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I've just drawn my first circuit with KiCad / EESchema (on Kubuntu) to insert my circuit diagram into one of my answers. But I can't find a way to export to PNG (nor gif or jpg).

How can I export my schematic in such a way that I can easily upload it here?

jippie
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3 Answers3

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I am going to explain this under Windows, however it should be quite similar to how it is when using Kubuntu.

What you should do is plot to a SVG file and then use GIMP to convert into any raster format, PNG in this case. You can use online SVG to PNG converters with ease, too.

Go to File » Plot » Plot

enter image description here

In the dialog, select "SVG" under "Format" and click on "Plot All Pages". This will create a .svg file in the same directory that is your schematic file is in.

Next, use a SVG to PNG converter tool such as GIMP. I will use an online tool:

enter image description here

Here is the result. Click on it for bigger picture:

enter image description here

abdullah kahraman
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Max
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    Thank you. I was looking for a way to print to PDF and the Plot menu item does that as well. – The Unknown Dev Mar 27 '16 at 19:50
  • Same for me, wanted to go to pdf. Note that using "Plot" rather than "Print" makes text in the schematic pdf searchable, which is priceless. The answer to the question for this thread is really just "take a screenshot", but this answer is much more useful... – apollo901 Feb 17 '21 at 02:38
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This works across platforms and software tools, and is acceptable for generating images for websites and other non-printing uses.

  1. Adjust screen so that the schematic/board/whatever looks like it should in the final image
  2. Press the Print Screen button
  3. Paste the image into GIMP (or your favorite image editing software)
  4. Crop the image so that only the important portion of the schematic/board/whatever is showing
  5. Save the image to whatever format you like
W5VO
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    I figured that one too, but I hoped there would be a smart shortcut. I'd prefer the plot to SVG and Inkscape.org route though. – jippie Apr 19 '12 at 20:40
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    Alt+ prt scrn for just the active window or print to PDF ( if you have an easy pdf printer installed like Foxit – Tony Stewart EE75 Apr 20 '12 at 05:59
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    @TonyStewart, this is not windows, it is Ubuntu. – abdullah kahraman Apr 20 '12 at 07:05
  • This feature should really be in the blueprints. – abdullah kahraman Apr 20 '12 at 07:13
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    @abdullahkahraman I believe alt-printscreen works under Linux as well, although I use something other than Ubuntu. – W5VO Apr 20 '12 at 13:15
  • Yes, it does. However, I was trying to tell him that he cannot install Foxit PDF printer driver. – abdullah kahraman Apr 20 '12 at 16:00
  • PrintScrn pops up a small application in Kubuntu that lets you save the snapshot. Aynyways, I find it strange that I cannot export to common graphics files like png. I'll check the site for feature requests. – jippie Apr 20 '12 at 17:40
  • This is not the way to do it. The other answer shows the proper way – Swedgin Jul 06 '20 at 08:15
  • @Swedgin I concede that this is not the method to use EESchema to directly generate a PNG/SVG. In this answer, I am re-framing it as an [X-Y problem](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem) that is really just interested in getting an excerpt of a schematic and posting it on StackExchange. I'm willing to bet that I can get to a website/report-ready schematic excerpt image faster using my method than anything involving the plot menu. – W5VO Jul 07 '20 at 02:41
  • @W5VO Sure, but you are stuck at the resolution you printscreen'd the schematic. If you had to zoom out to fit it in the screen and later you want to zoom in, you'll get an ugly pixelated schematic. It's a no-no. I was baffled to see this as the accepted answer, it's a bodged fix. And no, this isn't the case of an X-Y problem. OP asked for a method to export to PNG, the other answer provides that. The part that he wants to upload it here is irrelevant. – Swedgin Jul 07 '20 at 08:47
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File -> Export -> Copy to clipboard, then paste to anywhere you like

Star Chen
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