Feature request: save layers position state when opening other tabs/re-opening a doc

[orangefizz]

(Copied over from the questions forum)

When working with layers in osx, after I've deselected a layer and navigate away from the window and then return, the layers window has defaulted back to the top. If you're working with a lot of layers (who isn't?) this can become quite laborious having to go hunting to find the one(s) you were working on. Whichever layer I was working on within the document/session, even if it's deselected, the layers window should remain *with those layers visible* just as I left it.

 

One document might have 3 layers, another might have 30. Just as with history or zoom level or ruler setting, it should record the position of the layers for each document whether or not I have something selected.

So devs!: please treat the layers panel as an extension of each document's properties/edit state. For ongoing workflow, this is crucial.

Thank you!

[Gripsholm Lion]

Hello. I sort of followed your other post about this but I wasn't completely clear about what you've been experiencing.

If you have, say, two files open in Designer or Photo and you switch between them, the last focused layer in each doc will no longer be focused when you return to that tab? If so, that may be a bug because it's different to what I'm experiencing. I just tried it in Designer with a few files open; selected various layers or grouped layers, switched tabs, and they stayed selected. I don't think that I've ever seen any loss of focus in Photo either.

I did find some inconsistency when I first opened my test files, though. A fairly complex file with grouped layers had nothing initially selected when it was opened, while the other files did. One was an afphoto file with a brush layer selected; the other was an icon with just a single group of layers.

[orangefizz]

I originally posted this as something I noticed in the Photo v2 beta, but I don't remember if this was an issue in v2 itself.

But the issue is switching between tabs *within the same app*. Invariably, when I leave one tab and return, the layers panel has reset to the top, regardless of whether anything in a layer was selected. My view is that the panel's vertical position state should be maintained with the document's other settings.

[Gripsholm Lion]

Yes, that's what I understood you to mean.

As I say, I tested switching back and forth between tabs (in Designer anyway) and I could not replicate this behaviour. And as I say, I haven't seen this in Photo either (which I use more often).

This is not quite the same as what you've experienced, but I'll mention that something which will deselect layers is clicking on the grey background around an image (even though you're not actually clicking on a different layer). That can be quite annoying if I do that absent-mindedly, so you have my sympathy here!

Sorry that I couldn't be of more help, though.

[carl123]

1 hour ago, GripsholmLion said:

Yes, that's what I understood you to mean.

Nope, I do not think you are correctly understanding what the OP is saying

Create a document with 20 layers (Rectangles will do)
Or enough layers so you have to scroll the Layers panel so you see the bottom layer
Select the bottom Layer so it is highlighted
Do not scroll the layers
Now switch to a different document tab and back to the original document

The bottom layer will still be selected (highlighted) but the Layers panel will have reopened at the top of the Layers panel so you don't see your highlighted layer until you scroll to the bottom again. The OP wants the selected layer to remain visible when you move between document tabs or if no layer is selected it should also reopen where the Layers panel was scrolled to before switching tabs and back again

[orangefizz]

I didn't explain it very well... Carl123 did a better job. 

[Gripsholm Lion]

No, clearly you didn't. 😉 No worries.

[orangefizz]

Oh? Actually @GripsholmLion, I was being nice; my OP and my follow-up were pretty clear.

[MikeTO]

Before orangefizz posted this feature request we discussed this in the Questions forum. It's a valid request - Affinity doesn't keep track of the scroll position of any panel that lists things (text styles, layers, index, hyperlinks, anchors...) when you change documents. The request should be to do this for all panels, not just layers.

Cheers