Learn how to efficiently organize your design workplace by managing layers and groups. We'll guide you through viewing options to advanced grouping techniques, helping you create and maintain a structured design environment.
In this guide
- Viewing layers
- Basic group operations
- Group hierarchy rules
- Selection behaviors
- Dragging and arranging groups
- Deleting groups and layers
- Copying and pasting groups
- Hiding and locking groups
Viewing Layers
There are two ways to view your design layers:
- Layer List: Access from the left sidebar using the Layers tab.
-
Timeline list: Access via:
- Timeline tab at the bottom of the left sidebar.
- Dragging up using the mouse cursor.
Note: Timeline is only available in Focus mode when working with sets.
Basic Group Operations
Creating Groups
Select multiple layers and group them using:
- Properties bar icon.
- Keyboard shortcut: CMD / CTRL + G.
Ungrouping
Select group(s) and ungroup using:
- Properties bar icon.
- Keyboard shortcut: CMD / CTRL + SHIFT + G.
Group Hierarchy Rules
Level one grouping
When we select 4 layers and group them:
- It Creates Group 1 as a parent.
- Selected layers become children.
Nested grouping
When grouping layers within existing groups, in our example, layer 3 and 4, the following happens:
- Creates a new group as parent for selected layers.
- New group becomes a child of the original group.
- Groups are automatically numbered sequentially.
Child grouping behavior
When we select layer 2 and group 2, and group them together:
- Groups within groups act as single child elements.
- Group names increment regardless of nesting level.
Multi-level grouping
When grouping layers from different levels (let's take layer 2 and 3 from our previous example) and group them:
- New group generates from different levels.
- Layer order takes priority over group level.
- Group names continue to increment sequentially.
Ungrouping behaviors
1. Single ungroup
- Dissolves the highest level group only.
- Maintains lower-level group structures.
2. Multiple ungroup
- First ungroup dissolve the highest level.
- Subsequent ungroups dissolves the remaining groups sequentially.
- The final result returns to individual layers.
3. Multiple structure ungroup
- When ungrouping multiple structures simultaneously, it affects the highest level group in each structure.
Note: Group structures maintain their hierarchy until explicitly ungrouped.
Selection behaviors
Layer list selection
- Clicking a layer in the layer list selects only that specific layer.
- Selection works individually, regardless of group structure.
Stage selection
- Single click: Select highest level group containing the layer.
-
Double-click: Navigates deeper into nested group.
- First double-click: Select the containing group.
- Second double-click: Select an individual layer.
- Third double-click: Enters edit mode (for text/images).
- CMD / CTRL + click: Directly selects individual layer at any level.
- ESC: Deselects everything.
Dragging and arranging groups
Basic drag operations
- Rearrange groups and layers using drag and drop in the layer list.
- Groups can be dragged as single units, similar to individual layers.
- Landing zones are highlighted with hover states.
- To place at the root level, drag left until no group is highlighted.
Advanced dragging options
Multiple drag options when multiple drop locations are available:
- Horizontal dragging becomes available.
- Hover states indicate possible drop locations.
- The system highlights the current drop target.
Working with collapsed groups when dragging layers into collapsed groups:
- Quick drop.
- Immediate release places the layer at the top of the group.
- Precise placement.
- Hover over the group for a few seconds.
- The group expands automatically.
- Position layer anywhere within the group.
Group behavior:
- Dragging a collapsed group maintains its collapsed state.
- When all layers are dragged out, the group automatically dissolves.
- selecting nested elements on stage selects the entire structure.
Deleting groups and layers
Basic delete operations
When deleting a group:
- The entire group structure is removed.
- All nested layers and subgroups are deleted.
- Pressing Delete/Backspace removes selected items.
Nested group deletion rules
Deleting lower-level groups:
- Only selected group is removed.
- Parent group behavior.
- Remain intact if they still have children.
- Automatically dissolve if all children are removed.
Smart group management:
- Empty groups are automatically removed.
- Parent groups reorganize based on the remaining content.
Working with sets
Mixed state selection deletion when working in sets:
- Groups adapt to size-specific deletions.
- Empty groups don't appear in Focus mode.
- Group structure maintains consistency across available content.
Copying and pasting groups
Basic copy-paste behavior
When copying and pasting groups:
- Pasted content appears at the top of the layer list.
- The original group structure is preserved.
- Newly pasted elements are automatically selected.
- Names remain unchanged (no auto-increment).
Paste location rules
- All groups paste to the root level.
- The original nesting level doesn't affect the paste location.
- Hierarchy within the copied group maintains structure.
Hiding and locking groups
Status indicators
- Show:
- Hide:
- Lock:
- Unlock:
- Inherited status:
- Mixed states:
- Show icon with mixed state:
- Hide icon with mixed state:
- Lock icon with mixed state:
- Unlock icon with mixed state:
Basic hide and lock behavior
When applying hide or lock to a group:
- The selected group receives
hide or
lock status.
- All children inherit the status and will be marked with a
dot.
- Inherited elements can only be shown or unlocked with the parent.
Inherited rules
Standard inheritance
When you hide or lock a group (we'll take group 3 as an example), it applies the status (H/L) to the selected group. It automatically assigns an inherited status to all its children, which can only be modified by their parents.
Mixed states
When you work with a design set and while you're in focus mode, you modify a child layer's hide or lock state within a group (we'll take layer 3 as an example), it creates a mixed state indicated by an orange dot while maintaining the parent group's status and other children's inherited states.
Priority rules
When hiding/locking a group (let's take group 3) that contains already hidden, locked layers (layers 2 and 4), those layers preserve their individual states (H/L) while other layers inherit the group's status and toggling the group again only affects the inherited states.
Advanced features
Using OPT/ALT + Hide on a group keeps it visible while hiding everything else:
- External layers become
- Parent groups show a
mixed state.
- Parent layers become