Quick jump from component in Schematic to Layout in Eagle

Question

I always used the German software Target3001 to design my electronic boards, but recently switched to Eagle. There is one feature from Target3001 that seems to be missing in Eagle. I'm using version EAGLE 8.1.0 Premium.

1. The feature in Target3001

When I clicked on a component in the Schematic view, next switch to the Layout view, the corresponding component would be highlighted.

Just imagine how useful this is. I click in my schematic on IC7, then I switch to the layout view. First thing I see is IC7 highlighted there! In just two mouseclicks I find it back :-)

 

2. How I try doing it in Eagle

In Eagle this is more time-consuming. First I need to look at the name of the component in the schematic view, eg. IC7. Next I switch to Layout view, then click Ctrl+F and type IC7. Then it gets highlighted.

Note: I have assigned to keyboard combination Ctrl+F to run find.ulp. If I wouldn't have done that, the procedure would be even more inefficient.

Please help me to do it more efficiently.

 

3. The 'eye-button' doesn't work..

Some people advised me to click on the 'eye-button', then click on the component in schematic view and finally switch to layout view. The corresponding component in layout view should get highlighted. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen in EAGLE 8.1.0 Premium.

Answer 1

You are looking for the "Show" command. Its icon looks like an "eye".

Click on the Show button (the "eye"), then click on a part in the schematic. It should become highlighted.

Now look at the layout. The part should be highlighted as well.

This should also work in the other direction: from layout to schematic. You can use it with nets, too.

As Tom Carpenter said, you can also invoke this from the EAGLE command line, e.g. "show IC7". This will highlight the part in both the schematic and the layout.