Edit Track

This manual routing mode is used to sequentially add track segments into a PCB design, either to finish off a new track being added, or to rework an existing track segment.

Shortcuts

Default Keys: None

Default Menu: None

Command: Edit Segment

Mouse: Double Click on track segment.

Locating this option

Available from: Double Click on track segment

How To Enter Edit Track Mode

Edit Track mode can be entered in a number of ways as follows:-

Use Insert Track to start a track. Pick a start item or position, and you then are placed into Edit Track Mode.
Double Click on a PCB connection or existing track segment. Edit Track will be entered adding track segments starting from the end of the picked item closest to the picked position.
Select a connection or single track segment and right click to use the Edit Segment command from the shortcut menu.

How To Edit A Track

Whilst in Edit Track Mode you are performing one of the following three actions, which will be referred to later:

Editing a track segment - Trailing Dynamic segment(s) are drawn from the moving cursor position to the target finish point. i.e Back to the end of the original segment you were editing.
Editing a connection - A dynamic connection is drawn from the moving cursor position to the target finish point. i.e. Back to the item the original connection ended on.
Adding a new track - There is no target finish point, so no trailing item is drawn. (unless showing connection to nearest node - see below).

The general method of adding track segments is as follows:

Move the cursor to position the dynamic segment attached to it. If two segments are dynamic then concentrate on positioning the first of them, i.e not the one attached to the cursor. The Status bar will show details about the segments being moved.

If Online DRC is being used you will find that movement is restricted to stop the dynamic tracks from getting too close to other obstacles in the design.
Left Click in space to add a corner and commit each track segment in turn. If an item is close to the cursor, but you do not want to finish on it you can use Shift Left Click to force a corner.
Control Left Click in space to change layer whilst adding the corner. This will drop a via at the picked position.
Right Click to use the shortcut menu to alter the track appearance, swap layers, alter the editing preferences, change the segment being edited, and cancel or finish the track.
Press the Escape key to cancel the Edit Track Mode at any time.
Left Click over an item to finish the track on that item. This is only available when adding a new track or editing a connection.
Left Double Click in space to finish the track at the picked position. There is an editing preference to allow any trailing connection or track segment to be completed on this action.

Edit Track Options

During the Edit Track process Right Click to change editing options from the shortcut menu.

Cancel Add Track

Or Cancel Edit Track if editing a track segment. Use this to cancel the Edit Track operation.

Finish Here

Use to finish the track at its current position. The dynamic segments are added to the design and if there is a trailing connection or track segment(s), these too are added to the design as seen.

Note: The Double Click action can be set to this option by unchecking the Double Click Completes Track option.

Type Coordinate and Type Offset

It is possible to position the current corner by typing a position into a dialog, rather than clicking with the mouse. See the Type Coordinate help page for details on using this dialog.

Finish On Via

This option will finish the track on a via at the current cursor position. Use it to add a stub route out from a SMD pad to a via.

Complete As Track

If editing an existing segment, or there is a trailing connection attached to the cursor, you can use Complete As Track to automatically finish the route to the target position i.e the connection or trailing track segment end position.

If it can, it will use the current segment mode to complete the track. Use the Show Legal Completion Path option (described later on this page) to dynamically display this simple path if there is a trailing connection to a target node.

If Online DRC is enabled for Continuous mode and there is an obstacle in the way of the attempted finish path, a more intelligent routing algorithm will be used to try to complete the track.

Note: The Double Click action can be set to this option by checking the Double Click Completes Track option.

Change Layer

Use to change the current routing layer that the dynamic track segments are on, or to change the complete track to a new layer. If some segments have already been added a Via will be introduced at the start of the dynamic segments, and at the end of the trailing segments (if needed). See the Change Layer help page for more details.

The default layer provided to change to will be the layer previous to the last layer change. This makes it easy to toggle between two electrical layers whilst laying down track segments.


Before Change Layer	After Change Layer Note the Vias introduced at the ends of the dynamic segments and the segments left on the previous layer are now dimmed.

If Online DRC is being used, a warning will be given if the swapped tracks or inserted vias get too close to other items in the design. You will be able to choose to leave them in error or cancel the change layer to enable you to try again in a more appropriate position.

Another way to change layer is to use Control Left Click to add a corner and change layer at the same time.

Additional commands are also available to change to the Next Layer or Previous Layer. These will cycle through changing layer to each of the available suitable layers in turn.

