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Custom Libraries

 

I use a lot of components not in the standard Kicad libraries and I use them a lot. I also use a small subset of the standard libraries all the time. What I would like to do is hold all these symbols and footprints under a single folder and refer to each by a single path instead of the standard libraries. How do I do this? There are lots of tutorials about creating components but none about creating a library of them.

Cheers

Ian
 

Open the symbol editor and select new library, give it a name etc and use
it as you would any other library.

As you have already designed some symbols load each one up, change the
working library to your new lib and resave.

Remember to add your new lib to the main lib system via preferences
manage symbol libs

The same process can be used for footprints.

Andy





On Sun, 08 Dec 2019 14:41:59 -0800
"Ian Bell" <ianthompsonbell@...> wrote:

I use a lot of components not in the standard Kicad libraries and I use them a lot. I also use a small subset of the standard libraries all the time. What I would like to do is hold all these symbols and footprints under a single folder and refer to each by a single path instead of the standard libraries. How do I do this? There are lots of tutorials about creating components but none about creating a library of them.

Cheers

Ian
 

Thanks Andy. That seems straightforward. I will give it a go.

Cheers

Ian
 

OK, I am having some trouble with this. The first step "Open the symbol editor and select new library, give it a name etc and use
it as you would any other library." I have done.

I get stuck on the second step. You said "As you have already designed some symbols load each one up, change the
working library to your new lib and resave."

I can find know way to load a symbol into this new library. Import symbol does not work, it says the symbol already exists in antorher library. So what exactly do you mean by "load them up"?

Cheers

Ian
 

Hi Ian,

Kicad libraries can be stored in any folder of your hard disk, or even on a server.

There is no difference from official (standard) libraries and any other one.

In my case, I always use my own libraries. I keep a copy of the offical libraries in my home disk because I use them as a starting point to make my own symbols and footprints.

Just copy your libraries to the desired folder.
Remember that a symbol library is a file with the .lib extension while a footprint library is a folder whose name ends with .pretty and each footprint is an independent file with the extension .kicad_mod

For a more automatic path there are some evironment variables you can find under "configure paths" menu.

KICAD_SYMBOL_DIR for symbols
KISYSMOD for footprints

Set these environment variables to point to the folder you have your libraries.

Regards,
Pedro.

El 8/12/19 a las 23:41, Ian Bell escribi¨®:
I use a lot of components not in the standard Kicad libraries and I use them a lot. I also use a small subset of the standard libraries all the time. What I would like to do is hold all these symbols and footprints under a single folder and refer to each by a single path instead of the standard libraries. How do I do this? There are lots of tutorials about creating components but none about creating a library of them.
Cheers
Ian
 

OK,

Use the symbol editor and load the symbol you want to put onto your
new lib.

Then select "save as" from the file menu. Select your own lib from the
list that pops up and then save.

Job done

Andy








On Mon, 09 Dec 2019 04:13:51 -0800
"Ian Bell" <ianthompsonbell@...> wrote:

OK, I am having some trouble with this. The first step " Open the symbol editor and select new library, give it a name etc and use
it as you would any other library." I have done.

I get stuck on the second step. You said " As you have already designed some symbols load each one up, change the
working library to your new lib and resave."

I can find know way to load a symbol into this new library. Import symbol does not work, it says the symbol already exists in antorher library. So what exactly do you mean by "load them up"?

Cheers

Ian
 

The trouble I am having with this, Andy, is that when you save the symbol to the new library it says this library already exists and if I go ahead it will be overwritten. What I want to do is add the symbol to this library rather than replace it.

Cheers

Ian

On Mon, 9 Dec 2019 at 14:58, Andy Eskelson <andygio@...> wrote:
OK,

Use the symbol editor and load the symbol you want to put onto your
new lib.

Then select "save as" from the file menu. Select your own lib from the
list that pops up and then save.

Job done

Andy








On Mon, 09 Dec 2019 04:13:51 -0800
"Ian Bell" <ianthompsonbell@...> wrote:

> OK, I am having some trouble with this. The first step " Open the symbol editor and select new library, give it a name etc and use
> it as you would any other library." I have done.
>
> I get stuck on the second step. You said " As you have already designed some symbols load each one up, change the
> working library to your new lib and resave."
>
> I can find know way to load a symbol into this new library. Import symbol does not work, it says the symbol already exists in antorher library. So what exactly do you mean by "load them up"?
>
> Cheers
>
> Ian
>
>
>



 

prob getting ourselves mixed up somewhere.

From a cold start - this is what i did to create a new symbol library
called "fred" and copy an existing symbol into it.


open symbol editor

file > new library > [select location / create folder etc. and give lib
a name "fred" select save
add it to the global table in the requester that pops up
library "fred" is now created

"fred" should now appear in the library list on the left hand side of the
symbol editor

select a library with the symbol you want to add to library "fred"
e.g. 4xxx, 4001

file > save as
select library "fred" from the "Save Copy of Symbol" pop up window

either keep the same name or give it a new one. I left the same name

select save

that's it for the copy process.

