Help · Layout, layers & pages
Use layers
Layers are for keeping parts of a busy page apart — background art on one, photographs on another, type on top. They work the way layers do in professional design tools, with one rule that catches people out: you can only edit what is on the active layer.
Turn the panel on
- Open the View menu at the top.
- Click Layers panel. A tick appears beside it.
- The panel opens on the right-hand side of the canvas, with a thumbnail of each layer.
The › tab on its left edge folds the panel away without switching it off.
The rules
| Action | How | |---|---| | Make a layer active | Click its row. The active row is outlined | | Hide or show a layer | Click the eye on its row | | Add a layer | Click + New layer. It goes on top | | Put something on a layer | Select that layer first, then add the element |
The panel lists the top layer first, the way designers expect.
> Note > Once a project has more than one layer, elements on the layers you are not on cannot be > clicked, dragged or deleted. They are visible as reference and nothing more. If something on > the page has stopped responding to clicks, that is almost always why — click its layer in > the panel first.
Layers versus front and back
They are two different controls and both are useful.
| | Layers | Bring to front / Send to back | |---|---|---| | What it changes | Which group an element belongs to, and whether you can touch it | The order of elements within a layer | | Where | The Layers panel | ⌘] and ⌘[, the objects toolbar, or right-click |
A layer always paints above every layer below it, whatever the front-to-back order inside it.
Hiding a layer before you export
A hidden layer is hidden everywhere — on screen, in a print, and in every export. That makes it a clean way to keep working notes, alternate versions or crop guides in the file without them reaching the printer.