A set of commands are also available to change the layer of the track directly to an electrical layer. Use Change To Layer 1 to change to the top electrical layer, Change To Layer 2 to change to the next electrical layer and so on. If you want to use these commands regularly, you can associate them with shortcut keys using Customise. For example you could assign layers 1 to 10 to keys 1 to 10, and layers 11 to 20 to keys shift + 1 to shift + 10.

Drop Via

Like Change Layer mentioned above but always adds a protected via and does not change the track layer.

Change Style

Use to change the current width of the dynamic track segments, or to change the complete track to a new width. This enables you to ‘neck’ tracks to fit through small gaps and to ‘fatten’ tracks again at the end of these gaps. See the Change Style help page for more details.

If the track has default track styles defined through the Net Styles dialog the new track style will be set to the net style alternative (nominal or minimum) track width. This makes it simple to neck segments up and down.

If Online DRC is being used, a warning will be given if the changed segments get too close to other items in the design. You will be able to choose to leave them in error or cancel the change style.

You can also use the Next Style and Previous Style commands to change the track style of the dynamic track segments to the next or previous track style that would be shown in the Change Style dialog style list. These commands are not on the context menus as they are designed to be placed on shortcut keys.

Change Net

Normally used to change the name of a new net when adding new tracks to the design. Can be used when editing existing tracks to alter their net names as well, but if you rename to an existing net’s name, the nets will be joined. See the Change Net help page for more details.

Mark Net

Use to highlight the whole net that you are editing in the Marked Net colour . This can make it easier to see which pads to finish new tracks on. This option is a toggle, and so using it again will remove the highlighting.

There is also an option in Options - Edit Track to automatically mark the net being edited, and clear the highlighting when the edit is completed.

Change Default Via Style

Use this to set up the Pad Style to be used for the next Via to be automatically inserted by a layer change . If the current net being edited has a net class this style is defaulted to the net class Via Style, else it takes its value from the Via Defaults page.

End Track On

This sub-menu is available when adding new tracks or editing connections. It allows you to end the moving track segment at the cursor position on a Via or Testpoint. This is normally used to add stub tracks from pads on SMD devices to vias in order to take signals down to a power plane. See the End Track On help page for more details.

Disconnect Track End

This option is only available if you are editing an existing track segment. Use it to disconnect one end of the track you are editing from the item it was attached to. You are then switched to be adding new segments at the end of the track you disconnected. So you are now in adding new track mode and can therefore finish the track end on another item.

The end of the track that gets disconnected is either the start if you are editing the first segment, or else the segment at the end of the track. But if the track is only attached at one end then this is always the end that gets disconnected.

Differential Pairing

If the track being edited is part of a Differential Pair, you will find the option Pairing Mode on the shortcut menu. Use this to put you into an edit mode where a paired track is added alongside the track being added. The gap defined for the differential pair is kept between the two tracks being added.

When the section of paired tracks has been completed, you can stop pairing and carry on routing the original track to its destination pad. Do this by using the Single Track Mode from the shortcut menu.

Note: Pairing Mode uses the command called Differential Pairing. This can be assigned to a shortcut key and used to toggle pairing on and off during interactive routing.

Use the Mirror Mode or Pairing Start Mode options to lay down the initial track patterns of the two nets prior to using Pairing Mode.

Whilst in Mirror Mode one of the tracks will be edited and the other will mirror its movement about a line between them. Movement of the tracks will automatically be restricted so that they do not become closer together than the differential pair gap. Left click when they are close to start pairing.

Pairing Start Mode is fundamentally the same as using the Insert Bus Route option in that it gathers the two tracks by single side routing to the two junctions representing the start of the paired section. Moving the cursor moves the junction pair to the required position, and left click starts the pairing.

You can switch between the three modes using the context menu, which will also show which mode you are in. When you start routing one of the three modes will be used automatically for the differential pair. This is defined in the Add a Differential Track Using section of Options - Edit Track. Whilst editing, you can check what automatic start mode is currently set using the Editing Options sub menu from the context menu. Use Next Diff Pair Start Mode to change the automatic start mode to use in the future The current start mode is shown in brackets.

Whilst adding paired segments, you can end pairing by selecting one of the three modes to carry on editing. Using Pairing Start Mode here allows you to automatically route the tracks around an obstacle and start pairing again.

Use the Via Pattern option to choose the required via configuration to be used when changing layer whilst adding differential paired tracks.

More details on adding and editing paired tracks can be found in the Differential Pairs help page.

Track Hugging

There are several steps that can be taken when adding tracks to ensure they are close together. The simplest is to use a track grid to place tracks on adjacent grid lines. To ensure they are on adjacent grids you need to use Online DRC with Continuous checking enabled. This will physically stop your track from getting too close to another on a different net by truncating it. Next you can enable the Obstacle Avoid mode (described later on the Avoid Obstacle help page). This automatically corners the track being added when its path is obstructed. Using these measures ensures interactive creation of close tracks whilst maintaining the segment mode and track gridding.

