No Longer Able To Shift-Left Click For Via in V9.2.2

[Anonymous]

In previous versions of Eagle on the same system, Windows 10 64bit, I was able to quickly create connections to power planes by starting a route at a pad and holding Left Shift while Left Clicking to drop a via without bringing up the Layer Selection dialog, but cannot do the same after upgrading to v9.2.2 . I am referring to the feature below from "HELP ROUTE"

Is this a shortcut I can manually add back in? Because the via dropped was attached to a signal named something like GND or VCC, and my power plane polygons were named similar, it made it incredibly easy to drop the 60 or some power plane connection vias that a microcontroller and its jellybeans requires.

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. With the updates made to the route command this shortcut is no longer possible and thankfully not necessary. Here are the options to consider:

1) Use the fanout tools, you can fanout a signal or a device. The Fanout signal option allows you to drop vias for all of your ground pads in one click.
2) If you need to do it with the ROUTE command then the process is to press spacebar to enter via mode. Pressing the spacebar multiple times will allow you to cycle through the layers. Once you have determined what layer to transition to, Left-click will place the via. Repeat as necessary

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[C.Nicks]

I disagree that this shortcut is no longer needed. Previously you could easily drop a via without any other layers visible. Now, another routing layer must be visible in order to place a via.
After all the time this shortcut has been gone I still miss it on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

The spacebar trick works great; I mapped an extra mouse button to Left-Click + Esc to quickly drop a via and "move on" 🙂

Shift-Clicking hundreds of vias was plenty fast so I never missed it, and after updating and reading about the Fanout feature in the Eagle changelogs I tried using it on a new board because it sounded absolutely magical ( and routing 90deg to arbitrary angles is a nightmare anyway ), but nothing actually ever happened when I clicked on my devices other than a loud noise and nothing else. After fiddling with different capacitor packages I've managed to get the VCC pin of my capacitors to Fanout, but nothing else....  guess I have more to learn 😞

[Anonymous]

This is very disappointing. Please add this back. Your solutions add extra actions to something I have been doing easily for years.

[sgeissler]

I agree. This really sucks. I've had Eagle Professionally for over a decade and designed hundreds of PCBs with mixed power plus digital with BGA's.  Thought I'd try the autodesk version hoping you wouldn't screw it up.  Dashed hopes. This ones a big one.

[Dan.K.2020]

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@jorge_garcia wrote:
Hi @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. With the updates made to the route command this shortcut is no longer possible

...
2) If you need to do it with the ROUTE command then the process is to press spacebar to enter via mode. Pressing the spacebar multiple times will allow you to cycle through the layers. Once you have determined what layer to transition to, Left-click will place the via. Repeat as necessary

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During ROUTE I tried the SPACE key transition but it I ended up with two vias in the same place.

So, the SPACEBAR shortcut is no replacement if you want to just drop a single via (e.g. to connect a net to a VCC layer) and continue routing on the current layer. Pressing SPACEBAR, the ROUTE command transitions to a new layer and thus to return to the first layer one has to place a second via.

What I had to do was abort the ROUTE command after placing the via, returning to the first layer by backcycling (shift-spacebar) and then starting ROUTE again.

And by the way, the fine manual included with EAGLE 9.6.2  still mentions that vias can be placed on-the-go with a shift+left button click.

[sgeissler]

I agree. Also, if you want to drop two vias with overlapping traces on each layer (for current carrying) the "space bar" trick will delete the extra trace and via when you continue on the next layer.
The BGA supply stubbing is also a disaster and without the shift-Left Click the program is unusable.
This was a show stopper for power supply layouts and we have transitioned back to the old Eagle 6.6.0
Autodesk missed the boat on this one.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @sgeissler ,

If you want to do the overlapping traces on each layer make sure that loop removal is not active otherwise it will remove the extra trace.

Just a note, since this is a rather old thread. If you want to drop a via and continue routing on the same layer this is possible. SPACEBAR to present the via then shift+left click will drop the via and you'll continue routing on the same layer.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

[Dan.K.2020]

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@jorge_garcia wrote:

Just a note, since this is a rather old thread. If you want to drop a via and continue routing on the same layer this is possible. SPACEBAR to present the via then shift+left click will drop the via and you'll continue routing on the same layer.

Hello @jorge_garcia ,

yes this was helpful. So the Shift + Left-Click shortcut for setting vias on the same layer is working again.

Great.  I somehow failed to notice. 👍👍