Getting Started in KiCad

Getting Started in KiCad ii

December 17, 2016

Getting Started in KiCad iii

Contents

1 Introduction to KiCad 1

1.1 Download and install KiCad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2 Under GNU/Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Under Apple OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.4 Under Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.5 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 KiCad Workow 4

2.1 KiCad Workow overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2.2 Forward and backward annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 Draw electronic schematics 7

3.1 Using Eeschema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3.2 Bus connections in KiCad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4 Layout printed circuit boards 21

4.1 Using Pcbnew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.2 Generate Gerber les . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4.3 Using GerbView . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4.4 Automatically route with FreeRouter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

5 Forward annotation in KiCad 32

6 Make schematic components in KiCad 34

6.1 Using Component Library Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6.2 Export, import and modify library components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

6.3 Make schematic components with quicklib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

6.4 Make a high pin count schematic component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Getting Started in KiCad iv

7 Make component footprints 41

7.1 Using Footprint Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

8 Note about portability of KiCad project les 43

9 More about KiCad documentation 45

9.1 KiCad documentation on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Getting Started in KiCad v

Essential and concise guide to mastering KiCad for the successful development of sophisticated electronic printed circuit boards.

Copyright

This document is Copyright 2010-2015 by its contributors as listed below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms
of either the GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), version 3.0 or later.

All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors

David Jahshan, Phil Hutchinson, Fabrizio Tappero, Christina Jarron, Melroy van den Berg.

Feedback

Please direct any bug reports, suggestions or new versions to here:

About KiCad document: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-doc/issues

About KiCad software: https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad

About KiCad software i18n: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-i18n/issues

Publication date

2015, May 16.

Getting Started in KiCad 1 / 45

Chapter 1

Introduction to KiCad

KiCad is an open-source software tool for the creation of electronic schematic diagrams and PCB artwork. Beneath its singular
surface, KiCad incorporates an elegant ensemble of the following stand-alone software tools:

Program name Description File extension

KiCad Project manager *.pro
Eeschema Schematic editor (both schematic and *.sch, *.lib, *.net
component)
CvPcb Footprint selector *.net
Pcbnew Circuit board board editor *.kicad_pcb
GerbView Gerber viewer All the usual gerbers
Bitmap2Component Convert bitmap images to components *.lib, *.kicad_mod, *.
or footprints kicad_wks
PCB Calculator Calculator for components, track None
width, electrical spacing, color codes,
and more
Pl Editor Page layout editor *.kicad_wks

Note
The le extension list is not complete and only contains a subset of the les that KiCad works with that is useful for the
basic understanding of which les are used for each KiCad unique application.

KiCad can be considered mature enough to be used for the successful development and maintenance of complex electronic boards.

KiCad does not present any board-size limitation and it can easily handle up to 32 copper layers, up to 14 technical layers and up to
4 auxiliary layers. KiCad can create all the les necessary for building printed boards, Gerber les for photo-plotters, drilling les,
component location les and a lot more.

Being open source (GPL licensed), KiCad represents the ideal tool for projects oriented towards the creation of electronic hardware
with an open-source avour.

On the Internet, the home of KiCad is:

Getting Started in KiCad 2 / 45

http://www.kicad-pcb.org/

1.1 Download and install KiCad

KiCad runs on GNU/Linux, Apple OS X and Windows. You can nd the most up to date instructions and download links at:

http://www.kicad-pcb.org/download/

Important
KiCad stable releases occur periodically per the KiCad Stable Release Policy. New features are continually
being added to the development branch. If you would like to take advantage of these new features and help
out by testing them, please download the latest nightly build package for your platform. Nightly builds may
introduce bugs but it is the goal of the KiCad Development Team to keep the development branch as usable
as possible during new feature development.

1.2 Under GNU/Linux

Stable builds Stable releases of KiCad can be found in most distributions package managers as kicad and kicad-doc. If your
distribution does not provide latest stable version, please follow the instruction for unstable builds and select and install the latest
stable version.

Unstable (nightly development) builds Unstable builds are built from the most recent source code. They can sometimes have bugs
that cause le corruption, generate bad gerbers, etc, but are generally stable and have the latest features.

Under Ubuntu, the easiest way to install an unstable nightly build of KiCad is via PPA and Aptitude. Type the following into your
Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:js-reynaud/ppa-kicad

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude safe-upgrade
sudo aptitude install kicad kicad-doc-en

Under Fedora the easiest way to install an unstable nightly build is via copr. To install KiCad via copr type the following in to copr:

sudo dnf copr enable mangelajo/kicad

sudo dnf install kicad

Alternatively, you can download and install a pre-compiled version of KiCad, or directly download the source code, compile and
install KiCad.

1.3 Under Apple OS X

Stable builds Stable builds of KiCad for OS X can be found at: http://downloads.kicad-pcb.org/osx/stable/
Getting Started in KiCad 3 / 45

Unstable (nightly development) builds Unstable builds are built from the most recent source code. They can sometimes have bugs
that cause le corruption, generate bad gerbers, etc, but are generally stable and have the latest features.

Unstable nightly development builds can be found at: http://downloads.kicad-pcb.org/osx/

1.4 Under Windows

Stable builds Stable builds of KiCad for Windows can be found at: http://downloads.kicad-pcb.org/windows/stable/

Unstable (nightly development) builds Unstable builds are built from the most recent source code. They can sometimes have bugs
that cause le corruption, generate bad gerbers, etc, but are generally stable and have the latest features.

For Windows you can nd nightly development builds at: http://downloads.kicad-pcb.org/windows/

1.5 Support

If you have ideas, remarks or questions, or if you just need help:

Visit the Forum

Join the #kicad IRC channel on Freenode

Watch Tutorials
Getting Started in KiCad 4 / 45

Chapter 2

KiCad Workow

Despite its similarities with other PCB software tools, KiCad is characterised by an interesting work-ow in which schematic com-
ponents and footprints are actually two separate entities. This is often the subject of discussion on Internet forums.

2.1 KiCad Workow overview

The KiCad work-ow is comprised of two main tasks: making the schematic and laying out the board. Both a component library
and a footprint library are necessary for these two tasks. KiCad has plenty of both. Just in case that is not enough, KiCad also has
the tools necessary to make new ones.

