PCB Filter

Modified by Rob Evans on Aug 7, 2018

Summary
Panel Access
Panel sections
Filtering by Group
Filtering by Object
Filtering by Layer
Selecting filtered objects
Highlighting
Clearing the Filter

Related panels

The natural partner to the PCB Filter panel is the PCB Inspector panel:

Parent page: PCB Panels

Quickly locate and highlight objects using the PCB Filter panel.

Summary

The PCB Filter panel provides a quick and easy way to selectively highlight specific types of PCB objects on any physical board layer. When used in conjunction with the PCB Inspector panel, full details of any selected board object is immediately available.

Panel Access

Access the PCB Filter panel by:

Clicking View | PCB | from the main menus.
Using the F12 keyboard shortcut.

Panels can be configured to be floating in the editor space or docked to sides of the screen. If the PCB Filter panel is currently in a group of panels, use the PCB Filter tab located at the bottom of the panels to bring it to the front.

Panel sections

The PCB Filter panel is composed of four regions. The first three, from the top, are selectable list areas which collectively define the scope of the filtering: Groups, Objects and Layers.

If these are set to 'Components', 'Pads' and 'Top Layer' respectively, for example, the board view will highlight Top layer pads that belong to components. The selections in all three panel sections represent the cumulative effect of three stages of filtering action, which can be used to quickly highlight any type of design object.

The fourth region - Highlighted Objects, at the bottom of the panel - presents all objects passing the filtering defined in the regions above. Clicking an entry in this region will zoom and center (where possible) that object.

Use the Show Polygons option at the top-left of the panel to quickly toggle all polygon pours in the design between poured (option enabled) and unpoured (option disabled).

Filtering by Group

Both Schematic and PCB documents have Primitive objects and Group objects. Group objects (such as a component) incorporate one or more primitive objects (pads, tracks. text etc). Primitive objects are either 'free' in nature, or 'owned' by a group object. Note that selecting Free in the Groups list section will highlight only those objects that are not part of a group object.

The selection in the panel's Groups list will highlight all objects, which includes each object's constituent primitive objects. All group objects are filtered, unless modified by the settings in the Objects and/or Layers filter lists.

A board view with the Groups selection set to Components. The other filter lists
(Objects, Layers) are set to <All>.

The same board as above view with the Groups selection set to Nets. The other
filter lists (Objects, Layers) are set to <All>.

Filtering by Object

The selection in the panel's Objects list will filter the board view to show primitive design objects. All objects will be highlighted, unless modified by the settings in the Groups and/or Layers filter lists.

The example board shown with Groups set to Components and Objects set to
Pads. Layers is set to <All>.

The example board shown with Groups set to Nets and Objects set to Tracks.
Layers is set to <All>.

Filtering by Layer

The selection in the panel's Layers list will filter the board view to show objects on the nominated physical design layer (Signal, Mask and Silkscreen layers). All valid Layer objects will be highlighted, unless modified by the settings in the Groups and/or Objects filter lists.

The example board shown with Groups set to Components, Objects set to Pads
and Layers is set to Top Layer.

The example board shown with Groups set to Nets, Objects set to Tracks and
Layers is set to Bottom Layer.

To filter objects on the current layer only, select the <Active Layer> entry.

Selecting filtered objects

The collective filter action provided by the PCB Filter panel assists both viewing and selecting board design objects of interest.

Only highlighted (filtered) objects are selectable, making it easy to locate, edit and find information about the object. The PCB Inspector panel (View | PCB | ) provides a simple way to dynamically see the details of filtered objects as they are selected.

Only highlighted objects are selectable, and information is instantly available via the PCB Inspector panel.

Objects that have the Locked parameter checked cannot be selected. Use the PCB panel to locate, select, and if necessary, unlock these objects.

Highlighting

The visual highlighting applied by the filter is in fact a masking effect, where filtered objects will appear visible in the design editor window, and all other objects made monochrome.

To set the contrast of the background (un-highlighted) objects, use the Mask Level slider: View | Highlight & Edit Mask.

Adjust the contrast of the masked (unfiltered) objects.

Clearing the Filter

Clear the currently applied filter with the panel's button or the View | Highlight & Edit Mask | button, or by selecting <All> (no filter) in the panel's three list sections.

Note that a filter applied to the design editor workspace is persistent and must be specifically reset, or over-ridden with another type of selection mechanism such as that of the PCB panel.

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