The status bar appears along the lower edge of the main application window and is used to display prompts and other useful information.
Where appropriate, the status bar also allows the information that it displays to be modified by double-clicking with the mouse.
The information that is displayed varies, depending on the item(s) currently selected. The left-hand part of the bar shows a prompt message where this might be necessary to indicate the next operation in a sequence, or to give an indication of the possible actions.
The right-hand part of the bar shows selection dependent information, giving instant feedback on the selected items without having open any subsidiary dialogs to find the information.
In this example, a Component Pad has been selected, and the status bar shows information about that pad, including the component and pad name, the size and shape, the layer and the net to which it is attached.
If there is a lot of selected item information the prompt message can be truncated. If this happens you can still see the entire prompt by keeping the cursor over it to display a ToolTip showing the entire message.
Switching off the Status Bar
The status bar can be turned off using the Status Bar option on the View menu under View.
Status Bar borders
The status bar border can be toggled off (and on) using the Customise Application Look dialog.
Active Status Bar Information
The status bar can also be used to quickly and easily modify some of the information it displays.
Simply double-click the mouse on the item to be changed to enable this.
Some items will toggle to their alternative setting, for example the Units can switch between thou to mm, or Abs to Rel (Absolute to Relative coordinates). Whereas other selection dependent information, such as Style, Layer or Mask, will display the appropriate dialog to allow the item to be modified.
Other items that can be selected from the Status bar include, Current Grid, Variants, Units and enabling Dynamic Checking.
Note that status bar modification will only operate when the program is in a suitable context and not when it is already performing some other command that precludes such changes.
Related Topics
| Select Mode | Change Current Grid | Variants | Units | Dynamic Checking