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I asked KiCad to renumber the components on the schematic. What I didn't realise is that it turns the PCB into a disaster area, because many of the components are then in the wrong places, with wrong connections. Is there a way to recover from this, or do I have to delete all the components and tracks and start again?? Is there a way to prevent the disaster, other than not renumbering?

I have another question: is there a way of printing the list of keyboard shortcuts? Since it is an HTML page in the on-line manual, I can't see how to do it.

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On 23/05/2024 14:34, John Woodgate wrote:

I asked KiCad to renumber the components on the schematic. What I didn't realise is that it turns the PCB into a disaster area, because many of the components are then in the wrong places, with wrong connections. Is there a way to recover from this, or do I have to delete all the components and tracks and start again?? Is there a way to prevent the disaster, other than not renumbering?

I have another question: is there a way of printing the list of keyboard shortcuts? Since it is an HTML page in the on-line manual, I can't see how to do it.

Fortunately, KiCad saves backups. Look in your PCB project directory. You should have a folder of zips called "<Project_name>-backups".

For the hotkeys, find where the KiCad configuration files are stored. I guess on Windows, it would be somewhere close to:

%AppData%\Local\KiCad
..or
%AppData%\Roaming\KiCad

In there you should find text files called:
Eeschema.hotkeys
KicadFrame.hotkeys
..etc

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Regards,
Tony

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It's 'Update the PCB from schematic' that causes the problem.? V8 seems quite a bit different from v6, and better, but driving lessons are required.

You should be able to 'feed forward' the changes. That should then renumber the component placements. I can't remember the appropriate commands at the moment, and I also haven't got around to playing with v8 yet (but hope to do so soon).

On Thu, 23 May 2024 at 13:49, John Woodgate via <jmw=[email protected]> wrote:

I asked KiCad to renumber the components on the schematic. What I didn't realise is that it turns the PCB into a disaster area, because many of the components are then in the wrong places, with wrong connections. Is there a way to recover from this, or do I have to delete all the components and tracks and start again?? Is there a way to prevent the disaster, other than not renumbering?

I have another question: is there a way of printing the list of keyboard shortcuts? Since it is an HTML page in the on-line manual, I can't see how to do it.

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Best wishes
John Woodgate, Rayleigh, Essex UK
Keep trying

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Thanks, Tony. I will investigate. It would be good to put those locations in the Manual.

On 23/05/2024 14:34, John Woodgate wrote:

I asked KiCad to renumber the components on the schematic. What I didn't realise is that it turns the PCB into a disaster area, because many of the components are then in the wrong places, with wrong connections. Is there a way to recover from this, or do I have to delete all the components and tracks and start again?? Is there a way to prevent the disaster, other than not renumbering?

I have another question: is there a way of printing the list of keyboard shortcuts? Since it is an HTML page in the on-line manual, I can't see how to do it.

Fortunately, KiCad saves backups. Look in your PCB project directory. You should have a folder of zips called "<Project_name>-backups".

For the hotkeys, find where the KiCad configuration files are stored. I guess on Windows, it would be somewhere close to:

%AppData%\Local\KiCad
..or
%AppData%\Roaming\KiCad

In there you should find text files called:
Eeschema.hotkeys
KicadFrame.hotkeys
..etc

--
Regards,
Tony

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In KiCad 7 and 8, they are at C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\kicad\X.0\user.hotkeys, but the texts are barely readable by humans.

For the hotkeys, find where the KiCad configuration files are stored. I guess on Windows, it would be somewhere close to:

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Unfortunately, the backup I need is corrupted (KiCad apology message received) , due to having KiCad running while some other updates were going on. It looks like I have to start all over again.

Fortunately, KiCad saves backups. Look in your PCB project directory. You should have a folder of zips called "<Project_name>-backups".

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You don't want to get me started about <users> making backups of anything valuable, do you?? ;-)? I think we've had that conversation before.