In the picture below, you see a owchart representing the KiCad work-ow. The picture explains which steps you need to take, in
which order. When applicable, the icon is added as well for convenience.
Getting Started in KiCad 5 / 45
Getting Started in KiCad 6 / 45

For more information about creating a component, see the section of this document titled Make schematic components in KiCad.
And for more information about how to create a new footprint, see the section of this document titled Make component footprints.

On the following site:

http://kicad.rohrbacher.net/quicklib.php

You will nd an example of use of a tool that allows you to quickly create KiCad library components. For more information about
quicklib, refer to the section of this document titled Make Schematic Components With quicklib.

2.2 Forward and backward annotation

Once an electronic schematic has been fully drawn, the next step is to transfer it to a PCB following the KiCad work-ow. Once
the board layout process has been partially or completely done, additional components or nets might need to be added, parts moved
around and much more. This can be done in two ways: Backward Annotation and Forward Annotation.

Backward Annotation is the process of sending a PCB layout change back to its corresponding schematic. Some do not consider this
particular feature especially useful.

Forward Annotation is the process of sending schematic changes to a corresponding PCB layout. This is a fundamental feature
because you do not really want to re-do the layout of the whole PCB every time you make a modication to your schematic. Forward
Annotation is discussed in the section titled Forward Annotation.
Getting Started in KiCad 7 / 45

Chapter 3

Draw electronic schematics

In this section we are going to learn how to draw an electronic schematic using KiCad.

3.1 Using Eeschema

1. Under Windows run kicad.exe. Under Linux type kicad in your Terminal. You are now in the main window of the KiCad
project manager. From here you have access to eight stand-alone software tools: Eeschema, Schematic Library Editor, Pcbnew,
PCB Footprint Editor, GerbView, Bitmap2Component, PCB Calculator and Pl Editor. Refer to the work-ow chart to give you
an idea how the main tools are used.

2. Create a new project: File New Project New Project. Name the project le tutorial1. The project le will automatically
take the extension .pro. KiCad prompts to create a dedicated directory, click Yes to conrm. All your project les will be
saved here.

3. Lets begin by creating a schematic. Start the schematic editor Eeschema, . It is the rst button from the left.

4. Click on the Page Settings icon on the top toolbar. Set the Page Size as A4 and enter the Title as Tutorial 1. You will
see that more information can be entered here if necessary. Click OK. This information will populate the schematic sheet at
the bottom right corner. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in. Save the whole schematic project: File Save Schematic Project
Getting Started in KiCad 8 / 45

5. We will now place our rst component. Click on the Place component icon in the right toolbar. The same functionality
is achieved by pressing the Place component shortcut key (a).

Note
You can see a list of all available shortcut keys by pressing the ? key.

6. Click on the middle of your schematic sheet. A Choose Component window will appear on the screen. Were going to place
a resistor. Search / lter on the R of Resistor. You may notice the device heading above the Resistor. This device heading is
the name of the library where the component is located, which is quite a generic and useful library.
Getting Started in KiCad 9 / 45

7. Double click on it. This will close the Choose Component window. Place the component in the schematic sheet by clicking
where you want it to be.

8. Click on the magnier icon to zoom in on the component. Alternatively, use the mouse wheel to zoom in and zoom out. Press
the wheel (central) mouse button to pan horizontally and vertically.

9. Try to hover the mouse over the component R and press the r key. The component should rotate. You do not need to actually
click on the component to rotate it.

Note
If your mouse was also over the Field Reference (R) or the Field Value (R?), a menu will appear. You will see
these Clarify Selection menu often in KiCad, they allow working on objects that are on top of each other. In this
case, tell KiCad you want to perform the action on the Component R.

10. Right click in the middle of the component and select Edit Component Value. You can achieve the same result by hovering
over the component and pressing the v key. Alternatively, the e key will take you to the more general Edit window. Notice
how the right-click menu below shows shortcut keys for all available actions.

11. The Component value window will appear. Replace the current value R with 1 k. Click OK.

Note
Do not change the Reference eld (R?), this will be done automatically later on. The value inside the resistor
should now be 1 k.
Getting Started in KiCad 10 / 45

12. To place another resistor, simply click where you want the resistor to appear. The Component Selection window will appear
again.

13. The resistor you previously chose is now in your history list, appearing as R. Click OK and place the component.

14. In case you make a mistake and want to delete a component, right click on the component and click Delete Component. This
will remove the component from the schematic. Alternatively, you can hover over the component you want to delete and press
the del key.
Getting Started in KiCad 11 / 45

Note
You can edit any default shortcut key by going to Preferences Hotkeys Edit hotkeys. Any modication
will be saved immediately.

15. You can also duplicate a component already on your schematic sheet by hovering over it and pressing the c key. Click where
you want to place the new duplicated component.

16. Right click on the second resistor. Select Drag Component. Reposition the component and left click to drop. The same
functionality can be achieved by hovering over the component and by pressing the g key. Use the r key to rotate the component.
The x key and the y key will ip the component.

Note
Right-Click Move component (equivalent to the m key option) is also a valuable option for moving anything
around, but it is better to use this only for component labels and components yet to be connected. We will see
later on why this is the case.

17. Edit the second resistor by hovering over it and pressing the v key. Replace R with 100. You can undo any of your editing
actions with the ctrl+z key.

18. Change the grid size. You have probably noticed that on the schematic sheet all components are snapped onto a large pitch
grid. You can easily change the size of the grid by Right-Click Grid select. In general, it is recommended to use a grid of
50.0 mils for the schematic sheet.

19. We are going to add a component from a library that isnt congured in the default project. In the menu, choose Preferences
Component Libraries and click the Add button for Component library les.

20. You need to nd where the ocial KiCad libraries are installed on your computer. Look for a library directory containing
a hundred of .dcm and .lib les. Try in C:\Program Files (x86)\KiCad\share\ (Windows) and /usr/
share/kicad/library/ (Linux). When you have found the directory, choose and add the microchip_pic12mcu library
and close the window.

21. Repeat the add-component steps, however this time select the microchip_pic12mcu library instead of the device library and
pick the PIC12C508A-I/SN component.

22. Hover the mouse over the microcontroller component. Press the y key or the x key on the keyboard. Notice how the component
is ipped over its x axis or its y axis. Press the key again to return it to its original orientation.

