Simply removing a selected area using a shape

[Mr. Review]

It seems like something is not working as we are used to, or probably I am missing something, and searching for 1 hour does not bring up any satisfying results.

I would like to remove part of one shape using another shape in a way that I can see the transparent background, and unfortunately, topics like this also did not solve the problem.

 

Here is an example screenshot, similar to what I would like to achieve:

 

 

I would like to remove the inner rectangle in a way to subtract the outer one and see the transparent background.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

[Mr. Review]

I guess this would be my answer:

Thank you so much!

[GarryP]

The Geometry operations – mentioned in the link – are good for vectors but you can also hold ALT when you press the relevant Geometry button to make a Compound layer. When you have a Compound layer you can modify the child layers in a non-destructive way.