PCB Part Renamer

Minimal GUI tool to inspect and rename part labels inside encrypted XZZ .pcb boardview files.

What does this tool do?

This tool makes boardviews easier to use by letting you replace opaque, sequential part names with familiar IC/part names inside encrypted XZZ .pcb boardview files, and by keeping those mappings shareable for teammates and future sessions.

• Make boardviews readable: encrypted PCB files use opaque sequential labels for parts. This tool lets you replace those with familiar IC/part names to immediately understand what each component is while inspecting the boardview.
• Share and standardize mappings: the .partnames file is a simple text file in JSON format, containing the list of all the parts you have renamed for a specific PCB file. You can freely edit this file using this tool or just a text editor, or share it without having to share the .pcb file. This way everyone can apply the part name mappings to their copy of the .pcb file and see the same human-friendly names. This also allows users to easily keep track of name mappings using version control.
• Future updates: mappings let you add or extend part name changes over time - you don't need to rename every part in a single session. Save .partnames files, extend them later as the mapping set grows, and apply the new names to the original .pcb file iteratively.
• Compatibility: The produced output .pcb file will be compatibile with both OpenBoardView (tested on v9.95.2) and FlexBV (tested on v5.1244)

Installation

You can run the tool by running the standalone .exe file (Windows only) or directly from source (cross-platform):

Executable file (Windows only)

• Download and run pcb_part_renamer.exe from the repository Releases page

From source (cross-platform, requires Python)

1. Clone the repository and enter the folder:

git clone https://github.com/nitefood/pcb-part-renamer
cd pcb-part-renamer

2. Create & activate a Python 3.8+ virtual environment (recommended) and install dependencies:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # on Windows use `.venv\Scripts\activate`
pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run the tool from the repository root:

python pcb_part_renamer.pyw

Usage instructions

• Click "Open source .pcb" to load a board file. If a sibling .partnames file is present you will be offered to load it
• Use the search box to filter and jump to parts
• Double-click a part to edit the new name

  Note: the new name can not be longer than the old name, due to a limitation in the re-encrypting code. Pull requests welcome :-)

• The right-side "Changed Parts" panel lists current edits (click an entry to jump to that part)
• Click "Save modified .pcb" to pick where to save the modified PCB
• Mappings are saved alongside the original PCB as *.partnames.

Acknowledgements

• This project is inspired by (and builds on) the amazing reverse engineering work on the XXZPCB format by slimeinacloak.
• Thanks Paul L. Daniels for the great support and for creating the awesome FlexBV!
• Also thanks to the cool people from the nanofix Discord community!