23. Repeat the add-component steps, this time choosing the device library and picking the LED component from it.

24. Organise all components on your schematic sheet as shown below.

Getting Started in KiCad 12 / 45

25. We now need to create the schematic component MYCONN3 for our 3-pin connector. You can jump to the section titled
Make Schematic Components in KiCad to learn how to make this component from scratch and then return to this section to
continue with the board.

26. You can now place the freshly made component. Press the a key and pick the MYCONN3 component in the myLib library.

27. The component identier J? will appear under the MYCONN3 label. If you want to change its position, right click on J? and
click on Move Field (equivalent to the m key option). It might be helpful to zoom in before/while doing this. Reposition J?
under the component as shown below. Labels can be moved around as many times as you please.
Getting Started in KiCad 13 / 45

28. It is time to place the power and ground symbols. Click on the Place a power port button on the right toolbar. Al-
ternatively, press the p key. In the component selection window, scroll down and select VCC from the power library. Click
OK.

29. Click above the pin of the 1 k resistor to place the VCC part. Click on the area above the microcontroller VDD. In the
Component Selection history section select VCC and place it next to the VDD pin. Repeat the add process again and place a
VCC part above the VCC pin of MYCONN3.

30. Repeat the add-pin steps but this time select the GND part. Place a GND part under the GND pin of MYCONN3. Place
another GND symbol on the right of the VSS pin of the microcontroller. Your schematic should now look something like this:

31. Next, we will wire all our components. Click on the Place wire icon on the right toolbar.

Note
Be careful not to pick Place a bus, which appears directly beneath this button but has thicker lines. The section
Bus Connections in KiCad will explain how to use a bus section.
Getting Started in KiCad 14 / 45

32. Click on the little circle at the end of pin 7 of the microcontroller and then click on the little circle on pin 2 of the LED. You
can zoom in while you are placing the connection.

Note
If you want to reposition wired components, it is important to use the g key (grab) option and not the m key (move)
option. Using the grab option will keep the wires connected. Review step 24 in case you have forgotten how to
move a component.

33. Repeat this process and wire up all the other components as shown below. To terminate a wire just double-click. When wiring
up the VCC and GND symbols, the wire should touch the bottom of the VCC symbol and the middle top of the GND symbol.
See the screenshot below.
Getting Started in KiCad 15 / 45

34. We will now consider an alternative way of making a connection using labels. Pick a net labelling tool by clicking on the Place

net name icon on the right toolbar. You can also use the l key.

35. Click in the middle of the wire connected to pin 6 of the microcontroller. Name this label INPUT.

36. Follow the same procedure and place another label on line on the right of the 100 ohm resistor. Also name it INPUT. The
two labels, having the same name, create an invisible connection between pin 6 of the PIC and the 100 ohm resistor. This
is a useful technique when connecting wires in a complex design where drawing the lines would make the whole schematic
messier. To place a label you do not necessarily need a wire, you can simply attach the label to a pin.

37. Labels can also be used to simply label wires for informative purposes. Place a label on pin 7 of the PIC. Enter the name
uCtoLED. Name the wire between the resistor and the LED as LEDtoR. Name the wire between MYCONN3 and the resistor
as INPUTtoR.

38. You do not have to label the VCC and GND lines because the labels are implied from the power objects they are connected
to.

39. Below you can see what the nal result should look like.
Getting Started in KiCad 16 / 45

40. Lets now deal with unconnected wires. Any pin or wire that is not connected will generate a warning when checked by KiCad.
To avoid these warnings you can either instruct the program that the unconnected wires are deliberate or manually ag each
unconnected wire or pin as unconnected.

41. Click on the Place no connect ag icon on the right toolbar. Click on pins 2, 3, 4 and 5. An X will appear to signify
that the lack of a wire connection is intentional.
Getting Started in KiCad 17 / 45

42. Some components have power pins that are invisible. You can make them visible by clicking on the Show hidden pins icon

on the left toolbar. Hidden power pins get automatically connected if VCC and GND naming is respected. Generally
speaking, you should try not to make hidden power pins.

43. It is now necessary to add a Power Flag to indicate to KiCad that power comes in from somewhere. Press the a key, select
List All, double click on the power library and search for PWR_FLAG. Place two of them. Connect them to a GND pin and
to VCC as shown below.

Note
This will avoid the classic schematic checking warning: Warning Pin power_in not driven (Net xx)

44. Sometimes it is good to write comments here and there. To add comments on the schematic use the Place graphic text

(comment) icon on the right toolbar.

45. All components now need to have unique identiers. In fact, many of our components are still named R? or J?. Identier

assignation can be done automatically by clicking on the Annotate schematic icon on the top toolbar.

46. In the Annotate Schematic window, select Use the entire schematic and click on the Annotation button. Click OK in the
conrmation message and then click Close. Notice how all the ? have been replaced with numbers. Each identier is now
unique. In our example, they have been named R1, R2, U1, D1 and J1.

47. We will now check our schematic for errors. Click on the Perform electrical rules check icon on the top toolbar. Click
on the Run button. A report informing you of any errors or warnings such as disconnected wires is generated. You should have
0 Errors and 0 Warnings. In case of errors or warnings, a small green arrow will appear on the schematic in the position where
the error or the warning is located. Check Create ERC le report and press the Run button again to receive more information
about the errors.

Note
If you have a warning with No default editor found you must choose it, try setting the path to c:\windows\
notepad.exe (windows) or /usr/bin/gedit (Linux).
Getting Started in KiCad 18 / 45

48. The schematic is now nished. We can now create a Netlist le to which we will add the footprint of each component. Click

on the Generate netlist icon on the top toolbar. Click on the Generate button and save under the default le name.

49. After generating the Netlist le, click on the Run Cvpcb icon on the top toolbar. If a missing le error window pops
up, just ignore it and click OK.

50. Cvpcb allows you to link all the components in your schematic with footprints in the KiCad library. The pane on the center
shows all the components used in your schematic. Here select D1. In the pane on the right you have all the available footprints,
here scroll down to LEDs:LED-5MM and double click on it.

51. It is possible that the pane on the right shows only a selected subgroup of available footprints. This is because KiCad is trying

to suggest to you a subset of suitable footprints. Click on the icons , and to enable or disable these lters.

