The symbl button, available in electrical mode, allows instances of a cell to be shown as a symbol, rather than as a schematic. In the symbolic representation, the substructure of the cell is never shown, instead a simple figure representing the cell is displayed. This can simplify complex schematics.
When this button is active, the current cell is in symbolic mode. It is not possible to add subcircuits or devices in this mode, but any geometry added will show as the symbolic representation. If the cell is saved with this button active, then the cell and its instances will use the symbolic representation.
However, it is possible to apply a property to individual instances of the cell to force the display of that instance non-symbolically (as a schematic). This property can be applied with the Property Editor.
If the No Top Symbolic button in the Main Window sub-menu of the Attributes Menu, or in the sub-window Attributes menu, is set, the top cell will always display as a schematic in the window, whether or not the symbl button is pressed.
When a new cell is opened for editing, the symbl button will become active and the symbolic representation shown if the cell was previously saved in symbolic mode. Pressing the button a second time will revert to normal presentation.
While in symbolic mode, subcircuit terminals can not be added, however existing terminals can be moved to new locations by dragging. One should first place the terminals, with the subct command, in normal mode. After switching to symbolic mode, the terminals can be moved to new locations, in the generally more compact symbolic representation. The actual locations of subcircuit connections is dependent upon the mode.