Settings and themes
The settings you are most likely to change, and the colour themes.
All settings are under SoftForge Electronics Designer (softforge.edsnx.*); Electronics Designer: Open Settings jumps there and
Electronics Designer: Preferences… opens the in-editor preferences (display, pan and zoom, editing, colours,
hotkeys).
Ids before 1.8.0. Up to 1.7 the commands, settings and editors were softforge.kicad.*; 1.8.0 kept them
working for one release. Since 1.9.0 they no longer work: an old command id (in your keybindings.json, tasks or
another extension) is not found, an old setting key is not read, and no editor opens under an old view type
(softforge.kicad.pcb …). Rename softforge.kicad. to softforge.edsnx. in keybindings, tasks and when clauses.
The one-time migration still runs: the first start of 1.9.0 copies old user, workspace and folder settings to the
new keys where the new key is unset (old entries stay in settings.json; delete them when you like) and rewrites old
view types in workbench.editorAssociations (softforge.kicad.pcb → softforge.edsnx.pcb). The most used settings:
| Setting | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
cliPath | kicad-cli | path to KiCad’s command-line tool |
libraryPaths, libraryEnv | [], {} | extra libraries, path variables |
grid, pcbGrid, gridOrigin, gridStyle | 1.27, 0.25 mm, [0, 0], dots | grids |
units | mm | mm, in or mils |
snapToGrid, snapToItems | true | snapping |
routingMode | walkaround | highlight, walkaround, shove |
showRatsnest, curvedRatsnest, padNumbers, netNames, highContrast, flipBoard | view options | |
objectOpacity | tracks/vias/pads 1, zones/images 0.6 | Objects tab opacities |
theme | kicad-default | kicad-default, kicad-classic, vscode, or an imported KiCad theme |
hotkeys | {} | action → key overrides |
zoomAtCursor, panStep, rotationStep, flipDirection, fastGrids, fullCrosshair | editing preferences | |
symbolGroups.isolationOpacity | 25 | isolation mode: opacity (%) of everything outside the edited symbol or footprint |
symbolGroups.askOnExit | true | leaving isolation mode after a body change asks Keep local override / Update library / Update all |
symbolGroups.defaultRigid | false | symbols and footprints without their own Rigid / Flexible choice are rigid |
symbolGroups.autoposition | off | auto: labels placed with a preset are placed again when the group box changes |
symbolGroups.inPlaceEditing | true | double-click / F2 edit labels on the canvas (off: the properties open) |
Colour themes: Electronics Designer: Select Colour Theme… lists the built-in themes, the KiCad themes found in KiCad’s
config folder (colors/*.json) and the ones imported with Electronics Designer: Import Colour Theme…. The vscode
theme follows the VS Code colour theme. The editor chrome always follows VS Code’s theme.