Miscellaneous

I added a couple of macros and subcircuits into the Component Editor and created shapes for these parts in the Shape Editor. I just installed a newer version of Micro-Cap and have now lost these parts. Is there a way I can get them back without having to recreate them?

There is an easy way to retrieve these parts. Whenever Micro-Cap is installed over a previous Micro-Cap, it backs up the appropriate component and shape files. The Component Editor file used is Comp.mc5 and the Shape Editor file is Shape.mc5. Micro-Cap will back these files up in the MC5 directory with names such as Comp0.mc5 and Shape0.mc5. If you are only reinstalling, you may copy the backup files back to the names Comp.mc5 and Shape.mc5, making sure that Micro-Cap is not loaded, and then start Micro-Cap. Your parts will then be available again. However, if you are upgrading to a new version that has new components you will need to merge the old Comp.mc5 file. Start Micro-Cap. Go to the Windows menu and click on Component Editor. In the Component Editor, there is a Merge command button. This will invoke a File dialog box that lets you choose a Comp*.mc5 file to merge. The merge function will look at the Comp*.mc5 file and determine which parts don't exist in the current Comp.mc5 file and merge them into it. If these parts have shapes that don't exist in the Shape.mc5 file, then the shapes will also be brought over. This command can also merge MC4 component and shape files into MC5. The MC4 component and shape file is called CS.MC4.