KiCAD 7.0.7 released

[johnboxall]

A lot more bug fixes. See https://www.kicad.org/blog/2023/08/KiCad-7.0.7-Release/

[David Aurora]

Is this ready for prime time now? Last time I looked at updating from 6 the consensus seemed to be to keep waiting, I'm guessing it should be good now though?

[SiliconWizard]

Dunno, same question really. I've been postponing using v7 for anything serious. It seemed to have "too many" problems with the added fact that KiCad projects and libraries in v7 are incompatible with v6, so basically no way back (which kind of sucks.)

[gjvdheiden]

In version 7.0.0 or so I stumbled upon a bug, which had a workaround. Reported it and there where already other reports about it. I couldn't make that connection, because the other reports didn't contain a clear step by step scenario or functional description. But it was linked by the developers actively. The bug was fixed pretty quick.

KiCad hasn't crashed on me when using it for my hobby projects. I like to use the latest version and report a bug when I find it. Which happend only once.

[MarkS]

Is this ready for prime time now? Last time I looked at updating from 6 the consensus seemed to be to keep waiting, I'm guessing it should be good now though?

I've been using version 7 since it first came out without any stability issues. Other than the inherent quirks of KiCAD's interface, it works well.

[hpw]

If you need some specific functions, as a good advice to look at https://gitlab.com/groups/kicad/-/milestones/ whether there is a known issue in the queue... as often seen now on V7, undone gets swapped into next cycle, so to wait 

Hp

[gjvdheiden]

There won't be new functionality in 7.0.X, only bug fixes. New stuff is for version 8, maybe in the future there will be backports.

Also, keep in mind, the bug reports that will make it to version 6 will be very rare. No bug reports planned to be fixed for version 6 doesn't mean version 6 is more stable than version 7.

A fix maybe postponed for a next release because is has much lower impact. In the mean while users can benefit from other fixes. This is common sense really.

Is there anything on the list you specifically encountered?

[hpw]

Is there anything on the list you specifically encountered?

On my list are: Fill zone, differential pairs...

[gjvdheiden]

Is there anything on the list you specifically encountered?

On my list are: Fill zone, differential pairs...

If you're waiting on this one
https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/12215 ("Tune length of a differential pair" can create a broken track)... It is a year old and exists in version 6 too. That bug is a though cookie apparently.

[SiliconWizard]

I started my first work project with KiCad 7.0.7. So far it's fine. I like the new features.
I have noted a couple annoyances - wondering if you have as well:

- Copy-pasting blocks of schematics from v6 to v7 (one schematic open in v6, another in v7), with the same grid for both, often results in the pasted copy getting off-grid for some odd reason. Pretty annoying. You have to select the copied block and issue "Align elements to grid".
- Automatic annotation is enabled by default. I personally don't like it and disabled it in the preferences. When copy-pasting, when enabled, it seems to retain the original annotations, which may be a feature but can result in duplicates. I'll have to test more to confirm though. All in all, I don't think automatic annotation is a good idea, but I can see why this feature has probably been long awaited by some. Maybe that also lowers the barrier to entry, as a newcomer may not understand how the annotation system works in KiCad.
- The hierachy navigator is handy, but it takes significant space (since it extends to the whole height of the window). Maybe there's a way to set it up differently, I haven't investigated that yet.

[bson]

Is it possible to have to two copies of v7 running, or two projects open, at the same time?  I'd love to be able to copy-and-paste design elements like power sections, ethernet PHY+magjack, or USB that are tedious to layout again and again but never really change.

[fourfathom]

Is it possible to have to two copies of v7 running, or two projects open, at the same time?  I'd love to be able to copy-and-paste design elements like power sections, ethernet PHY+magjack, or USB that are tedious to layout again and again but never really change.

Yes, I sometimes have two instances of V7 running for just this reason.  I've not had any luck copying hierarchical sheets this way, but if I drop into a sheet I can copy the schematic and paste that into the other instance (or into a new hierarchical sheet.)

[SiliconWizard]

Is it possible to have to two copies of v7 running, or two projects open, at the same time?  I'd love to be able to copy-and-paste design elements like power sections, ethernet PHY+magjack, or USB that are tedious to layout again and again but never really change.

Yes of course. It was possible in v6 and thankfully, it still is in v7. And as I mentioned, you can of course have several instances of v6 and v7 open at the same time, mixed. And copy-paste between them. (With the small caveat I mentiioned about the grid, which is not yet confirmed as a bug.)

