Download
First things first, if you have not already installed KiCad onto your computer, do so now. The download links can be found at https://kicad-pcb.org/download/. The program should run on pretty much any computer but do note that it will take up around 5GB of space on your drive. Note that this tutorial written with KiCad version 6.0 in mind and later versions might have slightly changed functionality that may render this tutorial somewhat outdated.
Start-up
Once KiCad is good to go, open it up. You should be met with a window similar to what is shown below. Note that there’s likely a few more things on my window compared to yours as I currently have an existing project open.
Let’s take a moment to go over the points of interest on this window. On the bottom-left of the status bar at the bottom of the window, you see the directory that the KiCad project file is in. To the left, you can see the project directory structure. We’ll go more into this later on, but for now know that the area will display all the important files and folders that are contained within the project, such as the board’s electrical schematics, PCB layout, and parts libraries. On the left bar, you have the usual buttons for things such as saving, loading, creating a new project, along with a few others.
Now, let’s get onto the interesting stuff: the nine large buttons that you see on the right side of the window. Each of these buttons will take you to specific applications within KiCad. Let’s go over the first five buttons, as we will be using these tools in this tutorial:
 | Schematic Editor – Opens the Schematic Editor, in which you can perform the schematic capture process where you create the board’s electrical diagram. |
 | Symbol Editor – Opens the Symbol Editor, in which you can create and edit symbols for use in your electrical diagrams. |
 | PCB Editor – Opens the PCB Editor, in which you can create and modify the layout of your PCB. |
 | Footprint Editor – Opens the Footprint Editor, in which you can create and edit the component footprints for use on the PCB. |
 | Gerber Viewer – Opens the Gerber Viewer, an application that allows you to view gerbers, the output files that will be used by manufacturers to create your PCB. |
Note that I mentioned a few other applications in the descriptions above such as the Schematic Editor, Symbol Editor, and PCB Editor. “But wait, isn’t KiCad all I need to make cool boards?” you may ask. You see, KiCad is an Electronics Design Automation Suite, and its functionality is contained within several programs, most of which you will use going through in this tutorial.