Selecting and Placing Components

Components are contained in libraries. The Components tab of the Component Libraries lists the installed libraries in folders. Each of these folders can contain one or more libraries. See the The Components Tab section for additional information.

To place a component on the schematic, select the schematic that will contain it, then:

In the Component Libraries window, click the Components tab.
In the component list, locate the component you want to place, opening library files and folders as necessary to find it.
Hint
Searching for components in the installed libraries can be time-consuming. The Component LibrariesSearch feature minimizes the complexity of the search and allows quick access to all models.
Do one of the following:

Double-click the component, then move your mouse cursor into the schematic. Inside the schematic window, the cursor is accompanied by the component symbol for placement.
Drag the component to the desired location.
Right-click the component and select Place Component.

Position the cursor where you want to place the component, and click.

Hint

You can rotate a component before placing it by repeatedly pressing R on your keyboard. Each press rotates the component 90º counterclockwise. After placement use Ctrl+R to rotate a component.
Similarly, you can flip a component before placing it by pressing the X key to flip it left-to-right; or by pressing the Y key to flip it top-to-bottom. After placement use Ctrl+X and Ctrl+Y to flip a component.

If Multiple Placement is turned on for components in the Schematic Editor Options dialog box, click additional locations to place additional instances of the component.

To stop placing components during multiple placement, do either of the following:

Press Enter, the SPACEBAR, Backspace, or Esc on your keyboard.
Right-click and select Place and Finish or Finish.

Hints

To help facilitate the easy copying of design materials, you can drag and drop components to the Schematic Editor. In particular, you can select and drag components:

From the Project tree Definitions folder to a schematic
From the Component Libraries Search tab component list to a schematic
From the Component Libraries Components tab component list to a schematic

Note:

The first time you place a component in a project, entries for it are added under the Component tab tree’s Most Recently Used and Project Components headings. To save time as your work progresses, you can double-click these icons to place new instances of a component.

• For security reasons, encrypted components are not saved in the Most Recently Used list or the Favorites list.

To ensure electrical connectivity among schematic elements, the pins of placed components snap to a 100-mil (2.54-millimeter) grid. This snapping cannot be turned off, and the spacing of the connectivity grid cannot be adjusted.
To move an existing component, select and drag the component to a new position. Wiring to the component is adjusted; that is, the wiring “follows” the component. To retain the in-place wiring, hold down the Alt key as you drag the component to a new position.

Warning:

When dragging a component to a new position, if the wires attached to it make an unintended connection, a red exclamation mark is displayed as a warning. The figure below illustrates the red circles used to indicate where connections will be made and the exclamation point warns that there may be a connection that is not what you intended.