{"id":1135,"date":"2014-06-30T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.digilentinc.com\/?p=1135"},"modified":"2025-06-02T04:06:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T11:06:16","slug":"fritzing-tips-and-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/fritzing-tips-and-tricks\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential Fritzing Techniques: Top 6 Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As promised, this post provides\u00a0some of the tips and tricks for\u00a0using Fritzing that some of the other interns and I have discovered in our use of the software. I have been working closely with Fritzing to get a Digilent parts bin in the next release, which should happen\u00a0soon!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tips and Tricks You May not Know about Fritzing:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. <i>Searching for a specific part?<\/i><\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t want to wait for the parts bins to load, or if you don&#8217;t know which bin the parts belong in but you do know the name of the part, you can search for it. If you don&#8217;t find the part, you need go to the next tip.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1342\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1342\" style=\"width: 274px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Parts-Search.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1342\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Parts-Search.png\" alt=\"Search for Parts\" width=\"274\" height=\"147\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1342\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Search for parts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>2. Can&#8217;t find the part you need?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You can make your own parts. For a step-by-step guide, check out this <a title=\"instructable\" href=\"http:\/\/www.instructables.com\/id\/Fritzing-Creating-Your-Own-Parts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instructable<\/a>. You can find other user-created parts at the Fritzing <a href=\"https:\/\/code.google.com\/p\/fritzing\/issues\/detail?id=875\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">user-created parts Google code repository<\/a>. If you are looking for Digilent Fritzing parts, I&#8217;ve just created a <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/kaitlynfranz\/Digilent_Fritzing_Parts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">github repository<\/a>\u00a0for Digilent parts.\u00a0<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1343\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1343\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/editor.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1343\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/editor-300x157.png\" alt=\"Fritzing New Parts Editor\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/editor-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/editor-1024x538.png 1024w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/editor-800x421.png 800w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/editor-1200x630-cropped.png 1200w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/editor.png 1499w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1343\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fritzing New Parts Editor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>3.\u00a0<em>Tangled wires?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>By default Fritzing wires are straight, which can lead to pretty messy and unrealistic looking Fritzing images. However you can enable curly wires and legs, as shown. This makes your pictures look more like the real circuit, and allows you to route wires around things so the wires don&#8217;t look tangled. See below for an example of straight wires vs. curly wires.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1339\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1339\" style=\"width: 227px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/preference.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1339\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/preference-227x300.png\" alt=\"Edit -&gt; Preferences\" width=\"227\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/preference-227x300.png 227w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/preference.png 247w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 227px) 100vw, 227px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1339\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edit -&gt; Preferences.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1338\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1338\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/curly-wires-select.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1338\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/curly-wires-select-300x184.png\" alt=\"Select Curly Wires\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/curly-wires-select-300x184.png 300w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/curly-wires-select.png 477w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1338\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Select curly wires.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1340\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1340\" style=\"width: 239px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/uncurly.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1340\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/uncurly-239x300.png\" alt=\"Without Curly Wires\" width=\"239\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/uncurly-239x300.png 239w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/uncurly.png 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 239px) 100vw, 239px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1340\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Without curly wires.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1341\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1341\" style=\"width: 216px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/with-curly-wires.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1341\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/with-curly-wires-216x300.png\" alt=\"With Curly Wires\" width=\"216\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/with-curly-wires-216x300.png 216w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/with-curly-wires-433x600.png 433w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/with-curly-wires.png 544w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 216px) 100vw, 216px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1341\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">With curly wires.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>4.\u00a0<em>Tired of parts only sitting in certain places?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Another default setting is &#8220;Align to Grid&#8221;. If you don&#8217;t want your parts to only be able to move a\u00a0distance the size of the grid, you can deselect this. This allows for more freedom for part placement.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1346\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1346\" style=\"width: 286px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Align-To-Grid.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1346\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Align-To-Grid.png\" alt=\"View -&gt; Align to Grid\" width=\"286\" height=\"198\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1346\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View -&gt; Align to Grid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>5.\u00a0<em>Want to create your own PCB?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you want to create your own PCBs, you can order them from Fritzing. All you have to do is lay them out in PCB view and use Fritzing Fab to order the amount of PCBs that you want.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>6. <em>Grabbing the wrong parts?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When you have\u00a0a lot of parts and wires, oftentimes it&#8217;s hard to grab the right parts or wires without unintentionally changing your image in a different way. One way to prevent this is to lock parts. This way the parts you don&#8217;t want to move stay where they are, while you make delicate tweaks to your image.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1344\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1344\" style=\"width: 283px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Lock-Part.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1344\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Lock-Part.png\" alt=\"Right Click - &gt; Lock Part\" width=\"283\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Lock-Part.png 283w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Lock-Part-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 283px) 100vw, 283px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1344\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Right Click &#8211; &gt; Lock Part.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Something else that can help with this problem is the raise and lower feature. You can raise and lower your parts to arrange them as necessary.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1345\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1345\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Raise-and-Lower-Parts.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1345 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Raise-and-Lower-Parts-300x177.png\" alt=\"Raise and Lower Parts\" width=\"300\" height=\"177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Raise-and-Lower-Parts-300x177.png 300w, https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Raise-and-Lower-Parts.png 794w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1345\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Right Click -&gt; Raise and Lower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class='watch-action'><div class='watch-position align-left'><div class='action-like'><a class='lbg-style6 like-1135 jlk' data-task='like' data-post_id='1135' data-nonce='1cb2a57891' rel='nofollow'><img src='https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wti-like-post-pro\/images\/pixel.gif' title='Like' \/><span class='lc-1135 lc'>+2<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class='action-unlike'><a class='unlbg-style6 unlike-1135 jlk' data-task='unlike' data-post_id='1135' data-nonce='1cb2a57891' rel='nofollow'><img src='https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wti-like-post-pro\/images\/pixel.gif' title='Unlike' \/><span class='unlc-1135 unlc'>0<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div> <div class='status-1135 status align-left'><\/div><\/div><div class='wti-clear'><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As promised, this post provides some of the tips and tricks for using Fritzing that some of the other interns and I have discovered in our use of the software. I have been working closely with Fritzing to get a Digilent parts bin in the next release, which should happen soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1563],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[4466],"class_list":["post-1135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academia","category-guide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/with-curly-wires.png","authors":[{"term_id":4466,"user_id":18,"is_guest":0,"slug":"kaitlyn","display_name":"Kaitlyn Franz","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9276021eaa44781ce19f364cfca46ada25e1500769cf4803a095a5bae83c912a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":"","9":"","10":""}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31622,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions\/31622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1135"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}