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Hierarchy Navigation

CAD files often contain hierarchical cell structures — a top-level cell references sub-cells, which may in turn reference other sub-cells. LinkCAD preserves this hierarchy during import and provides tools to navigate it.

Cell Tree

The cell tree in the File Structure panel shows the hierarchy:

  • The main cell is at the root
  • Referenced cells appear as children
  • Multiply-referenced cells appear under each parent that references them

Click a cell in the tree to select it. Double-click to zoom the viewer to its bounding box.

Isolation Mode

To focus on a single entity without distraction:

  1. Select an entity in the viewer or cell tree
  2. Press Ctrl+Shift+I or go to View → Isolate
  3. All other geometry is dimmed, leaving only the selected entity fully visible

To exit isolation mode, press Ctrl+Shift+X or go to View → Exit Isolation.

Display Depth

For deeply nested hierarchies, limit the rendering depth to improve performance and reduce visual clutter. This controls how many levels of cell references are expanded during display.

Select Matching Entities

Use Edit → Select Matching Entities to find and select all entities that share properties with the current selection (same layer, same cell, same shape type).