52. For IC1 select the Housings_DIP:DIP-8_W7.62mm footprint. For J1 select the Connect:Banana_Jack_3Pin footprint. For R1
and R2 select the Discret:R1 footprint.

53. If you are interested in knowing what the footprint you are choosing looks like, you have two options. You can click on the

View selected footprint icon for a preview of the current footprint. Alternatively, click on the Display footprint list

documentation icon and you will get a multi-page PDF document with all available footprints. You can print it out and
check your components to make sure that the dimensions match.

54. You are done. You can now update your netlist le with all the associated footprints. Click on File Save As. The default

name tutorial1.net is ne, click save. Otherwise you can use the icon . Your netlist le has now been updated with all
the footprints. Note that if you are missing the footprint of any device, you will need to make your own footprints. This will
be explained in a later section of this document.

55. You can close Cvpcb and go back to the Eeschema schematic editor. Save the project by clicking on File Save Whole
Schematic Project. Close the schematic editor.

56. Switch to the KiCad project manager.

57. The netlist le describes all components and their respective pin connections. The netlist le is actually a text le that you can
easily inspect, edit or script.

Note
Library les (*.lib) are text les too and they are also easily editable or scriptable.

58. To create a Bill Of Materials (BOM), go to the Eeschema schematic editor and click on the Bill of materials icon on
the top toolbar. By default there is no plugin active. You add one, by clicking on Add Plugin button. Select the *.xsl le you
want to use, in this case, we select bom2csv.xsl.
Getting Started in KiCad 19 / 45

Note
The *.xsl le is located in plugins directory of the KiCad installation, which is located at: /usr/lib/kicad/plugins/.
Or get the le via:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KiCad/kicad-source-mirror/master/eeschema/ -
plugins/bom2csv.xsl

KiCad automatically generates the command, for example:

xsltproc -o %O /home/<user>/kicad/eeschema/plugins/bom2csv.xsl %I

You may want to add the extension, so change this command line to:

xsltproc -o %O.csv /home/<user>/kicad/eeschema/plugins/bom2csv.xsl %I

Press Help button for more info.

59. Now press Generate. The le (same name as your project) is located in your project folder. Open the *.csv le with LibreOce
Calc or Excel. An import window will appear, press OK.

You are now ready to move to the PCB layout part, which is presented in the next section. However, before moving on lets take a
quick look at how to connect component pins using a bus line.

3.2 Bus connections in KiCad

Sometimes you might need to connect several sequential pins of component A with some other sequential pins of component B. In
this case you have two options: the labelling method we already saw or the use of a bus connection. Lets see how to do it.

1. Let us suppose that you have three 4-pin connectors that you want to connect together pin to pin. Use the label option (press
the l key) to label pin 4 of the P4 part. Name this label a1. Now lets press the Ins key to have the same item automatically
added on the pin below pin 4 (PIN 3). Notice how the label is automatically renamed a2.

2. Press the Ins Key two more times. The Ins key corresponds to the action Repeat last item and it is an innitely useful command
that can make your life a lot easier.

3. Repeat the same labelling action on the two other connectors CONN_2 and CONN_3 and you are done. If you proceed and
make a PCB you will see that the three connectors are connected to each other. Figure 2 shows the result of what we described.

For aesthetic purposes it is also possible to add a series of Place wire to bus entry using the icon and bus line using the

icon , as shown in Figure 3. Mind, however, that there will be no eect on the PCB.

4. It should be pointed out that the short wire attached to the pins in Figure 2 is not strictly necessary. In fact, the labels could
have been applied directly to the pins.
Getting Started in KiCad 20 / 45

5. Lets take it one step further and suppose that you have a fourth connector named CONN_4 and, for whatever reason, its
labelling happens to be a little dierent (b1, b2, b3, b4). Now we want to connect Bus a with Bus b in a pin to pin manner.
We want to do that without using pin labelling (which is also possible) but by instead using labelling on the bus line, with one
label per bus.

6. Connect and label CONN_4 using the labelling method explained before. Name the pins b1, b2, b3 and b4. Connect the pin

to a series of Wire to bus entry using the icon and to a bus line using the icon . See Figure 4.

7. Put a label (press the l key option) on the bus of CONN_4 and name it b[1..4].

8. Put a label (press the l key option) on the previous a bus and name it a[1..4].

9. What we can now do is connect bus a[1..4] with bus b[1..4] using a bus line with the button .

10. By connecting the two buses together, pin a1 will be automatically connected to pin b1, a2 will be connected to b2 and so on.
Figure 4 shows what the nal result looks like.

Note
The Repeat last item option accessible via the Ins key can be successfully used to repeat period item insertions.
For instance, the short wires connected to all pins in Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4 have been placed with this
option.

11. The Repeat last item option accessible via the Ins key has also been extensively used to place the many series of Wire to bus

entry using the icon .

Getting Started in KiCad 21 / 45

Chapter 4

Layout printed circuit boards

It is now time to use the netlist le you generated to lay out the PCB. This is done with the Pcbnew tool.

4.1 Using Pcbnew

1. From the KiCad project manager, click on the Pcbnew icon . The Pcbnew window will open. If you get an error message
saying that a *.kicad_pcb le does not exist and asks if you want to create it, just click Yes.

2. Begin by entering some schematic information. Click on the Page settings icon on the top toolbar. Set paper size as A4
and title as Tutorial1.

3. It is a good idea to start by setting the clearance and the minimum track width to those required by your PCB manufacturer.
In general you can set the clearance to 0.25 and the minimum track width to 0.25. Click on the Design Rules Design
Rules menu. If it does not show already, click on the Net Classes Editor tab. Change the Clearance eld at the top of the
window to 0.25 and the Track Width eld to 0.25 as shown below. Measurements here are in mm.

4. Click on the Global Design Rules tab and set Min track width to 0.25. Click the OK button to commit your changes and close
the Design Rules Editor window.
Getting Started in KiCad 22 / 45

5. Now we will import the netlist le. Click on the Read Netlist icon on the top toolbar. Click on the Browse Netlist Files
button, select tutorial1.net in the File selection dialogue, and click on Read Current Netlist. Then click the Close button.

6. All components should now be visible in the top left hand corner just above the page. Scroll up if you cannot see them.

