Why does the position of symbol field change after placing it in schematic?

[Insanoff]

Hi there,
how can I prevent the schematic editor from changing the alignment of symbol fields? Or is that the way the editor works? Because in my opinion the fields are better aligned in templates.

I have been using KiCAD for about 2 years. I have gotten used to the workflow, except for some features, including the alignment of fields around symbols. I still haven’t figured out how to tweak the default alignment of the fields the way I want it. If I’m not mistaken, I have to either manually align the fields individually or customize the symbol templates to allow for a custom look. However, I see that even the template itself changes once I insert the symbol in the schematic.
I come across quite often on the internet very neatly drawn schematics in KiCAD. With the thought of having to offset the fields for each component, I finally give up on the idea in my own drawings.
I wonder if I might be overlooking some feature that allows the default settings for all symbols to be easily changed globally.
Thanks
Adam

[straubm]

Are you aware of the possibility to allow/disallow autoplacement (assuming V7) ?

The dialog comes up when double-clicking an element

[mf_ibfeew]

unchecked the global setting Preferences–>Schematic-Editor–>Editing Options–>Symbol Field Automatic Placement?

After that all newly added symbols show the symbol field on the original position (designed in library).

[Insanoff]

I presume you are using some fancy KiCAD version. I do not have such view.

[Insanoff]

unchecked the global setting Preferences–>Schematic-Editor–>Editing Options–>Symbol Field Automatic Placement?

I did not know this. It fixed the problem. Yay!

Thank you all for responding.

[Piotr]

@mf_ibfeew

unchecked the global setting Preferences–>Schematic-Editor–>Editing Options–>Symbol Field Automatic Placement?

I don’t like how this option works.
The best for me would be if when the option is unchecked (no automatic fields placement) it would be walid only until you rotate symbol (not first symbol in session but each symbol independently).

[GeeMott]

Thanks for asking the question! That had been irritating me forever; I thought I just had to live with it.

[mf_ibfeew]

@Insanoff : I presume you are using some fancy KiCAD version. I do not have such view.

Thats part of the new released v7-version.

[Insanoff]

I just came back to share my recent experience of what worked best for me.
I disabled the 50mil alignment and enabled the other 2 automatic placement options. In case of misalignment, I just press “O” and the alignment is automatically corrected. In rare cases I rotate or flip the symbol.
That’s basically it. Now I can satisfy my “OCD”.
Thanks all!

[jmk]

@Insanoff

I disabled the 50mil alignment

If you are still not happy with the occasional field placement, holding the CTRL key down while moving the field will disable the grid.