Electronic – KiCad 5.1: New footprint from existing footprint

footprintkicad

Is there a way to duplicate a footprint in one library into another for making changes? Or "create new footprint starting with existing footprint"?

I want to make a footprint for Adafruit's Itsy Bitsy 32u4. It's basically a 28 pin 0.6" DIP with five additional pins along one of the short ends. I could make it from scratch, but the built-in 28 pin DIP footprint has everything I need (except for the additional five pins, which should be easier to add than creating the footprint from scratch).

Adafruit provides Eagle files for their products, so it may be possible to import one of those into KiCad then extract the PCB as a footprint, but if that's my only option, I'll probably create the footprint I want from scratch as practice.

Best Answer

Short answer: Yes. @Indraneel's comment is exactly correct.

Long answer with steps:

First create a new library into which you want to save the modified footprint. You do this from the File menu.

Create New Footprint Menu

Next, choose where you want to save the library and specify what type of library you are creating. A project library is accessible only from the project you have open. A global library is accessible from all projects on your computer. As a general rule, I only create project libraries. I usually copy the global footprint into my local library when I use it in my projects.

Library Type

After you have created the new library, it will be listed in the Tree on the left. Next, you find the footprint you'd like to copy and right-click on it's name. Then select "Save As"

SaveAs Footprint

You will then be presented with a list of the footprint libraries. You select your newly created library and click OK.