Hello,
How can I select/highlight the trace in layout which also highlight and zoom the net in the schematic page ?
Click any track in the PCB Layout. Then left-click mouse and Net Inspection Tools → Highlight Net
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I think this is for US/UK keyboard layout. Anyway Hotkey configuration can be changed as you wish.
Highlighting a track on the PCB does not highlight and center the net in schematics. Only if you click on a pad / footprint in PCB schematics does center and highlight.
But thats what the OP wants.
INCORRECT ! ! It will if no part of that net can been seen on the current view of the schematic . . INCORRECT
EDIT: Well I thought it did . . . perhaps I was selecting a footprint.
First: differentiate between selecting track/footprint and highlighting track. These are two different operations, with different commands/actions.
cross-highlighting from board–>schematic (my workflow):
- prerequisites:
- highlighting is only available for tracks/pads on boards and translates to highlighted nets on the schematic
- automatically zoom to highlighted nets is not directly supported: a net on the schematic might be positioned at multiple sheets, and divided into multiple segments. So autozooming to net net ist not that straightforward.
- Preferences–>Schematic Editor–>Display options–>cross probing: enable all 4 checkboxes
- Preferences–>PCB Editor–>CTRL–> CTRL-click activates “highlight net”
- optionally in schematic editor: enable net navigator (View–>Show net navigator panel)
- in pcb-editor: CTRL-left click on any track/pad (track/pad must be enables in the selection filter)
- look into schematic:
- either the schematic shows directly the highlighted net
- alternatively the net navigator panel lists all occurences of the highlighted net segments. click one segment → you get the zoom action to that segment
Doesn’t work here.
Application: KiCad PCB Editor arm64 on arm64
Version: 8.0.8, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.6
FreeType 2.13.3
HarfBuzz 10.1.0
FontConfig 2.15.0
libcurl/8.7.1 (SecureTransport) LibreSSL/3.3.6 zlib/1.2.12 nghttp2/1.63.0
Platform: macOS Sequoia Version 15.3 (Build 24D60), 64 bit, Little endian, wxMac
OpenGL: Apple, Apple M1, 2.1 Metal - 89.3
Build Info:
Date: Jan 12 2025 21:41:46
wxWidgets: 3.2.6 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.87.0
OCC: 7.8.1
Curl: 8.7.1
ngspice: 44
Compiler: Clang 16.0.0 with C++ ABI 1002
From schematics to PCB, the net is highlighted. From PCB to schematics, nothing happens. Even if I centered the net in schematics manually and made sure all of the net is visible.
Net navigator in schematics shows no reaction.
And even funnier: When I click on a pad of a resistor, the expected side of that R in schematics is highlighted. Clicking on a resettable fuse’s pad, it is centered in schematics, but nothing highlighted.
When I click on a pad of a resistor
simple LMB-click: this selects something. cross-selection does not work for tracks<–>nets. (only for footprints<–>symbols and pads–>pins)
to get something highlighted: use highlighting hotkey or CTRL+click.
Don’t confuse these two actions.
When I click on a pad of a resistor, the expected side of that R in schematics is highlighted
If only the “side of the that R” is drawn with a color: then the pin is selected. There is nothing highlighted in that case. Highlighting a net shows the whole net with all segments in the highlighting color.
.
Clicking on a resettable fuse’s pad, it is centered in schematics, but nothing highlighted.
This can happen if the symbol for the fuse has some invisible pins (invisible–> will currently not be highlighted). But to give a better answer we would need a example project to investigate this.
I think I wrote “the net is highlighted”.
I did not. That’s why I wrote “pad” and not “track” or “net”. And that’s why I started a new section.
There is nothing invisible. It is a “Polyfuse_Small” from the KiCAD library.
@RaptorUK is correct. Using the “back tick” to highlight a net on either the PCB or Schematic will automatically highlight the other.
There is no zoom or zoom to centre when using the back tick function.
They aren’t relevant to the OPs query though . . . except to show that what wasn’t wanted isn’t offered.
Highlighting was half of the question.
I can select and highlight the net in the Schematic Editor which also highlight the trace in the PCB Editor. This part is working.
The other way around is not working. The other way around is possible ?
I already have the same settings cross-probing in Schematic Editor and in PCB Editor as sown by eelik in 12/14.
What’s your kicad version? Have you tried my previous and RaptorUK posts? It shoud work with latest v8.0.8. Try change highlight settings in order to get better contrast on nets. Maybe this is the problem.
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Yes, now it works. Thanks.