7. Select all components with the mouse and move them to the middle of the board. If necessary you can zoom in and out while
you move the components.

8. All components are connected via a thin group of wires called ratsnest. Make sure that the Hide board ratsnest button
is pressed. In this way you can see the ratsnest linking all components.

Note
The tool-tip is backwards; pressing this button actually displays the ratsnest.

9. You can move each component by hovering over it and pressing the g key. Click where you want to place them. Move all
components around until you minimise the number of wire crossovers.

Note
If instead of grabbing the components (with the g key ) you move them around using the m key you will later note
that you lose the track connection (the same occurs in the schematic editor). Bottom line, always use the g key
option.
Getting Started in KiCad 23 / 45

10. If the ratsnest disappears or the screen gets messy, right click and click Redraw view. Note how one pin of the 100 ohm
resistor is connected to pin 6 of the PIC component. This is the result of the labelling method used to connect pins. Labels
are often preferred to actual wires because they make the schematic much less messy.

11. Now we will dene the edge of the PCB. Select Edge.Cuts from the drop-down menu in the top toolbar. Click on the Add

graphic line or polygon icon on the right toolbar. Trace around the edge of the board, clicking at each corner, and
remember to leave a small gap between the edge of the green and the edge of the PCB.

12. Next, connect up all the wires except GND. In fact, we will connect all GND connections in one go using a ground plane
placed on the bottom copper (called B.Cu) of the board.

13. Now we must choose which copper layer we want to work on. Select F.Cu (PgUp) in the drop-down menu on the top toolbar.
This is the front top copper layer.
Getting Started in KiCad 24 / 45

14. If you decide, for instance, to do a 4 layer PCB instead, go to Design Rules Layers Setup and change Copper Layers to 4.
In the Layers table you can name layers and decide what they can be used for. Notice that there are very useful presets that
can be selected via the Preset Layer Groupings menu.

15. Click on the Add Tracks and vias icon on the right toolbar. Click on pin 1 of J1 and run a track to pad R2. Double-click
to set the point where the track will end. The width of this track will be the default 0.250 mm. You can change the track
width from the drop-down menu in the top toolbar. Mind that by default you have only one track width available.
Getting Started in KiCad 25 / 45

16. If you would like to add more track widths go to: Design Rules Design Rules Global Design Rules tab and at the
bottom right of this window add any other width you would like to have available. You can then choose the widths of the track
from the drop-down menu while you lay out your board. See the example below (inches).
Getting Started in KiCad 26 / 45

17. Alternatively, you can add a Net Class in which you specify a set of options. Go to Design Rules Design Rules Net
Classes Editor and add a new class called power. Change the track width from 8 mil (indicated as 0.0080) to 24 mil (indicated
as 0.0240). Next, add everything but ground to the power class (select default at left and power at right and use the arrows).

18. If you want to change the grid size, Right click Grid Select. Be sure to select the appropriate grid size before or after
laying down the components and connecting them together with tracks.

19. Repeat this process until all wires, except pin 3 of J1, are connected. Your board should look like the example below.

20. Lets now run a track on the other copper side of the PCB. Select B.Cu in the drop-down menu on the top toolbar. Click on

the Add tracks and vias icon . Draw a track between pin 3 of J1 and pin 8 of U1. This is actually not necessary since
we could do this with the ground plane. Notice how the colour of the track has changed.

21. Go from pin A to pin B by changing layer. It is possible to change the copper plane while you are running a track by placing
a via. While you are running a track on the upper copper plane, right click and select Place Via or simply press the v key. This
will take you to the bottom layer where you can complete your track.
Getting Started in KiCad 27 / 45

22. When you want to inspect a particular connection you can click on the Net highlight icon on the right toolbar. Click on
pin 3 of J1. The track itself and all pads connected to it should become highlighted.

23. Now we will make a ground plane that will be connected to all GND pins. Click on the Add Zones icon on the right
toolbar. We are going to trace a rectangle around the board, so click where you want one of the corners to be. In the dialogue
that appears, set Pad in Zone to Thermal relief and Zone edges orient to H,V and click OK.

24. Trace around the outline of the board by clicking each corner in rotation. Double-click to nish your rectangle. Right click
inside the area you have just traced. Click on Fill or Rell All Zones. The board should ll in with green and look something
like this:
Getting Started in KiCad 28 / 45

25. Run the design rules checker by clicking on the Perform Design Rules Check icon on the top toolbar. Click on Start
DRC. There should be no errors. Click on List Unconnected. There should be no unconnected track. Click OK to close the
DRC Control dialogue.

26. Save your le by clicking on File Save. To admire your board in 3D, click on View 3D Viewer.
Getting Started in KiCad 29 / 45

27. You can drag your mouse around to rotate the PCB.

28. Your board is complete. To send it o to a manufacturer you will need to generate all Gerber les.

4.2 Generate Gerber les

Once your PCB is complete, you can generate Gerber les for each layer and send them to your favourite PCB manufacturer, who
will make the board for you.

1. From KiCad, open the Pcbnew software tool and load your board le by clicking on the icon .

2. Click on File Plot. Select Gerber as the Plot Format and select the folder in which to put all Gerber les. Proceed by
clicking on the Plot button.

3. These are the layers you need to select for making a typical 2-layer PCB:
Getting Started in KiCad 30 / 45

Layer KiCad Layer Name Old KiCad Layer Default Gerber Use Protel lename
Name Extension extensions is
enabled
Bottom Layer B.Cu Copper .GBR .GBL
Top Layer F.Cu Component .GBR .GTL
Top Overlay F.SilkS SilkS_Cmp .GBR .GTO
Bottom Solder Resist B.Mask Mask_Cop .GBR .GBS
Top Solder Resist F.Mask Mask_Cmp .GBR .GTS
Edges Edge.Cuts Edges_Pcb .GBR .GM1

4.3 Using GerbView

1. To view all your Gerber les go to the KiCad project manager and click on the GerbView icon. On the drop-down menu select

Layer 1. Click on File Load Gerber le or click on the icon . Load all generated Gerber les one at a time. Note
how they all get displayed one on top of the other.

2. Use the menu on the right to select/deselect which layer to show. Carefully inspect each layer before sending them for pro-
duction.