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In the "Update PCB from schematic" tool in version 7, IIRC you just have
to *not* select "Re-link footprints to schematic symbols based on their
reference designators". If that doesn't work, you can also go around
all the components on the PCB manually giving each one the correct
designation, and then update the PCB with that box *selected*. I know
the latter works, because I partially did this last week (for completely
different reasons).

Regards,

Robert

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No, Tony, I wouldn't dream of it. But I just forgot to save the schematic before going to bed at 0030.

You don't want to get me started about <users> making backups of anything valuable, do you?? ;-)? I think we've had that conversation before.

--

Regards,
Tony

On 23/05/2024 15:43, John Woodgate wrote:

Unfortunately, the backup I need is corrupted (KiCad apology message received) , due to having KiCad running while some other updates were going on. It looks like I have to start all over again.

On 2024-05-23 14:08, Tony Casey wrote:

Fortunately, KiCad saves backups. Look in your PCB project directory. You should have a folder of zips called "<Project_name>-backups".

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Thanks, Robert, but I've already started again.

In the "Update PCB from schematic" tool in version 7, IIRC you just have
to *not* select "Re-link footprints to schematic symbols based on their
reference designators".?? If that doesn't work, you can also go around
all the components on the PCB manually giving each one the correct
designation, and then update the PCB with that box *selected*.?? I know
the latter works, because I partially did this last week (for completely
different reasons).

Regards,

Robert

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Why did you renumber?

There are various options the one you want is don't renumber anything
that is already there, just new things.

If you renumber everything then yes that will mess things up.

I don't know of any way to recover from such a mess

Rule 1 ALWAYS backup a project when making a major change. Is the best
you can say

Andy





On Thu, 23 May 2024 13:34:04 +0100
"John Woodgate" <jmw@...> wrote:

I asked KiCad to renumber the components on the schematic. What I didn't
realise is that it turns the PCB into a disaster area, because many of
the components are then in the wrong places, with wrong connections. Is
there a way to recover from this, or do I have to delete all the
components and tracks and start again?? Is there a way to prevent the
disaster, other than not renumbering?

I have another question: is there a way of printing the list of keyboard
shortcuts? Since it is an HTML page in the on-line manual, I can't see
how to do it.

--
Signature OOO - Own Opinions Only
Best wishes
John Woodgate, Rayleigh, Essex UK
Keep trying

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www.avg.com

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So I found out. The hard way. Actually, my schematic is too wide for a single width of the drawing sheet, so I've had to wrap it into two rows, and the renumbering doesn't cope with that. Still, that is what learning is about. Such schematics should be numbered manually, or, once a year (That'll sort the old 'uns from the youngsters. Think 'toothbrush').

If you renumber everything then yes that will mess things up.

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Thanks. I will look at that, but I do need to print out on A4.

If you can use any size sheet, you can change it… File>Page Settings

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On 23/05/2024 17:16, John Hudak wrote:

Sorry to hear about the problem.? Does ctrl-Z work to undo things? (been a while since I actively used kicad.

With all due respect, shame on Kicad for the lame behavior and poor excuse.? IMHO, backup provided by the tool should be solid - there are no excuses.? No guarantee that doing your own backup would prevent the problem...If they are blaming the behavior on 'things going on in the background' then you could save an already corrupted file.? This shows a lack of discipline on the backup mechanism.

I think it's maybe premature to blame KiCad for this. I've never noticed corrupted backup files. But then I don't routinely use Windows, which has a habit of doing updates and reboots in the middle of the night when it thinks no one is watching. To be fair, John says he forgot to save the file before retiring for the night.

--
Regards,
Tony

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Don't forget that KiCad can sort the numbering of the RefDes in vertical or horizontal sequence. If you require a particular numbering pattern, best do it manually from the start.

Many of my schematics are multi-page, and I've always prefixed the RefDes with the sheet number, so I can immediately check the correct schematic page when tracing a component from the PCB. Thus all resistors on sheet1 start from R100, for example. KiCad can do that automatically too.

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