Sometimes it is necessary to place a track as close as it can to another or to a shape in the design without causing errors, ignoring the current track grid and segment mode. For example, you may wish to perform bus routing, track shielding, differential pair routing or simply to hug tightly to leave the maximum space in the design. To do this use the Track Hugging feature to Lock On to a design shape or another track and hug it for as far as you like.

You can choose to hug at the Minimum Gap by selecting the Track Hugging Always Uses Minimum Gap option on the Options - Edit Track tab, or from the shortcut menu when asked to select the shape to hug, or you can type the required gap, or the hug distance is the distance from the current track end when the shape is selected. If not using the minimum gap, the distance apart will be kept only if the gap provided is greater than the minimum spacing between the track and the current obstacle, so it will not add a track causes errors.

When hugging with Online DRC with Continuous checking enabled, any obstacle you hit will be added to the hug path so you can hug around it. You have to move the dynamic track end onto the obstacle to hug around it. This includes pads and vias.

Perform Track Hugging as follows:

Whilst adding a track, move the cursor up to the track or shape edge that you wish to hug.
Right click the mouse and use Start Track Hugging from the context menu. If the cursor was over a shape or track on the same layer as the track being added, hugging will start straight away. If you do not want to automatically hug the shape or track you are over, hold the Shift key down when picking the option.

Note: A quick way to start hugging is to put the Track Hugging command on a shortcut key and press the key when the cursor is over the item to hug.
If no shape is under the cursor, or the Shift key is down, the moving of the track will be suspended until you left click to choose the shape to hug. The cursor is changed to show a question mark indicating it does not know which item to hug.

Normal left click will only pick shapes on the same layer as the track. Use Control Left Click to pick shapes or tracks on other layers.
Whilst in this picking mode you can use the shortcut menu to change the following.
- Track Hugging Always Uses Minimum Gap - Check this to set the gap between the track being added and the obstacles being hugged to the minimum allowed gap. Uncheck it to keep the initial distance from the track being added to the picked obstacle.
- Type Gap - Use this to enter the exact gap you require between the track edge and obstacle being hugged.
- Hug Method - Choose one of the following methods to change how the track will hug the obstacles.
  - Shielding - Adds tracks that hug the obstacles as tight as possible, introducing arcs around pads and sharp corners.
  - Routing is like shielding, but will add 45 degree lines around pads and sharp corners.
  - Gridded will add a track with all segments a multiple of 45 degrees and snapped to the next track grid position away from the obstacle.
As soon as the shape to hug around is picked the cursor is changed again to indicate that the track hugging mode has started. As you move the cursor along the picked track or shape, the new track is added alongside it. If the Minimum Gap option is selected, the gap is just enough to avoid design rule errors. Whilst in this mode the track is not gridded.
If you have Online DRC with Continuous checking enabled, any obstacle you hit will be added to the hug path so you can hug around it. You have to move the dynamic track end onto the obstacle to hug around it. This includes pads and vias.
Press the left button to add a corner to end the hugging and move away from the shape. Using the Track Hugging command again will also stop the hugging.

Note: When in Add Track, and before clicking to start the track, you can select Start Hugging from the shortcut menu. This ensures the new track being added starts hugging immediately.

Follow Construction Lines

If you have added some construction lines and circles to accurately represent a critical path for the track, use Follow Construction Lines from the shortcut menu to add the track along this path.

The track will snap to the nearest construction line (if it can) and you will enter the Follow Construction Lines mode. A special cursor will be shown and wherever you move the cursor the track will follow along the construction line.

There are two ways of following construction lines and you can switch between them using the Auto Switch Construction Lines option from the context menu. With Auto Switch enabled, when you reach an intersection between two construction lines it will follow the line exiting the intersection that is closest to the moving cursor. This way you can use the construction lines to fully or partially define the track to be added by quickly tracing around the available construction lines with the mouse.

If there are a lot of intersecting construction lines and circles it can be hard to follow a line through them all by keeping the cursor straight and avoiding switching to other lines. In this case it is easier to disable Auto Switch and follow a single line until you left click on another line that intersects it to switch to it. the track will have segments added through the intersection point and up to the point you have picked on the new line.

Use the backspace key to remove the last segment added by moving the cursor back to the intersection point at the end of the previous segment.

Whilst in this mode you can change width and layer.

