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I'm trying to learn KiCAD and it seems that every 5 minutes I cannot find a component and substitute a different one (e.g. substitute lm317 for a lm338) This works all right in the schematic part but if I ever get to pcb making or testing this will obviously cause issues. Can someone give me link(s) to ALL of the libraries both for footprints and schematics. (I know about the github one but that seems to be missing stuff). Also to install the libraries all I need to do is just copy and paste the .pretty and .lib files into the libraries folder right?

EDIT: I once installed about 100 gigabytes of Cygwin dependencies so I don't really care about saving storage space/ bandwidth.

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    \$\begingroup\$ A critical component of learning any EDA software is to learn to make the parts you need. Use LibEdit and ModEdit in KiCad for this. \$\endgroup\$ – Seth Aug 7 '18 at 20:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well I cannot even get ki-cad to save to anywhere but downloads folder... so I don't know that im going to be able to figure that out. \$\endgroup\$ – 5hutd0wn R35tart Aug 7 '18 at 21:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ So it was working a few minutes ago... but when I try to create a new project it says "file not found check the file name and try again" Doesnt make alot of since since im trying to CREATE a file not use an existing one. For some reason though it will save to downloads folder fine though... I did try running ki cad as administrator to see if it was a perms issue. \$\endgroup\$ – 5hutd0wn R35tart Aug 7 '18 at 21:15
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SnapEDA has free KiCad libraries to download. You can search for the libraries you need and install them as you need them.

DigiKey has a library of many common parts which are linked to their footprints. These can be nice because they have manufacturers, part numbers, and many other associations in their keywords.

Mostly, though, you should be making your own component and footprint libraries. Many parts don't have freely available KiCad libraries.

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No matter how long you search you will never be able to find pre made symbols and footprints for every imaginable part. Even if you find a symbol or footprint for your part somewhere you still need to check it for correctness.

You mention in a comment above that you have trouble getting kicad to save your symbols and footprints. I have written up some tutorials over on the forum that might help you out a bit:

On the symbol side i have not yet found time to write something as detailed but this might help you out: https://forum.kicad.info/t/high-level-thinking/12086/2

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