3. To generate the drill le, from Pcbnew go again to the File Plot option. Default settings should be ne.

4.4 Automatically route with FreeRouter

Routing a board by hand is quick and fun, however, for a board with lots of components you might want to use an autorouter.
Remember that you should rst route critical traces by hand and then set the autorouter to do the boring bits. Its work will only
account for the unrouted traces. The autorouter we will use here is FreeRouter from freerouting.net.

Note
Freerouter is an open source java application, and it is needed to build by yourself to use with KiCad. Source code of
Freerouter can be found on this site: https://github.com/nikropht/FreeRouting

1. From Pcbnew click on File Export Specctra DSN or click on Tools FreeRoute Export a Specctra Design
(*.dsn) le and save the le locally. Launch FreeRouter and click on the Open Your Own Design button, browse for the dsn
le and load it.

Note
The Tools FreeRoute dialog has a nice help button that opens a le viewer with a little document inside
named Freerouter Guidelines. Please follow these guidelines to use FreeRoute eectively.

2. FreeRouter has some features that KiCad does not currently have, both for manual routing and for automatic routing. FreeR-
outer operates in two main steps: rst, routing the board and then optimising it. Full optimisation can take a long time,
however you can stop it at any time need be.
Getting Started in KiCad 31 / 45

3. You can start the automatic routing by clicking on the Autorouter button on the top bar. The bottom bar gives you information
about the on-going routing process. If the Pass count gets above 30, your board probably can not be autorouted with this
router. Spread your components out more or rotate them better and try again. The goal in rotation and position of parts is to
lower the number of crossed airlines in the ratsnest.

4. Making a left-click on the mouse can stop the automatic routing and automatically start the optimisation process. Another
left-click will stop the optimisation process. Unless you really need to stop, it is better to let FreeRouter nish its job.

5. Click on the File Export Specctra Session File menu and save the board le with the .ses extension. You do not really
need to save the FreeRouter rules le.

6. Back to Pcbnew. You can import your freshly routed board by clicking on the link Tools FreeRoute and then on the icon
Back Import the Spectra Session (.ses) File and selecting your .ses le.

If there is any routed trace that you do not like, you can delete it and re-route it again, using the del key and the routing tool, which

is the Add tracks icon on the right toolbar.

Getting Started in KiCad 32 / 45

Chapter 5

Forward annotation in KiCad

Once you have completed your electronic schematic, the footprint assignment, the board layout and generated the Gerber les, you
are ready to send everything to a PCB manufacturer so that your board can become reality.

Often, this linear work-ow turns out to be not so uni-directional. For instance, when you have to modify/extend a board for which
you or others have already completed this work-ow, it is possible that you need to move components around, replace them with
others, change footprints and much more. During this modication process, what you do not want to do is to re-route the whole
board again from scratch. Instead, this is how you do it:

1. Lets suppose that you want to replace a hypothetical connector CON1 with CON2.

2. You already have a completed schematic and a fully routed PCB.

3. From KiCad, start Eeschema, make your modications by deleting CON1 and adding CON2. Save your schematic project

with the icon and c lick on the Netlist generation icon on the top toolbar.

4. Click on Netlist then on save. Save to the default le name. You have to rewrite the old one.

5. Now assign a footprint to CON2. Click on the Run Cvpcb icon on the top toolbar. Assign the footprint to the new
device CON2. The rest of the components still have the previous footprints assigned to them. Close Cvpcb.

6. Back in the schematic editor, save the project by clicking on File Save Whole Schematic Project. Close the schematic editor.

7. From the KiCad project manager, click on the Pcbnew icon. The Pcbnew window will open.

8. The old, already routed, board should automatically open. Lets import the new netlist le. Click on the Read Netlist icon

on the top toolbar.

9. Click on the Browse Netlist Files button, select the netlist le in the le selection dialogue, and click on Read Current Netlist.
Then click the Close button.

10. At this point you should be able to see a layout with all previous components already routed. On the top left corner you should
see all unrouted components, in our case the CON2. Select CON2 with the mouse. Move the component to the middle of the
board.
Getting Started in KiCad 33 / 45

11. Place CON2 and route it. Once done, save and proceed with the Gerber le generation as usual.

The process described here can easily be repeated as many times as you need. Beside the Forward Annotation method described
above, there is another method known as Backward Annotation. This method allows you to make modications to your already
routed PCB from Pcbnew and updates those modications in your schematic and netlist le. The Backward Annotation method,
however, is not that useful and is therefore not described here.
Getting Started in KiCad 34 / 45

Chapter 6

Make schematic components in KiCad

Sometimes a component that you want to place on your schematic is not in a KiCad library. This is quite normal and there is no
reason to worry. In this section we will see how a new schematic component can be quickly created with KiCad. Nevertheless,
remember that you can always nd KiCad components on the Internet. For instance from here:

http://per.launay.free.fr/kicad/kicad_php/composant.php

In KiCad, a component is a piece of text that starts with a DEF and ends with ENDDEF. One or more components are normally
placed in a library le with the extension .lib. If you want to add components to a library le you can just use the cut and paste
commands.

6.1 Using Component Library Editor

1. We can use the Component Library Editor (part of Eeschema) to make new components. In our project folder tutorial1 lets
create a folder named library. Inside we will put our new library le myLib.lib as soon as we have created our new component.

2. Now we can start creating our new component. From KiCad, start Eeschema, click on the Library Editor icon and

then click on the New component icon . The Component Properties window will appear. Name the new component
MYCONN3, set the Default reference designator as J, and the Number of parts per package as 1. Click OK. If the warning
appears just click yes. At this point the component is only made of its labels. Lets add some pins. Click on the Add Pins icon

on the right toolbar. To place the pin, left click in the centre of the part editor sheet just below the MYCONN3 label.

3. In the Pin Properties window that appears, set the pin name to VCC, set the pin number to 1, and the Electrical type to Passive
then click OK.
Getting Started in KiCad 35 / 45

4. Place the pin by clicking on the location you would like it to go, right below the MYCONN3 label.

5. Repeat the place-pin steps, this time Pin name should be INPUT, Pin number should be 2, and Electrical Type should be
Passive.

6. Repeat the place-pin steps, this time Pin name should be GND, Pin number should be 3, and Electrical Type should be Passive.
Arrange the pins one on top of the other. The component label MYCONN3 should be in the centre of the page (where the blue
lines cross).

