Kicad/Installing on Mac OS

Nightly builds
Since February 2015, nightly builds of KiCad for Mac OS are available, making the installation process much easier. These nightly builds are available on the KiCad website. As nightly builds, they are the most up-to-date (and may also contain bugs).

"Traditional" install
First, download the Apple Mac OS version of KiCad from the download page. Also (is this really necessary?) download any Linux version of KiCad (to get documentation, templates, part libraries, etc.)

In the finder window, drag the Mac OS version of KiCad to the "Applications" on the left sidebar.

Unzip the Linux version of KiCad (creating a folder named "Kicad").

From a command prompt (is there a better way?) uncompress the Linux version

Move the documentation, templates, part libraries, etc. to the appropriate place with (this never worked; what am I really supposed to do?)

To make this work on my mac I created a kicad directory under my /Users/myname directory and moved all the various kicad directories under there. Apparently kicad doesn't run properly with spaces in the directory names (/Library/Application Support/...) You must edit the file locations under 'Preferences' - 'Configure Paths...'



Then start KiCad.


 * (for shared libraries among all users), or
 * (To get your own libraries)