort it’s content there. Optionally you can also add text notes or other meta data.