Use single left click on the current line being followed to stop following construction lines and allow you to move away and add corners individually to complete the track, or use Finish Here to finish the breakout on the construction line currently being followed. If a connection is attached to the cursor to a target pad, follow the construction lines until you get close to the target and use Complete As Track to complete the track to the target.

Note: When in Add Track and before clicking to start the track, you can select Follow Construction Lines from the context menu to start the new track directly on the nearest construction line.

Match Pin to Pin Length

Sometimes you have to achieve a particular pin to pin length when adding tracks. To help with this, use the Show Track Length Limits option (described below) to display the estimated Pin to Pin length whilst adding track segments. If the tracks have Pin to Pin Length Rules defined, the display will show the defined limits and indicate when they have been met.

Use the Match Pin to Pin Length option from the shortcut menu if you do not have net class rules defined and want to match the length of the current track path being edited to another pin to pin track path already completed in the design or to a known length. Use this option as follows:

Whilst adding track segments, temporarily move the cursor to a track on the path that you wish to match the length to.
Right click the mouse and use Match Pin to Pin Length from the shortcut menu. If the cursor was over a track, the length will be extracted from the picked track straight away.

If no track is under the cursor, editing will be suspended until you pick the track to match or type the required length. Whilst waiting for you to pick the track the cursor is changed to show a question mark indicating it does not know which pin to pin path to match.

Note: A quick way to start length matching is to put the Match Pin to Pin Length command on a shortcut key and press the key when the cursor is over a track in the path to be matched.
Only tracks that are fully routed in a single path from pin to pin can be picked. Left click on the track to match, or use Type Length from the shortcut menu to directly enter the required pin to pin length.
The Show Track Length Limits heads up display will change to show the names of the pins we are trying to match, the length of the tracks between them or the typed length, and the difference between this length and the estimated length of the track being edited. The difference will be highlighted in the “illegal” colour if not zero.

If the path to match has vias, or the current path being edited has or needs vias to complete, the display will include the via counts on both paths. It may be important to have the same number of vias as well as the same track length to ensure signals arrive at the destination pins at the same time.
Use the Match Pin to Pin Length option again to toggle length matching off.

Editing Options

Presents a sub-menu containing alternative track characteristics and editing preferences:-

(The list below is shown as a brief overview to the functionality, a full description can be found on the relevant page):

Auto Corner - Allows you to automatically insert corners by moving the cursor perpendicular to the current track direction. This will then add a corner and allow you to continue routing without clicking the left mouse button.

Apply Segment Mode To Tail

Only available if editing an existing track segment, so that you have a trailing dynamic segment. Use so that when you do Finish Here, you do not end up with angled segments.

Show Dynamic Cons Only - Use it to hide all unrouted connections that are not dynamic during the interactive operation. It will only show the dynamic connections if they were already visible. This option is useful in the early stages of layout when there are a lot of connections on the screen, enabling you to just view the connections attached to the track you are editing.

Show Connection To Net - Only available if adding a new track or editing a connection. This switches on or off the ability to show a dynamic connection to the closest item on the current net being edited. Use it to enable use of Complete Track when you are close to the required item that you wish to end the track on.

Show Legal Completion Path - Only available if editing a connection, or adding a new track and using Show Connection To Net. This switches on or off the display of a legal completion path from the dynamic track end to the target item at the end of the unrouted connection. The completion path will only be displayed if the track can be completed to the target item using the current segment mode in two or less segments without introducing any spacing errors. It will be displayed using hollow segments in the “Unfinished” highlight colour.

Use it to know if there is a simple legal path for use by Complete As Track from the current track position. If it is displayed the Complete function will use it and not attempt completion with a more complicated path using a routing algorithm.

Show Finish Markers - Only available if adding a new track or editing a connection. This switches the display of the finish markers on and off. Use finish markers to indicate when you are over an item that you can finish on, either directly with a Left Click, or with a via using Control Left Click.

Remove Track Loops - Track loops may not be required in the design, this gives you the option to automatically remove loops that are accidentally introduced during edit track.

Auto Finish - Use this option when adding a new track to automatically finish it when its free end is moved over an item that it is allowed to connect to.

Allow Join Nets

With this selected you will not be able to join nets of different net names. Use it to ease the picking of items to finish the track on by not being able to pick items on other nets.

Obstacle Avoid

Use this option to put you into a special mode of routing where the track will automatically add a corner and change direction when you come up against an obstacle. This applies to either segment being dynamically moved which has the result of being able to “wrap around” obstacles without having to interactively add corners.

In this mode you can automatically remove any corners that have been added by re-tracing the cursor back over the track (like in auto corner).

