The Find dialog allows you to quickly find items of a specified type in a design, Symbol, footprint or Panel.
You can also use it to find items that have specified Attributes, or use specified Styles.
It can be used to select all items that satisfy the search criteria. For example, selecting all components having a specified attribute.
It can be used to select multiple items by using control select, for example to select a two nets.
Shortcuts
Default Keys: Ctrl+F
Default Menu: View
Command: Find Bar
Locating this option
Available from: View menu > Dockable Windows > Find Bar option
The Find Dialog
 | This modeless dialog is displayed as a configurable Dockable Window containing a set of controls to use to find items in the current design. This includes a list for choosing which type of item to find, a list of the items of that type in the design, and a set of controls for selectively filtering the set of items listed. There are a number of icons along the top of the dialog which allow you to more quickly perform some tasks. Find a  Part. Find an X Y position by pressing the  icon. Find a  net. Find a  Component. Find a  favourite. You can move through the list of found items using the following icons: Find the first item  . Find the next item  . Find the previous item  . |
Using the Find List
Choose the item type
Use the dropdown list control at the top of the dialog to choose the type of item you wish to find. If the items have names (e.g. components) they will be listed in the static list control below.
Choose the item
The static list control will show named items in the design. In the example above, components are shown.
Click on a named item to find it in the design. It will be shown (highlighted, selected, brightened or flashed) and optionally centred in the display window. If the Ctrl key is held down when selecting a named item then the previously found named item will remain shown. This way you can find two or more components for example.
Some list entries are used by more than one item in the design, for example groups and styles. In this case only the first item matching the search criteria will be found. If the Shift key is held down when selecting these list entries, all items matching the search criteria will be found, for example all items in the picked group. Using Ctrl and select keys together you can find multiple whole items, for example multiple groups.
If the item type does not have names (e.g. Copper) then a list of nets containing items of the chosen type will be shown.
If the list contains a list of Nets, click on the required net or use
The following are notes about some of the item types:
Associated Part
If the item type is Associated Part, a list of associated part names is shown. A name is only included in the list if components in the design use parts or footprints that reference the associated part. Choose the required name and use the Find icons to find each component that uses the associated part. If an associated part is only included in the design explicitly using the Design Properties dialog, and is not referred to by any components it will not appear in the list.
Attribute Position
If the item type is Attribute Position, a list of both user and inbuilt attribute names is shown. A
name is only included in the list if it has attribute positions in the design. Choose the required name to
search for, and click on the Find First Icon to find the
attribute position using the attribute.
Note some of these attribute positions are hidden on items (like when a component name is unchecked in the properties dialog). A message will be shown if a hidden attribute position is found. Hidden attribute positions are found only after finding all visible ones. By using the Select All Find Items with this category it makes it easy to perform global changes to similar attribute positions. For example to change component names to use the same text style, or to change all testpoint names to the same layer.
Copper
If the item type is Copper a list of nets containing copper will be shown. Use the Non Connecting Copper attribute filter to find non connecting copper.
Drill Size
A list of the used drill sizes is shown. Drill sizes that are not plated through are marked with Unplated after the drill size. The sizes can be displayed using the current design units, or the units from the drill table.
Choose the required size to search for, and click on the Find First Icon
to find find the item using a
drill hole of that size.
Errors
If the item type is Errors, a list of the possible error code is shown.
Choose the required error codes to search, and click on the Find First Icon
to find find the first error marker.
Footprint
If the item type is Footprint in a schematic design, a list of the footprints that are explicitly defined on components is shown.
Group
Choose the group name you wish to find and the first item will be selected (or highlighted, you have the choice). If the group has a master item, it will always be selected first. Use the Find Next icon at the top of the dialog to cycle through the items in the group, or use Select All from the shortcut menu to select all members of the group. Note that single members of a tight group can be selected with this operation, but the whole group will be selected if you try to move it. It should also be noted that Schematic blocks are transferred from PCB as their own ‘group’ and hence can be used in this option.
Item (by attribute)
A list of your attribute names (non system attributes) that have attributes on items in the design is shown.
Choose the required name to search for, and click on the Find First Icon
to find find the item using the attribute.
Pad (by net)
If the item type is Pad (by net) or Pin (by net) a list of nets containing component pads will be shown. You can find a specific pad by typing its component name and pad name separated by a dot into the list control edit box and pressing the return key. For example “U1.1”.
STEP Model
For this PCB category a list of the STEP Model file names used in the design is shown.
The special model name
Choose the required STEP Model to search, and click on the Find First Icon
to find find the first component, documentation symbol or
enclosure that uses the model.