7. Next, draw the contour of the component. Click on the Add rectangle icon . We want to draw a rectangle next to the
pins, as shown below. To do this, click where you want the top left corner of the rectangle to be (do not hold the mouse button
down). Click again where you want the bottom right corner of the rectangle to be.
Getting Started in KiCad 36 / 45

8. If you want to ll the rectangle with yellow, set the ll colour to yellow 4 in Preferences Select color scheme, then select
the rectangle in the editing screen and edit (E), selecting Fill background.

9. Save the component in your library myLib.lib. Click on the New Library icon , navigate into tutorial1/library/ folder
and save the new library le with the name myLib.lib.

10. Go to Preferences Component Libraries and add both tutorial1/library/ in User dened search path and myLib.lib in
Component library les.

11. Click on the Select working library icon . In the Select Library window click on myLib and click OK. Notice how the
heading of the window indicates the library currently in use, which now should be myLib.

12. Click on the Update current component in current library icon in the top toolbar. Save all changes by clicking on the

Save current loaded library on disk icon in the top toolbar. Click Yes in any conrmation messages that appear. The
new schematic component is now done and available in the library indicated in the window title bar.

13. You can now close the Component library editor window. You will return to the schematic editor window. Your new com-
ponent will now be available to you from the library myLib.

14. You can make any library le.lib le available to you by adding it to the library path. From Eeschema, go to Preferences
Library and add both the path to it in User dened search path and le.lib in Component library les.

6.2 Export, import and modify library components

Instead of creating a library component from scratch it is sometimes easier to start from one already made and modify it. In this
section we will see how to export a component from the KiCad standard library device to your own library myOwnLib.lib and then
Getting Started in KiCad 37 / 45

modify it.

1. From KiCad, start Eeschema, click on the Library Editor icon , click on the Select working library icon and

choose the library device. Click on Load component to edit from the current lib icon and import the RELAY_2RT.

2. Click on the Export component icon , navigate into the library/ folder and save the new library le with the name
myOwnLib.lib.

3. You can make this component and the whole library myOwnLib.lib available to you by adding it to the library path. From
Eeschema, go to Preferences Component Libraries and add both library/ in User dened search path and myOwnLib.lib
in the Component library les. Close the window.

4. Click on the Select working library icon . In the Select Library window click on myOwnLib and click OK. Notice how
the heading of the window indicates the library currently in use, it should be myOwnLib.

5. Click on the Load component to edit from the current lib icon and import the RELAY_2RT.

6. You can now modify the component as you like. Hover over the label RELAY_2RT, press the e key and rename it MY_RELAY_2RT.

7. Click on Update current component in current library icon in the top toolbar. Save all changes by clicking on the Save

current loaded library on disk icon in the top toolbar.

6.3 Make schematic components with quicklib

This section presents an alternative way of creating the schematic component for MYCONN3 (see MYCONN3 above) using the
Internet tool quicklib.

1. Head to the quicklib web page: http://kicad.rohrbacher.net/quicklib.php

2. Fill out the page with the following information: Component name: MYCONN3 Reference Prex: J Pin Layout Style: SIL
Pin Count, N: 3

3. Click on the Assign Pins icon. Fill out the page with the following information: Pin 1: VCC Pin 2: input Pin 3: GND. Type :
Passive for all 3 pins.

4. Click on the icon Preview it and, if you are satised, click on the Build Library Component. Download the le and rename it
tutorial1/library/myQuickLib.lib.. You are done!

5. Have a look at it using KiCad. From the KiCad project manager, start Eeschema, click on the Library Editor icon ,

click on the Import Component icon , navigate to tutorial1/library/ and select myQuickLib.lib.
Getting Started in KiCad 38 / 45

6. You can make this component and the whole library myQuickLib.lib available to you by adding it to the KiCad library path.
From Eeschema, go to Preferences Component Libraries and add library in User dened search path and myQuickLib.lib
in Component library les.

As you might guess, this method of creating library components can be quite eective when you want to create components with a
large pin count.

6.4 Make a high pin count schematic component

In the section titled Make Schematic Components in quicklib we saw how to make a schematic component using the quicklib web-
based tool. However, you will occasionally nd that you need to create a schematic component with a high number of pins (some
hundreds of pins). In KiCad, this is not a very complicated task.

1. Suppose that you want to create a schematic component for a device with 50 pins. It is common practise to draw it using
multiple low pin-count drawings, for example two drawings with 25 pins each. This component representation allows for easy
pin connection.

2. The best way to create our component is to use quicklib to generate two 25-pin components separately, re-number their pins
using a Python script and nally merge the two by using copy and paste to make them into one single DEF and ENDDEF
component.

3. You will nd an example of a simple Python script below that can be used in conjunction with an in.txt le and an out.txt le
to re-number the line: X PIN1 1 -750 600 300 R 50 50 1 1 I into X PIN26 26 -750 600 300 R 50
50 1 1 I this is done for all lines in the le in.txt.

Simple script
#!/usr/bin/env python
simple script to manipulate KiCad component pins numbering
import sys, re
Getting Started in KiCad 39 / 45

try:
fin=open(sys.argv[1],r)
fout=open(sys.argv[2],w)
except:
print oh, wrong use of this app, try:, sys.argv[0], in.txt out.txt
sys.exit()
for ln in fin.readlines():
obj=re.search((X PIN)(\d*)(\s)(\d*)(\s.*),ln)
if obj:
num = int(obj.group(2))+25
ln=obj.group(1) + str(num) + obj.group(3) + str(num) + obj.group(5) +\n
fout.write(ln)
fin.close(); fout.close()
#
# for more info about regular expression syntax and KiCad component generation:
# http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
# http://kicad.rohrbacher.net/quicklib.php

1. While merging the two components into one, it is necessary to use the Library Editor from Eeschema to move the rst
component so that the second does not end up on top of it. Below you will nd the nal .lib le and its representation in
Eeschema.

Contents of a *.lib le

EESchema-LIBRARY Version 2.3

#encoding utf-8
# COMP
DEF COMP U 0 40 Y Y 1 F N
F0 U -1800 -100 50 H V C CNN
F1 COMP -1800 100 50 H V C CNN
DRAW
S -2250 -800 -1350 800 0 0 0 N
S -450 -800 450 800 0 0 0 N
X PIN1 1 -2550 600 300 R 50 50 1 1 I

...

