LAYER — Layers

Opens the Layer Properties Manager.

• Command: LAYER · Global name: _LAYER · Alias: LA, DDLMODES
• Ribbon: Home › Layers
• Ribbon: View › Palettes
• Menu: View
• Menu: Format

Opens and closes the Layer Properties Manager, a palette that lists every layer of the drawing in a table. From it you create, delete and rename layers, set the current layer and change layer properties. To do the same from the command line (scripts, LISP), use -LAYER.

Usage

1. Enter LAYER (or LA) or click Layers on the ribbon. Run it again to close the window.
2. Click a row to select that layer; Ctrl+click adds or removes rows and Shift+click selects a range.
3. Click the icons or drop-down lists of the row. If the row is one of the selected ones, the change applies to all selected layers.

Columns

• Status: marks the current layer. Double-click to make the layer current.
• Name: double-click to type a new name (Enter confirms, Esc cancels).
• On: light bulb. A layer that is off is neither displayed nor plotted.
• Freeze: sun. A frozen layer is not displayed, not plotted and not regenerated. The current layer cannot be frozen.
• VP Freeze: only shown inside a layout viewport; freezes the layer in that viewport only.
• Lock: padlock. Objects on a locked layer are visible but cannot be selected or modified.
• Color, Linetype, Lineweight: drop-down lists. The linetype list shows the loaded linetypes and, at the end, Load… opens LINETYPE.
• Transparency: from 0 (opaque) to 90 %, in steps of 10. Objects on the layer with ByLayer transparency take it; on screen it shows while the TRANSP button on the status bar is on.
• Plot: printer; when crossed out, the layer is not plotted.
• New VP Freeze: the layer will be frozen in viewports created from now on.
• Description: free text; double-click to type it.

Click a column heading to sort by it; another click reverses the order.

Buttons and filters

• New Layer: creates a layer with the properties of the selected one and leaves the name ready to type.
• New Layer VP Frozen in All Viewports: the same, but frozen in all layout viewports.
• Delete Layer: does not delete layer 0, Defpoints, the current layer, xref layers or layers that contain objects (to delete a layer together with its objects, use LAYDEL).
• Set Current, New Property Filter…, New Group Filter and Layer States… (opens LAYERSTATE).
• The search box shows only the layers whose name contains the text; wildcards are accepted (*, ?, #, @, ~ and commas).
• The Filters tree chooses which layers are listed. The shortcut menu of a filter has Properties…, Add Selected Layers, Remove Selected Layers and Delete Filter; Invert filter lists the layers that do not match it.
• The shortcut menu of a row: Set Current, Rename, Delete Layer, Select All, Invert Selection and Add to Group Filter.

Notes

• The palette can be docked to the left or right of the drawing and set to auto-hide with the buttons in its header (◂ ▸ ◻ 📌); see The user interface.
• Every change can be undone with UNDO, and LAYERP restores the layers as they were before the last change.
• Layers cannot be changed while a command is running: finish or cancel it first.
• The layer control on the ribbon (and on the layers toolbar of the Classic workspace) shows the current layer: open it to change the current layer with one click or to turn on, freeze or lock any layer with its icons.
• Layer filters and layer states are saved in the drawing.

See also

-LAYER · LAYERSTATE · LAYERP · LAYMCUR · LAYISO · Layers