If the chosen model is used by a STEP Enclosure, it cannot be found or selected in the PCB design as it is only in the 3D View. An error message will be shown saying the model is used by an enclosure.
Styles
If the item type is one of the style types e.g. Line Style, a list of the used style names is shown. By using the Select All Find Items with these categories it makes it easy to perform global changes to similar items that use the same style.
If the item type is Text Style, some of the items being found may be hidden attributes, either because they have been switched off on the item using properties, or they may be on a symbol (from the library) that is stored in the design. In this case a “Found invisible attributes using text style” warning will be shown. Press the Report button to generate a report of all the hidden attributes in the design that use this text style.
If using Find in a PCB design and the item type is Pad Style or Track Style, some of the breakout vias or breakout tracks being found may be hidden because they have not been made visible yet. In this case a “Found invisible breakouts” warning will be shown. Press the Report button to generate a report of all the hidden breakouts in the design that use this style.
If using Find in a schematic design and then a Change Style is used, the change will only be reflected on the current sheet and not all sheets in the Project.
Template
If the item type is Template a list of Templates will be shown. Use the Unpoured Template attribute filter to find only unpoured templates.
Text
If the item type is Text, you can find text containing the search string. A list of previous text searches will be shown.
Type in the search box or choose the required text to search for from the list, and click on the
Find First Icon to find the text matching the search.
If it is a new search it will be added to the list.
Using the Find Icons
There are three find buttons at the top right of the dialog:
Find First
Use the button to find the first item satisfying the search conditions.
Find Next
If there are more than one items matching the search criteria, use the
button to find the next item. This button will be disabled when you reach the end of the list of items to find
Find Previous
If there are more than one items matching the search criteria, use
the button to find the previous item in the list.
This button will be disabled when you reach the first item in the list.
Using the Ctrl key
If the Ctrl key is held down when using these buttons then nothing will be deselected prior to selecting next item.
Using the Filter
Click on the Use Filter or Change Filter button if you want to further define the search criteria and reduce the number of items to find. If the button has the text Change Filter, then a filter is currently being applied to the list.
When the button is checked, a set of extra filter controls will appear to use. These are detailed below. When the Hide Filter button is used, these filter controls will disappear.
Check the Filter Names check box to enable the name filter control. If the static list contains a list of named items (e.g. components) or net names, type the filter string containing wildcard characters ’*’ and ’?’ into the control underneath the Filter Names check box. Use the drop down the list to obtain filter strings previously used for this item type. Note this filter does not work for the Drill Size category.
When the filter string has been changed the Apply button will be enabled. Press Apply to apply the filter string to the list of names.
Further filtering of items can be done using an attribute condition. Check the Attribute: check box to enable the attribute condition controls. Use the drop down list underneath the Attribute check box to choose the attribute name you wish to use. Next use the Is dropdown list to select the type of test to apply to the attribute value. Then, if the test requires a condition, in the remaining edit box type in a string representing the condition to test against.
Press Apply to reduce the items to be found to items that satisfy the attribute condition. The attribute filter applies to unnamed items as well as named items.
Some categories allow you to filter further by only searching on single layer or layer span. If this is available, check the Layer: or Layer Span: checkbox to enable the layers list control. Use the dropdown list underneath the Layer checkbox to choose the layer or layer span you wish to search on.
Press Apply to reduce the items to be found to items that are on the selected layer. To be found the item must have the chosen layer, and not pass through it. For example, if “Bottom Electrical” is chosen, “Through Hole” pads will not be found.
Show Attribute Value
This switch is available when the Find Part category is selected. With the check box selected, the attribute value is displayed instead of the Part name.
Using the Context Menu
Right clicking in the Find bar displays a context menu from where you can choose additional options:
The first section contains commands described in the Dockable Window help pages.
Search All Pages / Search All Open Pages / Search Current Page
Applies to a schematics design. You can control which pages of the schematic the search applies to. Search All Open Pages will only search the pages you currently have open in the current design.
Search All Variants
Applies to PCB and Schematic designs that are using Variants. This option will be available if the current variant is not the master design variant. Certain design items such as components, text and attributes may only be present in certain variants. Check this option to search for all such items in the design, irrespective of the variants in which they appear. Leave it unchecked to only search for those items that appear in the current design variant.
Allow Drag to Fetch Component
Check this option to enable dragging a Component from the Find bar.
Select Found Item
Check this to select the item when it is found.
Highlight Found Item
Check this to highlight the found item with the highlight colour.
Brighten Found Item
Check this to brighten the found item by drawing the rest of the design in a dull grey colour.