[VEGETA]

so the system for kicad releases is to do major release every year? like version 8 will be in Jan-2024 or so?

what major features are coming in version 8?

[Doctorandus_P]

so the system for kicad releases is to do major release every year? like version 8 will be in Jan-2024 or so?

There is no "exact" schedule but the intentions are indeed set for a release of a new mayor version around the start of each year.
You can have a look at:
https://www.kicad.org/blog/categories/Release-Notes/
for details of previous releases. Note that KiCad uses a 3 digit numbering scheme. The first number is the mayor number, the second number is for minor functionality updates, but it is unlikely to change now KiCad has changed to a yearly release (There was a V5.1 though). The third number is for bug fix releases, and these happen around once a month.

what major features are coming in version 8?

Each year, a Post Vx new features and development news thread is opened on the KiCad users forum. This is a special thread, in which only developers can post and it is a collection of all new features. I do not dare to guarantee that all these features would be in the next mayor though. It is possible for example that some feature may have a difficult to solve bug and it gets postponed to the next mayor release.

https://forum.kicad.info/t/post-v5-new-features-and-development-news/15693
https://forum.kicad.info/t/post-v6-new-features-and-development-news/32633
https://forum.kicad.info/t/post-v7-new-features-and-development-news/40144

[benst]

what major features are coming in version 8?

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/kicad/version-8-project-news/

[MitjaN]

Is it possible to have to two copies of v7 running, or two projects open, at the same time?  I'd love to be able to copy-and-paste design elements like power sections, ethernet PHY+magjack, or USB that are tedious to layout again and again but never really change.

Not that I'd now natively in KiCad. There is a Save/Restore Layout plugin (https://github.com/MitjaNemec/SaveRestoreLayout) which enables this.

[bpiphany]

If I'm not wrong you can have one project open at a time in the main kicad interface, but also any number of stand-alone eeschema (schematic) or pcbnew (board layout) instances open at any time. It's possible to copy paste between them, but I would suspect you run into problems with the annotation if you simply copy parts of a layout between boards.

[JohanH]

If I'm not wrong you can have one project open at a time in the main kicad interface,

I can have any number of projects open that open in separate instances of KiCAD. A project is stored in its own directory in the file system and there is a project file (.kicad_pro), schematic (.kicad_sch) and PCB (.kicad_pcb) etc. within each directory. The schematic and PCB files are locked when opened, to warn you if you try to open the same file multiple times. I haven't run into problems copying and pasting parts between different projects. As far as I have observed, it works no differently than copying and pasting within the same project.

[SiliconWizard]

If I'm not wrong you can have one project open at a time in the main kicad interface,

I can have any number of projects open that open in separate instances of KiCAD. A project is stored in its own directory in the file system and there is a project file (.kicad_pro), schematic (.kicad_sch) and PCB (.kicad_pcb) etc. within each directory. The schematic and PCB files are locked when opened, to warn you if you try to open the same file multiple times. I haven't run into problems copying and pasting parts between different projects. As far as I have observed, it works no differently than copying and pasting within the same project.

Yep, as I said. For schematics, no issue at all. Just be careful in v7 if you have enabled automatic annotation. If not, the pasted symbols will be pasted without annotation. If it is enabled, I would be wary. I had tried and it seems to retain the original annotation rather than create new annotations on the fly, but to be checked, haven't tried thoroughly - automatic annotation has given me more trouble than benefits so I disabled it.

Also, I've later realized that the question seemed to be more about copy-pasting layout blocks specifically, and in that case:
- Any graphical item not connected to any net: absolutely no problem
- Footprints/traces/anything connected to a net: it retains the original annotation and net names. So if annotation and net names are the same in the layout in which you are pasting, that will work. Otherwise, that will wreck havoc. So, you can use it to copy-paste already layouted blocks as long as annotation and net names in both the destination and source schematics were exactly the same for the copied block. Also, you can't do this if you have already imported the corresponding footprints in the PCB editor from the current schematic, as it would create duplicates when pasting. So, requires a lot of care. There are plugins for this, but haven't tried them yet. I have used the "Replicate layout" plugin, which is meant to replicate the layout of identical hierarchical schematics inside a single project. It mostly works, a few quirks that sometimes require manual fixing afterwards, but pretty handy if you have multiple instances of the same schematic block.