Note: Obstacle Avoid is only available when you are using Online DRC with Continuous checking.

Show Track Length Limits

Use this option to toggle the display of length limit indicators when you are adding tracks which have track length rules defined on them.

You can define total track length rules on the Net or Net Class, or you can define length limits on a Pin Network Part.

There are a number of options you can change in the Track Length Limits- Options dialog to control the display of pin to pin lengths, net lengths and differential pair length differences.

Reposition Cursor Text - This is available when displaying the length limit using cursor text. Use this option to change the position of the text box relative to the cursor.

Optimise After Edit - This is an option in [Options

Edit Track](../Options/idh_options_routing.md) to automatically optimise the net being edited when the edit on the track is completed. This will ensure unrouted connections are only shown on the net where the minimal breaks occur.

Auto Necking - Enable this option to allow the dynamic track segments to automatically neck down to a smaller track width to pass by obstacles when the normal width would produce a design rule error.

Pad Auto Necking - Enable this option to allow for necking to and from pads. When routing into or out of a pad that is smaller in width than the current used track style, the track will neck down to a width smaller than the width of the pad.

Segment Mode

Presents a sub-menu containing alternative Segment modes. Choose between adding orthogonal, angled, curved or free angle segments.

Orthogonal (Mitre) - When adding corners (manually or automatically) you can choose this mode so that Mitres are always added to any 90 degree corners.

Orthogonal (Fillet) - When adding corners (manually or automatically) you can choose this mode so that the Fillets are always added to any 90 degree corners.

45 Angled (Fillet) - When adding corners (manually or automatically) you can choose this mode so that the Fillets are always added to any 45 degree corners.

Pull Tight - Use this special mode to produce a minimum length track using alternate 45 and orthogonal angle track segments. It will automatically introduce corners only when it needs them to wrap around obstacles. This mode is extremely effective for quickly adding tracks through dense pin arrays.

Restricted Movement - Use this if you want to restrict the addition of the next shape segment to a fixed angle or length.

If the restricted angle is not zero you can specify how the angle is snapped to. On the Segment Mode context menu there is an option Snap To Angle Step. Check this to snap the track or shape segment to an angle that is a multiple of the restricted movement angle. Uncheck to snap to any 45 degree step relative to the restricted movement angle.

Change Segments

Presents a sub-menu containing alternative segment preferences:-

(The list below is shown as a brief overview to the functionality, a full description can be found on the relevant page):

Edit Segment - Use this sub-menu to change which segment you are editing.

Flip Dynamic Segments - When using a segment mode showing two dynamic segments, use this option to swap the type of the two segments over. For example, from XY mode to YX.

Delete Segment - Use to remove the segment previous to the one you are currently editing. This way you can ‘un-stitch’ the previous segments you have added in order to add them again in different positions.

Reverse Edit Direction - If you are editing an existing track, use it to change the direction you are editing by reversing the track. So the track start becomes the track end and vice-versa.

If you are adding a new track by editing an unrouted connection you will have a dynamic unrouted connection from the cursor to the target pad. If this is the case, using Reverse Edit Direction will keep any track segments already added and start editing the connection from the other end. This allows you to easily switch from editing one end of the connection to the other end.

Online DRC

Switches the online design rules checking on and off. The amount of checking performed is set up in the Online DRC Options dialog. Use Continuous checking to stop the track from getting too close to obstacles whilst moving it, or use the On Drop mode to check the track out when it has been completed. See the Online DRC help page for more details.

Display Clearances

Switches the visible DRC clearances on and off. Use this to see when you are getting close to obstacles whilst adding the track. See the Display Clearances help page for more details.

Change Grid

This sub-menu allows you to choose which grid you wish to force the track segments on whilst adding them, if any. It also allows you to change the grid step and whether the grids are visible or not. See the Change Grid help page for more details.

Other Track Edit Features

Here are some other features that effect adding track segments.

Display Options

In the Display Options you can set the current layer you are adding tracks on to always be on top. This way all obstacles to the routing on the current track layer will be visible.

You can also dim the other layers which makes it easier to concentrate only on those obstacles on the current track layer.

In the Edit Track Options you can choose to automatically share tracks after they have been edited. This means that any overlaid tracks will be removed and T-Junctions inserted instead.

Safe Mode

In the Design Settings - General you can set the system into PCB SAFE MODE. When this is set you will not be able to finish tracks on unconnected pins or different nets. You will only be able to add tracks between pads already on the same net.

Documentation

Explorer

Edit Track

Shortcuts

Locating this option

How To Enter Edit Track Mode

How To Edit A Track