+++
title = "Template Folder Changes"
date = "2018-05-19"
draft = false
aliases = [
    "/post/template-path-changes/"
]
"blog/categories" = [
    "Upcoming Changes"
]
+++

As of version 5.0.0-rc2 (commit be0978f3 to be precise), there was a
change made to the way the template path is determined.  The ambiguous
environment variable KICAD_PTEMPLATES has been deprecated and replaced
by KICAD_TEMPLATE_DIR which by default should point to the template
folder installed with KiCad.  This path may not always be correct
depending upon how KiCad was installed.  At least it can be configured
by the user if the default path is incorrect.  Prior to this, the system
install path was a hard coded internal path that was unknown (unless you
dug through the user's manual).

A new environment variable KICAD_USER_TEMPLATE_DIR was added so users
can change the location of their personal templates.  This also existed
as a hard coded value.

These paths will also influence which default project file (kicad.pro)
is used when creating new projects.  The order of presedence is as
follows:

* KICAD_USER_TEMPLATE_DIR
* KICAD_TEMPLATE_DIR
* The previous search list.

Thank you for your patience during this transition.

**The KiCad Development Team**
