Hi All,
I have a PCB I am trying to route, it is my first time doing something with microprocessor address and data lines. Is there anyway that KiCAD can hide all ratsnests except the data and address lines (in this instance). Would really help out with laying so I can see those better and hopfully align in a way that reduces jumping between layers!
Use: PCB Editor / Inspect / Net Inspector and then simply delete the nets you do not want to see. To repair it, simply redo the synchronization with the schematic.
This is a bit of a clumsy way. Edit: Staub’s method (See Below) is much better.
I don’t use V6 yet, but I have heard that in V6 you can set individual colors (and visibility) for each net lines. So you should be able to hide other nets or make address and data lines red for example. I suppose you do it someway at the panel on the right.
In V6 Appearance Manager you can mute individual ratsnests:
The tab caption “Nets” is a bit misleading, as this controls ratsnests.
Ah, yes. why did I not think of that… Maybe because of
But in the end I’d still rather have the short name in the tab page. If’ you’ve made the connection once you won’t forget and it’s “close enough”. Maybe there are also extensions planned for it. This panel is still quite new in KiCad and it does not have much functionality (yet).
However, in the appearance manager you can not select a group of nets, and clicking on a lot of them individually is a bit of a bore. The Net inspector has a filter and a grouping function. I’m now thinking about a feature request for adding a “visible” column to the Net Inspector.
On second thought.
It does feel it’s just not finished yet. The “grouping” does not seem to do much in the Net Inspector. Another obvious thing is to be able to assign a color to a group of (rats) nets, or to create a group, (maybe based on signals in a bus?) and manipulate them in the “Nets Tab” as a group.
Third thought:
KiCad V6 was sort of “rushed to market”. After 2 years of development people started asking when the next KiCad version would be ready, and then it still took a year of polishing and bug fixing. Idea’s are cheap and I’m convinced there are already plenty of them floating around. Extending the issues list (which is nearing 1500 now) for this does not seem very useful.
Time to stop this rambling…
Yeah. But there are quite a few issues worth discussing. Main point being: can KiCad move forward at an acceptable pace relying almost solely on volunteers?
So: end of rambling. Pragmatically holding back with bug reports and feature requests…
You can create nets there, so in my opinion tab name is appropriate 
Objection, Your Honor
In the “Nets” pane you are presented with a list of net names which do not influence nets, but ratsnests.
Only the net inspector’s tiny little icon leads to a function to add nets.
No, it controls nets, the ratsnest control is just part of what it does. You can also set the color of net copper, highlight nets, etc
I recommend putting the nets into a net class. You can use the lower section to toggle visibility, set color, etc for the whole class at once. This is the “group” you refer to below.
Ok, I rest my case.
20 chars
Because of John’s answer I spend a bit of time to figure out how this works. (Which was not very difficult).
First “On Topic” with hiding ratsnests. Appearance Manager / Nests does have a net Classes part, and you can indeed hide / show all nets in a netclass (or all net classes by right click) easily. Combined with the extra functionality net classes have gained in the schematic in KiCad V6 this may be quite a big thing for getting more overview (Although I do not like too many colors myself).
Whether the colors apply to only the ratsnest, or not can be set by opening the Net Display Options in the lower right corner, just above the selection filter.
I’m currently doing my 3rd PCB with V6, so I have a lot to learn - but so far IMHO, the ratsnest controls in the Appearance Manager have been the biggest improvement in productivity for me. Kudos to the developers.
bdh
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