Component silkscreen text?

[justanothercanuck]

It's probably in one of the FAQ's, but does anyone know if there's an easy way to get the silkscreen text for components (U1, R23, C4, etc), or do you have to manually add them by hand?

Thanks

[LLR1967]

Assuming you've created a schematic in EESCHEMA and generated a net list and read that into PCBNEW (in other words, you're not making a board w/o a schematic), the parts will have a proper reference and a value. Both types can be made visible and invisible. Hover over the reference (U1, etc.), press E, if a choice menu appears, select the desired reference text, a form should appear (footprint text properties). There you should see that one can choose invisible or visible. Note: A part put on the board using the O command in PCBNEW will still have the reference, but it not read as U1, R1, etcetera; it will say whatever was entered when the part was made (e.g., SOIC-8***).

If invisible was selected by default, one can edit the part globally to set the reference to always visible. There may be a way to force all references as visible, but I'm not sure of that...

[justanothercanuck]

Thanks, I have them all visible, I'm just not sure if they'll appear on the finished board or not.   

[Thor-Arne]

Thanks, I have them all visible, I'm just not sure if they'll appear on the finished board or not.   

Plot the gerbers and use the gerber viewer to check the output.