KiCad 6 - Populating a PCB using the Interactive HTML BOM Plugin

26 Mar 2022

My friend Adrian recently showed me a plugin for KiCad that makes determining placement of components while populating a PCB easier. KiCad 6 has a feature that makes adding plugins simple. Open up KiCad and select the Plugin and Content Manager from the main window.

Select Plugin and Content Manager

Once inside, install "Interactive Html Bom" and apply the change.

Open up the PCB Editor and select the icon for the HTML BOM Plugin on the menu bar.

Menu Bar Icon

A menu with options opens up. For now, generate the BOM with the defaults.

BOM Generation Menu

A window in your browser will open. Clicking on a component highlights it's location on the PCB (red) as well as the BOM (green) as shown below. This greatly eases locating where parts go, or if you prefer placing all components of one value and type before moving on to the next component.

BOM with PCB displayed

Top Comments

wolfgangfriedrich over 2 years ago in reply to genebren

I do the same with paper documentation and because of this plugin I am now thinking how to place a monitor in the best line of sight.
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baldengineer over 2 years ago

For a long time, I resisted using this plugin. I kept telling everyone: "It's fine! I can just look at the PCB file and do it that way."

And then, finally, I gave in and used this silly plugin.

OMG. WHAT a difference it makes.

By the way, it took me WAY too long to notice the "HTML Defaults" tab. It lets you set things like dark mode, front only, highlight pin 1, and orientation as default exports. (all things I would do each time.)
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fmilburn over 2 years ago in reply to genebren

Hi genebren,

Hi Gene,

If you use Eagle or Easy-EDA see the Github repository: https://github.com/openscopeproject/InteractiveHtmlBom

My eyesight isn’t that great and I have a large computer monitor. I can look back and forth between my work and the screen is much more visible than printing out paper.
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genebren over 2 years ago

That is a really nice feature. When assembling PCBs, I have a copy of the BOM, schematic and layout pinned up to my metal shelving to help guide me. This works fairly well, but I am constantly switching between glasses (one to read the drawing - Bifocal and one to look through the microscope - single focus). I could see adding or repositioning one of my screens, adding a second mouse, just so I could try this (oh yeah, learning yet another PCB design package).
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DAB over 2 years ago

Very nice feature.
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