TinyCAD Reviews

TinyCAD is definetlay a useful piece of tool and also open source 👍👏. However, the UI is a bit old style

Thank you very much for the program! Thank you for distributing it under a free open source license!

What a crap!!! Using this crap for a few weeks now and if u want a divorce, keep using this crap. I dont so I happy deleted it!!! It gives u so much frustation and stress. that it makes u a walking timebomb. The user interface really sucks!!! No logica behind! Using for example the X symbol TWO TIMES ON THE TOOLBAR is just stupid. Even my son of 14 will never program like that. Thats really dumb to do like that. Other issue is that u need to click many times with ur mouse to get things done. Other solutions do it in 1-2 clicks while this crap needs 3-4 times. It delays ur designtime a lot and ur finger get easily tired. Take for example the power symbol. U have to click on the GND symbol, select the arrow and rotate it! This should be available with one click. Its used on each sheet!!! Same with placing a symbol, the text NEVER shows up where it ahould be. U need ALWAYS to correct the placing of the text of the part. Like the ID of an IC always shows up in front of a pin in the way. Or try to copy and paste something. Thats really hell. First u select an area to copy, most of the times it will grab other parts in the area and unwilling moving them to screw up ur design. Then u undo it and try it again. Sometimes I had to try 4 times before the right area was selected. Or i had to zoom in able to select. Also zooming with the mouse doesnt work always. Have tried on 3 laptopw with different mouses, all same problem. Then when u able to paste..... moat of the connections are disconnected and parts are misplaced. U AGAIN busy with reconnecting and dragging text. Same when u update a component and replace it. U can NOT update all components one time but only by SHEET!!! What the.other reviewer wrote is correct! Then u have to CHECK EACH COMPONENT or the text is still correct placed. It will jump around and probably u have to adjust EACH COMPONENT MANUALLY!!! Also the NAME of the component is NOT UPDATED and u have to edit it again one by one. One letter wrong and ur unsortable parts list get crazy. Make a lot of backups.of ur libraries as files can become suddenly corrupt without a plausibe reason. Someone else mentioned the same problem. That people are positive about this crap is for me a miracle... maybe never used professional cad programs or just tiny projects... THIS IS NOT A SIMPLE VERSION OF A CAD PROGRAM BUT AN IDIOTIC VERSION!!!! There are much better free CAD versions out there who do all those basic CAD functions without any frustation.

It's easy to use and simple. I've been able to create my own library objects and update them as well. There are lots of duplications in the libraries. I'd like to see it handle "letter" documents better, obviously it's designed around A4. Objects that are not in "grid" sometimes seem to wander when reloaded so that the object and the wires don't align (Vacuum tubes and mainly transformers - for guitar amps).

I used TinyCAD for wiring diagrams for a kit car. It is an excellent software package. It was relatively easy to learn and did a great job. I love this program and my thanks go to the developers. I recently had a challenging issue after a windows update. Any embedded images were not printing to PDF. Updating to the latest version of TinyCad has fixed that issue. Thanks again.

Very easy to use.

I just don't believe how is it possible to have so much good reviews for this SW, it misses so much features to be just useable : - folio managment - folio wire following tool - .sgv import for external libraries - nomenclature managment There is no dynamic libraries : you modify a symbol in a middle of a project, you have to replace ALL the symbols one by one by hand in the whole project .... this is insane ! Trying to work with TinyCad is just a waste of time. Simple is not simplistic. You have try Qelectrotech just for comparison (also free, and open source, and linux/mac/Win, bla bla bla)

Using/testing TC for a few weeks now : - randomly corrupt custom libraries saves - inexusable basic functions is missing : - reorder sheet is not possible - reorder lists (other than alphabetical order) is not possible - no version managment, no index managment - no upgrading document content when object is modified in the librarie - no follow-up of the names of the cables/busses from one sheet to another Really painfull to have another usage but tiny project with tiny expectations with the output.

Amazing. This program has saved thousands of man-hours for myself and colleagues. At first, one would think it is only good for circuit-board design. Not the case at all. I am an audiovisual design engineer, and this is PERFECT for conceptual (pre-sales) design. AutoCAD is great, and everything will end up being in there, but it takes time. TinyCAD does not. Once you create a decent library, you can pump out drawings at a blistering pace. Bottom line, I would pay for this product if it weren't free. It is that damn good.

VirusTotal ( www.virustotal.com ) tells me that the latest rlease ( TinyCAD_2.80.08_631_Production_Release.exe ) contains viruses. The old release TinyCAD_2.80.03.514_Production_Setup.exe seems to be clean. This will prevent many people from wanting to upgrade.

