Affinity Photo - Can I move layers without clicking on them in the canvas first?

[Alex_M]

There is a thing that has always bugged me about moving layers in Affinity Photo. It seems that I can move layers only if I have selected them in the canvas first. This is very tedious and sometimes even infuriating if the layers are inside a group or, god forbid, nested groups. Can't I just select the layer/s I want to move in the Layers panel and then just drag around the canvas to move them?

[walt.farrell]

Well, if you're going to drag you'll have to click. Are you perhaps selecting some other layer when you click to begin the drag?

[Dan C]

53 minutes ago, Alex_M said:

Can't I just select the layer/s I want to move in the Layers panel and then just drag around the canvas to move them?

If you have the Move Tool in use when selecting the layer in the Layers Studio, you should be able to then drag and move the layer on the canvas without making further selections - unless I have misunderstood the question?

[Fixx]

You can move an item by simply dragging UNLESS it is part of a group. If it is a grouped item you have to select it in layer palette. BUT if you have once selected it, you can drag also the next items in a group WITHOUT layer palette activation.

[Alex_M]

9 minutes ago, Dan C said:

If you have the Move Tool in use when selecting the layer in the Layers Studio, you should be able to then drag and move the layer on the canvas without making further selections - unless I have misunderstood the question?

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough. I want to move layers even if the starting point of my mouse drag is not exactly on one of the selected layers. I can do this in Photoshop, but can't seem to do this in Photo. Please check the screen recording I did. This is Photoshop. See how I don't really need to click on the object in order to move it?

 

 

[Dan C]

Thanks for confirming and for the screen recording - AFAIK your cursor needs to be within the bounding boxes of your layer in Affinity to transform as required, however I can certainly log this as an improvement with our devs  

[Old Bruce]

2 hours ago, Alex_M said:

I can do this in Photoshop, but can't seem to do this in Photo. Please check the screen recording I did.

What is the tool you are using in Photoshop? Perhaps Photo needs a Layer Move Tool.

[Alex_M]

1 hour ago, Dan C said:

Thanks for confirming and for the screen recording - AFAIK your cursor needs to be within the bounding boxes of your layer in Affinity to transform as required, however I can certainly log this as an improvement with our devs  

Thanks.

3 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

What is the tool you are using in Photoshop? Perhaps Photo needs a Layer Move Tool.

In Photoshop I'm using the Move tool.