Linked PDF layers visibility not retained

[mhgd]

What Application are you using? 
Designer

Are you using the latest release version?
v2.1.0

Can you reproduce it?
Yes.

Does it happen for a new document? If not can you upload a document that shows the problem?
Yes, but doesn't happen in the same way for all pdf files.

operating system and version

Windows 11 v10.0.22621
AMD Ryzen 3900XT
80GB Ram
RTX 3090

hardware acceleration
Same issue with both ON and Off.

What happened for you (and what you expected to happen)
When placing a linked PDF within a file and turning off certain layers within that pdf, the layers are either all then ticked again in the dropdown when reopening the file and all layers of the pdf are shown - or - the correct layers are ticked in the dropdown but all layers of the pdf are being shown on screen.

Recipe for creating the problem

1. Create a new file
2. Place a pdf file which has layers into the document.
3. Open the Resource Manager and make file linked (for me this is the important part)
4. Duplicate the pdf on the artboard and turn some layers on/off on each duplicate so that only one pdf layer is showing for each instance of the pdf.
5. Save file, close it and reopen.
6. On opening the document, depending on the pdf being used in the document it either:
   - Incorrectly shows all pdf layers as active again in the layers dropdown, displaying all layers of the pdf for each instance.
   - Shows the correct pdf layers as active in the layers dropdown yet will initially show all layers of the pdf for each instance but on zooming in/out or changing the 'Page Box' option to something else the correct layer will then show on each instance, as if the pdf image is cached.

I haven't changed anything in terms of settings recently and not noticed this problem before.

 

Screenshot attached showing the preview when opening a file which suggests it is going to display correctly with the different layers of each pdf showing.

Screenshot attached showing file once opened with the layers seemingly reset for each pdf so that all layers are incorrectly now showing.

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by mhgd
privacy

[walt.farrell]

Your problem may be related to your step 4 (Duplicate the PDF on the Artboard).

Do you still have the problem if you Place the PDF again, rather than duplicating the already-placed PDF?

(Also, for step 3: Is it important that you first Embed the PDF, then switch it to Linked? Does the problem still happen if you configure the document to "Prefer Linked" from the beginning, so it is Linked immediately when you first Place it?)

[mhgd]

26 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Do you still have the problem if you Place the PDF again, rather than duplicating the already-placed PDF?

Well done Walt, that solves the issue! Strangely seems to be that if I Alt+Drag to create a copy on the artboard it causes the issue and none of the layer selections are remembered. I'm not getting the issue when using Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V or when placing the pdf again.

[walt.farrell]

I'm glad you've got a workaround, but it feels like there's still something wrong.

I would expect the Alt+Drag and Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V methods to give the same results, so at least that part seems wrong if they're giving different results.

I'm not sure that Placing again should be required (and someone from Serif may be able to comment on that, too), but it's the only way I know of that doesn't give you a true duplicate of the original object. And with duplicates, some operations apply (I think) to all the duplicate copies, which might help explain what you are experiencing.

[NathanC]

Hi @mhgd,

I've been able to replicate your issue, the layer states are certainly falling out of sync on the duplicated PDF and I don't believe that placing the file should be a requirement in order for this to work correctly and it should be remembered. It likely does work with re-placing the same file since this action creates a new resource entry in the resource manager, in comparison to just duplicating which creates a sub resource. I've now logged it with the developers for further investigation.

19 hours ago, mhgd said:

Strangely seems to be that if I Alt+Drag to create a copy on the artboard it causes the issue and none of the layer selections are remembered. I'm not getting the issue when using Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V or when placing the pdf again.

I'm able to replicate the issue in both scenarios of alt + drag or CTRL + C/V copy/paste both result in the layer states falling out of sync on my duplicated pdf, so this is a little strange. I can also replicate it with my document independent of the resource placement policy (set to either linked or embedded).

I did also find that If I repeated the same steps with a placed and duplicated .afdesign file instead of a PDF, this works as expected.