Dim Items In Colour
Check this to draw all non found items in a dimmed version of their own colour, rather than in a dull grey colour.
Flash Found Item
Check this to flash the item or items when found. The period the item flashes for is set using the Find Options dialog.
Include Default Nets
Only applicable if the list contains a list of net names. Check this to include default nets in the search. Leave unchecked to only list user named nets.
Use Drill Table Units
Only applicable if the list contains a list of drill sizes. Check this to display the sizes using the units from the drill table. Leave it unchecked to use the current design units.
Remove Favourite
Only applicable if the item type is favourites. Removes the selected item from the favourites list.
Remove All Favourites
Only applicable if the item type is favourites. Clears the favourites list.
Include Locked Errors
Only applicable if the item type is errors. Check this to find locked errors. Leave unchecked to only find unlocked errors.
Only List Errors in the Design
Only applicable if the item type is errors. Check this to only list the error codes of error markers that are currently in the design. Leave unchecked to list all the available error codes.
Centre View on Found Item
Check this to always change the view so that the found item is in the centre of the display window. Leave unchecked to only change the view if the found item was not on the screen. If unchecked, there is another option Allow Find Under Sliding Bar in the Find Options to force the view to to be centred if the found item is under a sliding find bar.
Add Found Item to Favourites
Will add any items you find to the Favourites list.
Highlight Invisible Items
If this option is checked when the Highlight Found Item is checked then found items that would otherwise not be visible are shown highlighted. Highlighted tracks on non visible layers are shown using as a patterned format so they are distinguishable from tracks on visible layers.
Check All
Only applicable if the static list contains check boxes. Use this to check all the boxes in the list.
Uncheck All
Only applicable if the static list contains check boxes. Use this to uncheck all the boxes in the list.
Refresh Find Bar
Use this to rebuild the list of design items that is currently displayed in the Find Bar. It is possible that some operations do not update the bar, so if the item you are looking for is not in the list, refresh the list. This can be placed on a key using Customise to make it easier to use.
Count Find Items
Use this to count all items that satisfy the search criteria. (item type, name filter and attribute condition) and show the count in the find bar title. Categories of named items always show the count whenever their list is refreshed.
Select All Find Items
Use this to select all items that satisfy the search criteria. (item type, name filter and attribute condition). If the Ctrl key is held down when using this option nothing will be deselected prior to selecting the items.
Select Visible Find Items
Use this to select all visible items that satisfy the search criteria. (item type, name filter and attribute condition). If the Ctrl key is held down when using this option nothing will be deselected prior to selecting the items.
Remove Highlights
Use this to remove highlighting from all items in the design.
View Highlighted
Use this to ‘frame view’ onto the currently highlighted items.
Deselect All
Use this to deselect all items in the design. If using a schematic design and Search All Pages is checked, all items on all pages of the design will be deselected. If Search All Pages is unchecked, only the items on the current page will be deselected.
View Selection
Use this to ‘frame view’ onto the currently selected items.
Highlight Items from Design Selection
This options works when an item or multiple items (components or nets for example) are selected in the design and you wish to select them in the Find bar.
Delete Search
Only applicable if the item type is text. Deletes the selected search from the list.
Delete All Searches
Only applicable if the item type is text. Deletes all previous searches from the list.
Find Exact Text
Only applicable if the item type is text. Only text matching the exact search string will be found.
Open Wildcard Wizard…
Only applicable if the item type is text. Use this to add wildcards to the search string. Only enabled if Find Exact Text is disabled.
Find Displayed Attribute Value
Only applicable if the item type is text. Use this to find displayed attribute positions with a value matching the search string. This is automatically deselected if Find Item Attribute Value is selected.
Find Item Attribute Value
Only applicable if the item type is text. Use this to find items with attributes containing a value matching the search string. This is automatically deselected if Find Displayed Attribute Value is selected.
Highlight List From Design Selection
Use this to highlight items in the finder list based on what you select in the design.
Favourites
The finder bar maintains a list of Favourite items, this list is saved with the
design so you can keep track of items you often want to return to. You can add items to
this list in two ways. Firstly, you can explicitly add an item using the Add To Favourites
command 
from the context menu. Secondly, you can
check the Add Found Item to Favourites option in the find bar
context menu. This will automatically add any items found using the find bar to the
favourites list. You can limit the maximum length of this list using the
Find Options dialog.
You can remove items or clear the whole favourites list at any time using the commands on the find bar context menu.
Related Topics
Dockable Windows | Find Options | Find Relative Origin | Find XY Position | Wildcard Characters