Zones
Copper zones and rule areas, and the built-in zone filler.
- Ctrl+Shift+Z (or the zone button): click the outline corners, close it on the first point (or press End). The Copper Zone Properties dialog asks for the net, layers, priority, clearance, minimum width, pad connection (thermal relief, solid, none, through-hole only), thermal gap and spoke width, fill mode (solid or hatched) and island removal. Ctrl+Shift+K draws a rule area (keep-out) the same way.
- B (or Electronics Designer: Fill All Zones) fills every zone with the built-in filler: the outline minus
other-net copper with clearance, keep-outs, holes and higher-priority zones, thermal reliefs with
spokes, minimum-width pruning and island removal. Fills are written as KiCad’s
filled_polygons, so KiCad andkicad-clisee the same copper. Ctrl+B unfills. - A banner says “Zones need refilling (B)” after an edit touched copper inside a zone.
- E or double-click on a zone reopens its properties; the left view bar switches between filled, outline-only and fractured display.
The filler matches KiCad’s own fill to within about 1 % of the copper area on the reference boards and
passes kicad-cli pcb drc; KiCad’s refill (in KiCad, or kicad-cli pcb drc --refill-zones) may still
differ in small slivers.