In the PCB Editor, I can see all footprints and ratsnest connections.
However, when I Ctrl+click any pad or try to Highlight Net, the “Toggle Net Highlight” option is disabled, and no nets are highlighted.
Additionally, when I try to draw a copper fill zone (for example, to connect to GND), the zone is created but does not fill — it remains an empty outline, as if no GND net exists on the board.
Despite this:
The schematic appears fully connected — moving a component moves its wires.
The PCB visually shows footprints and airwires (ratsnest).
ERC and DRC run without major errors.
The netlist file (.net) is generated without errors.
What I’ve Tried
Re-annotated schematic and updated PCB using “Update PCB from Schematic” (by UUID and by Reference).
Regenerated and re-imported the netlist.
Verified all schematic connections are made with wires, not graphical lines.
Checked that all symbols have footprints assigned.
Verified that ratsnest lines appear between components on the PCB.
At the moment I assume there is nothing wrong with KiCad, but it’s user inexperience. I never used the Toggle Net Highlighting button in the left toolbar. But I do use net highlighting by just hovering over a track or pad and then pressing the backtick key (Just left of 1 on a US keyboard).
All those attempts suggest that you assume there is something wrong or incomplete with the structure of your project. I think it’s more likely that you are struggling a bit with how various functions work in KiCad.
I am not able to attach my project here since i am a new member, is there any other way to understand this issue.
i had used Kicad 8 few months back and i could use fill option but now its not working not sure what i might have done wrong. here is the project attached.
