A collection of electrically connected components defines a network. Networks may span many arcs, or they may reside on only a single export on a single node. Because networks are stored in the Electric database, they can be immediately accessed when needed.

Whenever a port on a node is selected, the highlighting indicates the entire network that is connected to that port. Another way to see an entire network is to use the Show Network command (in menu Tools / Network). This will highlight all arcs on the currently selected networks. If a cell instance is selected but no individual port is selected (such that there is no single network selected) then all wired ports will be highlighted. Repeated use of this command causes the network to be highlighted at successively lower levels of the hierarchy.

If the design is very dense, you can select one or more networks by name with the Select Object... command (in menu Edit / Selection). The Show All Networks command (in menu Tools / Network) highlights every network in a different color (useful if there are not too many nets).

There are many commands in menu Tool / Network that can be used to get information about the networks in a cell:

- List Networks shows a list of the networks in the current cell.
- List Exports on Network lists all export names on the currently highlighted network. This list contains the names of exports at all levels of the hierarchy, above and below the current cell. The facility is useful if, for example, you have propagated clock lines throughout the circuit and wish to make sure that all of the export names on this network have some variant of the name "phi". By quickly examining this list, you can see all of the names that have been used on the network, throughout the hierarchy.
- List Exports below Network lists all export names on the currently highlighted network. This list is similar to the one generated by List Exports on Network except that it works only on cells below the current one.
- List Connections on Network lists all nodes in the current cell that are connected to the current network. This list includes only those nodes at the ends of the net, not the pin or contact nodes used inside of the network. The command is useful if you are at one end of a wire and want to check to see what is at the other end.
- List Geometry on Network lists all geometry in the current cell that is connected to the current network. This reports the area and perimeter of all attached layers.
- List Total Wire Lengths on All Networks lists the lengths of all networks in the current cell.