Electrical Symbols Library for Drawing
Schematics in PowerPoint
For best results:
– Turn snap-to-grid-on
– Do not scale the
symbols library. Draw
entire schematic first,
then scale to desired
size.
– After rotation, press
up/down and
sideways arrow keys
to realign the
component with the
grid.
Actives
Passives
Sources
Discretes
OpAmps, OTAs & Buffers
Transducers
Misc.
ADC
DAC
LPF
How Do Things Get Off-the-Grid?
Whenever an object is moved, PowerPoint aligns one of the edges of the bounding
box with the grid. Therefore, if the component’s bounding box is not exactly an
integer number of grid units in size, when the component is moved, its terminals
may move off the grid.
Invisible PowerPoint
Grid (Enlarged)
Bounding box
aligns with grid
Terminal not
aligned with grid
Move Left
Component
with
a
bounding box that is not
an integral number of grid
units
When the component is moved to
the left, the terminals become
misaligned with the grid. Aligning
connection lines with the terminals
is impossible because newly drawn
lines are snapped to the grid.
Other edge of
bounding box
aligns with grid
Move Left Again
Moving left or right will not
realign the terminals with
the grid. To realign with the
grid, the component or the
connecting lines need to be
nudged.
How Can We Ensure They Stay
On-the-Grid?
The components in this library were carefully designed so their bounding boxes
are an integer number of grid units. Therefore, when the object is moved, the
component terminals stay aligned with the grid.
Invisible PowerPoint
Grid (Enlarged)
Both edges of
bounding box
align with grid
Move Left
Component
with
a
bounding box that is
an integral number of grid
units
When the component is moved to
the left, both edges of the
bounding box align with the grid
and the terminals stay aligned
with the grid.
Terminal stays
aligned with grid
Move Right or Left
The component and its
terminals stay aligned with
the grid as it is moved left
or right.
Another Way Things Get Off-the-Grid…
When multiple items are selected, the bounding box is the smallest box that
contains the bounding boxes of all the selected items. When moving groups of
selected items, your components can get moved off the grid. A work-around is
shown on the next slide.
Invisible PowerPoint
Grid (Enlarged)
R1
Bounding box
aligns with grid
Terminal not
aligned with grid
R1
Move Left
The joint bounding box of
the component and the text
label is shown here.
Because PowerPoint snaps the
location so an edge of the bounding
box lines up with the grid, when the
component is moved to the right, the
terminals become misaligned with
the grid.
How to Move Several Selected Items and Still
Stay on the Grid
1) Draw a box that is bounds all of the objects that you need to move (including their
complete bounding boxes).
2) Select all the objects to be moved and the the newly created box.
3) Jointly move the selected objects to the desired location.
4) Delete the box made in step 1.
R1
R1
R1
Move
The newly created box
contains the objects to be
moved.
Its size is an
integer number of grid
units.
Because the joint bounding box is
an integral number of grid units,
when the selected components are
moved, the terminals remain
aligned with the grid.
Delete the extra box. The
component
terminals
should remain on the grid.
Golden Rule
To ensure things stay on the grid when they are moved, the bounding box of the
object(s) being moved should be an integral number of grid units in size.