@tokyodave,

Welcome to EasyEDA.

It will help you to read and follow the instructions to find a number of other helpful resources in:

https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/How-to-ask-for-help-and-get-an-answer-71b17a40d15442349eaecbfae083e46a

There is a workflow diagram at the beginning of the Tutorial, a document intended to explain how best to use EasyEDA to design PCBs, another document describing how to find, create and use library components and a couple of checklists to help ensure the correctness of a schematic before it is converted to a PCB and then to help ensure that the PCB is correct tovthe schematic before it is submitted for manufacture.

It us a lot to read but it will save more than the time it takes to read it.

:)

@andyfierman Thanks.

So, looking at the document  'How to design PCBs' and 'From Idea to PCB', EasyEDA supports Schematics (scope: components on the PCB), but not Circuit Diagrams (scope: off- and on-PCB components).  So now I know the scope of the tool in that respect.  The other scope issue that is unclear is the completeness of the component library/ies.  It seems I often wind up by creating my own after wasting too much time looking in the libraries wondering whether I am not searching correctly.

This is the kind of usage knowledge that I am always looking for in any new-to-me tech field, but unfortunately instead wind up in the weeds.

" It seems I often wind up by creating my own after wasting too much time looking in the libraries wondering whether I am not searching correctly."

The library organisation, search and management of EasyEDA needs a lot of patience to find parts.

For example I need a 3 pin XLR plug with specified edge of PCB to front face of connector dimensions. There are dozens in the libraries each with dimensioned drawings but all that I have found so far do not specify the particular dimensions that I require. There is no way to set up a search to find one that does so the only way to do it is by manually checking the datasheet for each part in the JLCPCB for assembly library.

There are similar problems in parts not having sufficiently clear descriptions in the libraries.

Hence, like you I usually end up creating my own parts which then of course add to the confusion in the User Contributed library because my "clear description" may be gobbledegook to someone else.

The document, (2.3) linked to by the same route as "How to design PCBs" is therefore an attempt to guide people's searching and new part creation.

Note that the document "From Idea to PCB " is out of date because  some years ago, EasyEDA dropped support for multisheet simulations. Now everything has to be in a single sheet so my carefully worked out strategy no longer works. Now, the Add to BOM and Convert to PCB attributes have to be used to include simulation only parts in the schematic but exclude them from the BOM and being placed on a PCB.