There is one other operation you will need to do however.

Once you have copied all the symbols you want to, you then need to ensure
that the library is saved to disk. In the list it will have a "*" against
it in my setup (linux) it's also highlighted in blue - indicating that
the library has been changed and needs saving

Right click on "fred" and select save.

Hope this gets you going.

Andy


On Mon, 9 Dec 2019 16:10:50 +0000
"Ian Bell" <ianthompsonbell@...> wrote:

The trouble I am having with this, Andy, is that when you save the symbol
to the new library it says this library already exists and if I go ahead it
will be overwritten. What I want to do is *add* the symbol to this library
rather than replace it.

Cheers

Ian

On Mon, 9 Dec 2019 at 14:58, Andy Eskelson <andygio@...> wrote:

OK,

Use the symbol editor and load the symbol you want to put onto your
new lib.

Then select "save as" from the file menu. Select your own lib from the
list that pops up and then save.

Job done

Andy








On Mon, 09 Dec 2019 04:13:51 -0800
"Ian Bell" <ianthompsonbell@...> wrote:

OK, I am having some trouble with this. The first step " Open the symbol
editor and select new library, give it a name etc and use
it as you would any other library." I have done.

I get stuck on the second step. You said " As you have already designed
some symbols load each one up, change the
working library to your new lib and resave."

I can find know way to load a symbol into this new library. Import
symbol does not work, it says the symbol already exists in antorher
library. So what exactly do you mean by "load them up"?

Cheers

Ian
 

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the help. I got it sorted. It works fine on my main PC which is running 5.1.5. under Ubuntu. However, I was trying it out on my Chromebook (under Linux) and it turns out the version there is only 5.0 and the symbol editor dialogs are completely different and basically do not work. Now I need to figure out how to get my Chromebook up to 5.1.5

Cheers

Ian
 

Great that it's working, not so great re the chromebook... :-(

Hope you get that sorted out easily.


Says me, still looking at a 1TB SSD that has been sitting on the desk
for nearly a month, I've been intending to pop it into the Linux box, but
dreading the thought of all the messing about doing a complete reinstall
rather than a simple upgrade.

(Needed because of a couple of very daft operator errors)

Something to do while not looking at the TV repeats over Xmas I expect

:-)

Andy



On Mon, 09 Dec 2019 13:24:01 -0800
"Ian Bell" <ianthompsonbell@...> wrote:

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the help. I got it sorted. It works fine on my main PC which is running 5.1.5. under Ubuntu. However, I was trying it out on my Chromebook (under Linux) and it turns out the version there is only 5.0 and the symbol editor dialogs are completely different and basically do not work. Now I need to figure out how to get my Chromebook up to 5.1.5

Cheers

Ian
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

personally, I simply use a sandbox library where I make and/or the footprints, symbols, ... then I copy the item and paste into the dedicated library.


,


On 09.12.19 17:10, Ian Bell wrote:

The trouble I am having with this, Andy, is that when you save the symbol to the new library it says this library already exists and if I go ahead it will be overwritten. What I want to do is add the symbol to this library rather than replace it.

Cheers

Ian

On Mon, 9 Dec 2019 at 14:58, Andy Eskelson <andygio@...> wrote:
OK,

Use the symbol editor and load the symbol you want to put onto your
new lib.

Then select "save as" from the file menu. Select your own lib from the
list that pops up and then save.

Job done

Andy








On Mon, 09 Dec 2019 04:13:51 -0800
"Ian Bell" <ianthompsonbell@...> wrote:

> OK, I am having some trouble with this. The first step " Open the symbol editor and select new library, give it a name etc and use
> it as you would any other library." I have done.
>
> I get stuck on the second step. You said " As you have already designed some symbols load each one up, change the
> working library to your new lib and resave."
>
> I can find know way to load a symbol into this new library. Import symbol does not work, it says the symbol already exists in antorher library. So what exactly do you mean by "load them up"?
>
> Cheers
>
> Ian
>
>
>




 

be careful giving your own lib parts and footprints a unique and proper name so you can distinct them with the others. you can of course put your initials before the name

moving and copying parts is different from footprints. Most of the time i use the filebrowser for the footprints and a regular plain text editor for the parts. I find that way faster. as every part starts and end in the same way, finding the begin and end is quite easy. there is no order in the parts, so just append them after the first two lines
"EESchema-LIBRARY Version 2.4
#encoding utf-8"

a part starts with DEF bla.. and ends with ENDDEF. easypeasy.

On 09-12-2019 13:13, Ian Bell wrote:
OK, I am having some trouble with this. The first step "Open the symbol editor and select new library, give it a name etc and use
it as you would any other library." I have done.
I get stuck on the second step. You said "As you have already designed some symbols load each one up, change the
working library to your new lib and resave."
I can find know way to load a symbol into this new library. Import symbol does not work, it says the symbol already exists in antorher library. So what exactly do you mean by "load them up"?
Cheers
Ian
--
Met vriendelijke Groet,

Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl

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