TIA Portal Go To Location: Finding DB Tags in STEP 7 V14-V18

Engineers migrating from SIMATIC Manager STEP 7 V5.x to TIA Portal quickly discover that the classic Go to Location command is not exposed as a single menu item. SIMATIC Manager's Go to > Location (and its Go to > Instance / Go to > Symbol variants) let an engineer place the cursor on any operand, press a shortcut, and jump directly to the declaration, the instance, or every usage of that operand in the program. TIA Portal re-implements the same intent through a set of complementary tools: the project-wide Cross-reference, the Inspector window, the Go to block dialog (F7), Find and Replace, and the Program info function. When used together they cover every workflow the old Go to Location command handled, and in some cases they are significantly faster because the index is always live-validated against the compiled program.

This reference covers every native method to locate an operand such as DB1.DBX0.0 in TIA Portal from V14 through V18, the keyboard shortcuts that drive them, the differences between absolute, symbolic and cross-reference navigation, and a side-by-side comparison with the legacy SIMATIC Manager behavior.

1. The SIMATIC Manager Go to Location Behavior We Are Replacing

In STEP 7 V5.5 / V5.6 the Go to > Location command (default shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Q) opened a dialog with three targets:

• Type / Declaration – jump to the variable declaration in the DB, FB or OB.
• Instance – jump to the call point of the instance DB or multi-instance.
• Location in Program – jump to the next usage of the operand in the binary code.

The dialog worked on the symbolic form of the operand. The cross-reference table was an underlying engine that the dialog called. TIA Portal splits that single dialog into several windows, which is why the migration feels like a regression until the new shortcuts are learned.

2. Architecture: Why TIA Portal Does Not Have a Single Go to Location Command

TIA Portal reuses one compiled cross-reference index for all editors. The index is exposed in three places:

Because the same index powers all three, an engineer who learns one of them (typically the Inspector tab) can answer 90% of the questions that the legacy Go to Location dialog answered.

3. Primary Workflow: Finding DB1.DBX0.0 in TIA Portal

Use the procedure below for the canonical case – you are inside an FB/OB network and want to jump to the declaration of DB1.DBX0.0 and to all of its usages.

1. Place the cursor on DB1.DBX0.0 in any LAD/FBD/STL/SCL editor.
2. Open the Inspector window with Alt+Shift+I (or via View > Inspector window).
3. Click the Cross-reference tab. The table populates with every network that reads or writes DBX0.0 in DB1.
4. Double-click any row to jump to that network.
5. To jump to the declaration instead, click the Information tab — it shows the data type, the start address, and a hyperlink titled Go to declaration.

4. Go to Block: F7

The TIA Portal equivalent of Go to > Block is the Go to block dialog, bound to F7.

1. In the project tree, click the Program blocks folder (or any folder containing blocks).
2. Press F7.
3. Type the block number (1), the symbolic name ("DB_Motor"), or the full type (e.g. FB1).
4. Press Enter. TIA opens the block in its native editor.

This is the fastest way to jump to a block when you already know its name, and it works on FBs, FCs, DBs, OBs, UDTs and even system function blocks from the library.

5. Find and Replace (Ctrl+F / Ctrl+H)

For an in-editor textual search:

• Ctrl+F — open the Find and Replace bar scoped to the open block.
• Ctrl+H — toggle to Replace mode.
• Ctrl+Shift+F — project-wide search (all blocks, all tags, all texts). Available since V15.1.

To find DB1.DBX0.0 in the entire program, use Ctrl+Shift+F, type the operand, and select the scope All blocks in the project. The results list shows the file, block, network and a code preview. Double-click a result to jump to the network.

6. Project-Wide Cross-Reference Editor

For a true SIMATIC-Manager-style cross-reference table, open Tools > Cross-reference (no default shortcut — bind one in Options > Settings > Keyboard).

Filter by typing DB1.DBX0.0 in the Operand filter row. To export to CSV for documentation, right-click the table > Export > CSV.

7. Program Info for Call Hierarchy and Coverage

Right-click a block in the project tree and choose Program info. The window contains four tabs:

• Call structure — the call hierarchy of the block, with call depth and instance DB mapping.
• Block structure — the dependency between blocks in the program.
• Operand overview — cross-reference of every operand declared in the block.
• Code coverage — the percent of networks that have been executed in the live PLC (V15.1+ with a connected target).

