KiCad Like a Pro, 3rd edition

KiCad 7 was introduced by the KiCad team in early 2023. It represents the next step of evolution for KiCad, with several incremental improvements and additions over KiCad 6.

Wayne Stambaugh, and Jon Evans, the lead developers for KiCad, presented the changes in KiCad 7 in a detailed blog post on the KiCad website.

I have updated this book for KiCad 7. In preparation for doing the update, I first checked all projects in this book and ensured that they work in KiCad 7.

I am pleased to say that all projects work properly without modifications.

After ensuring that all projects work properly in KiCad 7, I reviewed Wayne’s and Jon’s changes list (from their blog post) and documented these changes so that they are presented naturally in the course of this book and its projects.

Because the KiCad 7 changes are “evolutionary” (and not “revolutionary” as it was with KiCad 6), I decided that updating this book is preferable to writing a new book.

With KiCad’s new release schedule (essentially, a new major version of KiCad will be published every year), it is not possible for me to write a new one-thousand-page book so frequently.

To manage the introduction of evolutionary changes into the existing book, I have adopted a system that incorporates changes in accordance with their impact on the PCB design workflow.

For small changes, such as the ability to use custom fonts, I will be inserting “asides”. An aside is a small remark, typically inside a box or as a footnote, that presents the change in-line with the rest of the document.

For larger changes, I will introduce new chapters within the existing projects or in the Recipes part.

When a change has a significant impact on one of the projects, then I will introduce a chapter to the project. For example, the new “Search Panel” and “Properties Panel” get their own chapters.
Most changes are documented in new chapters in the Recipes part.

The KiCad 7 user interface is very similar to KiCad 6. The schematic and layout editors look unchanged without detailed examination.

Most dialogue boxes also seem unchanged, except for some widgets (such as text boxes and radio buttons) being moved around. I expect that most people that are familiar with KiCad 6 will be able to find their way around the KiCad 7 user interface without any trouble.

Where there is a significant difference between the two versions, I have replaced the KiCad 6 screenshot with KiCad 7. I have noted the original KiCad 6 screenshots in the legend.