X PIN49 49 750 -500 300 L 50 50 1 1 I

ENDDRAW
ENDDEF
#End Library
Getting Started in KiCad 40 / 45

1. The Python script presented here is a very powerful tool for manipulating both pin numbers and pin labels. Mind, however,
that all its power comes for the arcane and yet amazingly useful Regular Expression syntax: http://gskinner.com/RegExr/.
Getting Started in KiCad 41 / 45

Chapter 7

Make component footprints

Unlike other EDA software tools, which have one type of library that contains both the schematic symbol and the footprint variations,
KiCad .lib les contain schematic symbols and .kicad_mod les contain footprints. Cvpcb is used to successfully map footprints to
symbols.

As for .lib les, .kicad_mod library les are text les that can contain anything from one to several parts.

There is an extensive footprint library with KiCad, however on occasion you might nd that the footprint you need is not in the
KiCad library. Here are the steps for creating a new PCB footprint in KiCad:

7.1 Using Footprint Editor

1. From the KiCad project manager start the Pcbnew tool. Click on the Open Footprint Editor icon on the top toolbar.
This will open the Footprint Editor.

2. We are going to save the new footprint MYCONN3 in the new footprint library myfootprint. Create a new folder myfoot-
print.pretty in the tutorial1/ project folder. Click on the Preferences Footprint Libraries Manager and press Append
Library button. In the table, enter myfootprint as Nickname, enter ${KIPRJMOD}/myfootprint.pretty as Library Path
and enter KiCad as Plugin Type. Press OK to close the PCB Library Tables window. Click on the Select active library icon

on the top toolbar. Select the myfootprint library.

3. Click on the New Footprint icon on the top toolbar. Type MYCONN3 as the footprint name. In the middle of the screen
the MYCONN3 label will appear. Under the label you can see the REF* label. Right click on MYCONN3 and move it above
REF*. Right click on REF__*, select Edit Text and rename it to SMD. Set the Display value to Invisible.

4. Select the Add Pads icon on the right toolbar. Click on the working sheet to place the pad. Right click on the new pad
and click Edit Pad. You can otherwise use the e key shortcut.
Getting Started in KiCad 42 / 45

5. Set the Pad Num to 1, Pad Shape to Rect, Pad Type to SMD, Shape Size X to 0.4, and Shape Size Y to 0.8. Click OK. Click on
Add Pads again and place two more pads.

6. If you want to change the grid size, Right click Grid Select. Be sure to select the appropriate grid size before laying down
the components.

7. Move the MYCONN3 label and the SMD label out of the way so that it looks like the image shown above.

8. When placing pads it is often necessary to measure relative distances. Place the cursor where you want the relative coordinate
point (0,0) to be and press the space bar. While moving the cursor around, you will see a relative indication of the position of
the cursor at the bottom of the page. Press the space bar at any time to set the new origin.

9. Now add a footprint contour. Click on the Add graphic line or polygon button in the right toolbar. Draw an outline of
the connector around the component.

10. Click on the Save Footprint in Active Library icon on the top toolbar, using the default name MYCONN3.
Getting Started in KiCad 43 / 45

Chapter 8

Note about portability of KiCad project les

What les do you need to send to someone so that they can fully load and use your KiCad project?

When you have a KiCad project to share with somebody, it is important that the schematic le .sch, the board le .kicad_pcb, the
project le .pro and the netlist le .net, are sent together with both the schematic parts le .lib and the footprints le .kicad_mod.
Only this way will people have total freedom to modify the schematic and the board.

With KiCad schematics, people need the .lib les that contain the symbols. Those library les need to be loaded in the Eeschema
preferences. On the other hand, with boards (.kicad_pcb les), footprints can be stored inside the .kicad_pcb le. You can send
someone a .kicad_pcb le and nothing else, and they would still be able to look at and edit the board. However, when they want to
load components from a netlist, the footprint libraries (.kicad_mod les) need to be present and loaded in the Pcbnew preferences
just as for schematics. Also, it is necessary to load the .kicad_mod les in the preferences of Pcbnew in order for those footprints to
show up in Cvpcb.

If someone sends you a .kicad_pcb le with footprints you would like to use in another board, you can open the Footprint Editor,
load a footprint from the current board, and save or export it into another footprint library. You can also export all the footprints
from a .kicad_pcb le at once via Pcbnew File Archive Footprints Create footprint archive, which will create a new
.kicad_mod le with all the boards footprints.

Bottom line, if the PCB is the only thing you want to distribute, then the board le .kicad_pcb is enough. However, if you want to
give people the full ability to use and modify your schematic, its components and the PCB, it is highly recommended that you zip
and send the following project directory:
tutorial1/
|-- tutorial1.pro
|-- tutorial1.sch
|-- tutorial1.kicad_pcb
|-- tutorial1.net
|-- library/
| |-- myLib.lib
| |-- myOwnLib.lib
| \-- myQuickLib.lib
|
|-- myfootprint.pretty/
| \-- MYCONN3.kicad_mod
Getting Started in KiCad 44 / 45

|
\-- gerber/
|-- ...
\-- ...
Getting Started in KiCad 45 / 45

Chapter 9

More about KiCad documentation

This has been a quick guide on most of the features in KiCad. For more detailed instructions consult the help les which you can
access through each KiCad module. Click on Help Manual.

KiCad comes with a pretty good set of multi-language manuals for all its four software components.

The English version of all KiCad manuals are distributed with KiCad.

In addition to its manuals, KiCad is distributed with this tutorial, which has been translated into other languages. All the dierent
versions of this tutorial are distributed free of charge with all recent versions of KiCad. This tutorial as well as the manuals should
be packaged with your version of KiCad on your given platform.

For example, on Linux the typical locations are in the following directories, depending on your exact distribution:

/usr/share/doc/kicad/help/en/
/usr/local/share/doc/kicad/help/en

On Windows it is in:

<installation directory>/share/doc/kicad/help/en

On OS X:

/Library/Application Support/kicad/help/en

9.1 KiCad documentation on the Web

Latest KiCad documentations are available in multiple languages on the Web.

http://kicad-pcb.org/help/documentation/