Operand overview is the closest one-click replacement for the legacy Go to > Location — it lists every declaration in the block with hyperlinks to its usages.

8. The Inspector Window: Cross-Reference Tab In Detail

The Inspector window is context-sensitive. Whenever the cursor sits on a tag, the Cross-reference tab shows:

• The selected tag's symbolic name and absolute address.
• The data type and the DB / interface that owns it.
• A table of every network in every block that touches it, classified as read, write, or constant.
• Status flags indicating whether the tag is used at all (a stale tag) and whether the usage is consistent with the declaration.

This is the workflow that replaces the legacy Go to > Location command for the vast majority of engineers. The action sequence cursor on tag → Inspector → double-click row is functionally identical to cursor on tag → Ctrl+Alt+Q → Enter in SIMATIC Manager.

9. Keyboard Shortcut Reference

10. Version-Specific Improvements (V14 through V18)

The single biggest usability jump is in V18, where pressing Ctrl+Click on a tag jumps straight to its declaration — the behaviour that SIMATIC Manager users have been requesting for a decade.

11. Practical Worked Example: Trace DB1.DBX0.0 From Declaration to Usage

1. Press F7, type DB1, press Enter. The DB opens.
2. Confirm the field at offset 0.0 is declared (e.g. Start : BOOL). Note its symbolic name — typically "DB_Motor".Start.
3. Right-click the field > Cross-reference (V16+) or open the Inspector's Cross-reference tab.
4. The table lists every network that writes or reads the bit. Sort the Type column to see all W (write) usages first.
5. Double-click the first W row — TIA jumps to the network that sets DB_Motor.Start.
6. To reverse the trace, right-click a usage in the table > Go to declaration (V18+) or click the Information tab hyperlink.

This six-step procedure is the modern equivalent of the legacy Go to > Location > Instance / Type workflow and is faster on large programs because the index is incremental.

12. Side-by-Side: SIMATIC Manager vs. TIA Portal Navigation

13. Edge Cases and Field-Proven Caveats

13.1 Multi-instance DBs and indirect addressing

When a tag is accessed through an AR1/AR2 pointer (legacy STL), the static cross-reference cannot resolve the operand and the Cross-reference tab shows Unknown. Use SCL with explicit symbolics or a static instance DB to recover full traceability.

13.2 Stale cross-reference after an offline change

The cross-reference index in TIA Portal is rebuilt on Compile. If you add a usage to a block and look at the Inspector before compiling, the new usage is missing. Always compile before tracing a tag that was just edited.

13.3 Library types and published FB interfaces

A published FB from a global library has its interface locked. The cross-reference correctly shows usages of the published FB but cannot trace into the type body — you must open the library master copy in read-only mode to follow the logic.

13.4 Symbol table conflicts

If the same absolute address is mapped to two different symbolic names in two different PLCs of a multi-project, the cross-reference is computed per device. Select the correct PLC in the project tree before opening the cross-reference editor.

14. Verification Checklist

1. Open the target DB. The field at DBX0.0 is highlighted in the Cross-reference tab of the Inspector when you place the cursor on the field.
2. Sort by Type and confirm at least one W (write) row exists — a tag with only reads is suspicious (likely a sensor input or a constant).
3. Click each row in turn and verify the network is what you expect (no stale flag in the status column).
4. Compile the program (Ctrl+B) and confirm 0 errors.
5. Download the project to the target PLC and use Program info > Code coverage (V15.1+) to verify the tag's networks have executed in the live program.

15. Summary

TIA Portal does not expose a single Go to Location command, but the combination of Inspector → Cross-reference, F7 → Go to block, and Ctrl+Shift+F → project-wide search covers every workflow the legacy SIMATIC Manager command handled. For V18 users, Ctrl+Click on a tag jumps straight to its declaration — the closest one-click replacement available. Re-mapping Ctrl+Alt+Q to the Cross-reference tool in Options > Settings > Keyboard preserves legacy muscle memory and minimises the migration cost.

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