The layer tree

The Layers panel on the left lists everything on the page, front to back. Click rows to select layers, drag them to change the order or what is inside what, and find any layer by its name.

Read the tree

The layer at the top of the list is in front of everything below it. Frames and groups have an arrow before their name: click it to fold or unfold what’s inside, which is indented under them. Alt-click the arrow to fold or unfold everything inside at once.

Each row starts with an icon for the kind of layer, and a shape shows its own outline.

Open the full-size picture

The … at the top right of the list has Collapse All, Expand All, Expand Selected and Locate Selection, and three switches: Follow the Selection (keep only the selection’s branch open), Scroll to the Selection and Show Descriptions. The target button beside it is Locate selection: it scrolls the list to what is selected.

Select layers

Click a row to select its layer, on the canvas too. The list and the canvas always show the same selection.

• Shift-click another row to select every row between the two.
• Ctrl-click a row to add it to the selection, or to take it out.

Once you have clicked a row, the arrow keys move through the list, and ← and → fold and unfold. Keyboard shortcuts lists every key the list answers. Esc gives the keyboard back to the canvas.

Rename, hide and lock

Double-click a layer’s name to rename it, type the new name, and press Enter. F2 renames the selected layer too, from the list or from the canvas.

Point at a row to see its lock and eye at the right end:

• the eye hides the layer, and shows it again;
• the lock stops the layer being selected or moved on the canvas; you can still select it here.

A hidden or locked layer always shows its eye or lock, so you can find it again.

Change the order

Drag a row up or down the list to move its layer in front of or behind others. A blue line shows where it will land, and a label beside the pointer says what you are carrying.

Open the full-size picture

• Drop a row onto a frame or group to put the layer inside it; a ring shows the frame or group it will go into.
• Drag a row out of a frame, to the page’s level, to take the layer out.
• Each drag is one step: Ctrl+Z puts it back.

The Object menu does the same without the list: Bring Forward (Ctrl+]), Send Backward (Ctrl+[), Bring to Front (Ctrl+Shift+]) and Send to Back (Ctrl+Shift+[).

Find layers

Press Ctrl+F, or click Find layers at the top of the list, and type part of a name. The list keeps the layers whose names match, with the frames and groups they are in, and marks where each name matched.

Open the full-size picture

• Select all (or Enter) selects every match on the canvas.
• Rename… renames the matches together, with find and replace.
• The funnel beside the field filters by kind: Frames, Text, Shapes, Images, Main components, Instances, Hidden, Locked, and Agent (the layers an agent changed in this session).
• When nothing matches, Search all pages looks on the other pages too.
• Esc clears the search.

Work inside a frame or group

Double-click a frame or group on the canvas to go into it. The list then shows only what is inside it, under a bar with its name and Exit · Esc. Press Esc, or click Exit, to come back out.

Labels, and the row’s menu

Right-click a row for the commands that apply to its layer. They are Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Rename, Label, Move to page, Find and replace names…, Delete, then grouping, components, masks, the order, and the booleans.

Label gives a layer one of seven colours, shown as a bar at the left of its row: handy for “Ready” or “Needs work”. Label → Edit labels… renames them for this document. Find layers can then filter by label.

On a Mac, read ⌘ for Ctrl and ⌥ for Alt: Find is ⌘F, and ⌘-click adds a row to the selection. Right-click, or Control-click, opens the row’s menu.