Great job! Simple, fast, light tool for drawing schematics. It has snap to grid, drag connected component, 90degree (and more) wire guide, rotate. Drawing your own parts is simple and fast. I worked in Protel, trying KiCad, working in DraftSight (for laser cutting), SolidWorks and this one (TinyCad) is very nice, free and open. You should setup page/printer first, so program can take paper size from your printer driver. Then it will fit into page at 100%

Recommended for anyone that's looking for a simple program to draw schematics. It obviously doesn't have the features of an EPlan or Solidworks Electrical but that's not necessarily a bad thing.The high end programs are nice if you work with them full time but the learning curve for those is too steep if you only use them occasionally. There's a lot to be said for a simple, easy-to-use program that does one thing well, and this fits into that category. The included library is on the small side but creating library components is simple and quick so that's not a major problem. The only feature that I really miss is the ability to automatically link relays across multiple pages; with the coil on one page and the contacts on another. Still, it's a very useful program that I can use to draw schematics in a fraction of the time compared to the more sophisticated offerings.

Seriously, what more could you ask for? Quick to install, easy to get a feel for, works great for those of us who aren't super users (might work great for super users too, I just know I'm not one). A+ thank you.

Hi - Excellent CAD system , just does the job quickly. been using it for years. Note for new users - find the Tinycad group on Yahoo for libraries that users have shared etc Also for some reason the SF link to 'download the latest version' points to the v2.6 zip file This is incorrect - the latest is v2.8 or above - its much better - see the files tab on SF Another good thing - the .DSN files that are output by TinyCad are XML structured Ascii text so you can usefully do copy and paste/replace using notepad or Notepad++ , just be careful not to break the structure - work on a copy! The libraries are stored in SQLite so are not easy to edit, until you edit the library and export all symbols to XML

In spite of its faults, TinyCAD is one of the better schematic capture tools I've used. Faults include a rather clumsy user interface, and schematic symbols (especially analog/discrete parts) that often look like a 2-year-old drew them (but TinyCAD is no worse than most other tools in this regard). The latter is especially problematic when trying to draw professional level schematics to hand off to a customer. I solved by creating my own set of symbols. Another problem is the title block and optional border, extend right to the very edge of the page.... come on guys; you KNOW that printers don't print to the very edge of a page! This can be solved by first outputting to a PDF file using Acrobat's "fit page" option, then printing the PDF. Having said all that, I have to say that TinyCAD is very serviceable and a pretty useful tool, and what is especially amazing is its small size.... the entire installation is only about 10MB !

After a little search I came to Tinycad and in my search for a method of drawing circuit schematics it seems rather good. In the past I have tried Smartdraw (okay but not very nice looking in the end and no print that worked under the free download I had) and the original Visio (once Microsoft brought it out I would never use a MS product especially as they ruined it in the next release and made it less than a clever solution) so now TinyCad seems to be my best option. I have had 20 minutes with it and although I am not quite sure why I cannot remove the tool box once I have collected all my circuit elements I am after all just a beginner on this package. I have to say I am impressed. I will update you with my thoughts as I play with it but it has been a good start! Thanks guys!

Terrific, just what I needed to do simple circuit design. For a dabbler in EE like myself, it was very intuitive to just start up and begin placing components and putting things together. I'm very happy to have such a useful tool that I don't have to spend megabucks on and has such a great learning curve. One feature I would have liked to see made simpler is creating your own symbol for custom IC's. Although this is possible, it would be nice to have the process be a little more guided.

What a wonderful app! I've been using OrCAD back in the days, and recently looked for a replacement. Found this and I'm happy! excellent application for me, netlist extraction works very well with FreePCB. Well done developers! I was not able to create hierarchical pages 'on the fly' (noticed it does support inserting another schematic as hierarchy) if this is possible I'd be happy to hear, even without it though, TinyCAD is still just great.

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TinyCAD is ideal for my simple circuit diagramming and design projects. I used it when designing a six IC pressure alert module. The output of TinyCAD made my project documentation appear professional. However, getting there I had to improve the scanty library, which had no NE555 timer. I copied another 8-pin symbol and made my own NE555. I had to add several chips to the library that way. Since I can make new symbols or convert existing ones, I am content with TinyCAD.

It's a very user-friendly and easy to learn. It is like I have been working with it for ages. Thanks for developers. I do need the followings. I want to make group some of my drawings and I want to add them library as a new component. Is it possible and how? I could not find any designer. Any link will be appreciated .

Good and simply !

Its a simple and powerful Program Thanks Dirk

Update: I have been using this software for over 2 years now. For any quick project this is the only thing I use. I can't stress enough how easy it is to document things. It does way more than just schematics, you can insert pictures as references as well. Again, I could just get back to this program anytime and start drawing with zero learning curve. Keep up the great work! What a gem! Extremely intuitive and a flexible program, almost zero learning curve... Thank you!

Just what I needed. Did exactly what I wanted in few min. Very easy and straight forward use. Higly recommended for simpler schemes.