What is this icon in an adjustment layer? And why do they only now apply to one layer below?

[Florida]

Why am I seeing the icon to the left of "White Balance Adjustment". I've never seen this before and there seems no explanation as to what it is (seems to only affect the layer below I think) or how to get rid of it. Normally I expect adjustment layers to affect ALL layers below which is what I want. Not sure how to look this up in a FAQ as I don't know what it is called. I assume I did something to make this appear.

 

[MikeTO]

The icon symbolizes the adjustment type.

https://affinity.help/photo2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Adjustments/adjustment_applying.html?title=Applying adjustments

[Florida]

But it's only applying to the layer below; previously, adjustments always applied to all layers below. How do I get that behavior back? This basically makes everything I do impossible. Even if I group all the layers below, the adjustment only applies to the first layer in the group. This is either a terrible bug or some feature I cannot find to turn off. Even if I put the adjustment inside the group it only applies to the first layer.

 If this can't be changed, then I can no longer use AP.

 

Using 2.2.0 on M1 Mac Studio.

[Florida]

The manual states "Adjustment layers only affect layers which are below them". This is NOT what is happening. It is only applying to the one layer directly below. There is a new button "Edit All Layers," but it does nothing and does not seem to be documented that I can find. This is the little icon on the left. It would seem to imply that this button would affect if the adjustment applies to a single layer or all layers below, but it does not seem to change anything.

[MikeTO]

19 minutes ago, Florida said:

But it's only applying to the layer below; previously, adjustments always applied to all layers below. How do I get that behavior back? This basically makes everything I do impossible. Even if I group all the layers below, the adjustment only applies to the first layer in the group. This is either a terrible bug or some feature I cannot find to turn off. Even if I put the adjustment inside the group it only applies to the first layer.

I can't duplicate this problem, my adjustment layers affect all layers below. Can you please share a screen recording demonstrating the issue so we can see what might be wrong?

2 minutes ago, Florida said:

There is a new button "Edit All Layers," but it does nothing and does not seem to be documented that I can find.

It's documented in the page for the Layers panel.

https://affinity.help/photo2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Panels/layersPanel.html?title=Layers panel (Photo Persona)

[- S -]

12 hours ago, Florida said:

…Normally I expect adjustment layers to affect ALL layers below which is what I want.

The icon to the right denotes there's a layer mask applied to the White Balance Adjustment layer, which looks predominantly black.  The White Balance Adjustment will not be visible on the underlying layers for the parts of the mask that are pure black – therefore the adjustments are only showing where the parts of the mask are lighter.

Hold the Alt/Option key on the keyboard and left-click the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel and it will display what's masked or not, represented in greyscale.

Unlike normal mask layers [Layer > New Mask Layer] where it's possible to easily toggle mask visibility on/off, or delete the mask, with these built-in Adjustment Layer types of masks you'll need to fill the mask with pure white [Edit > Fill] (Shift + F5) to disable it.

[Florida]

Hmm, how did I wind up with an adjustment layer with a mask? Now I see how to make it work normally again, but I wonder how I got here in the first place.

 

Thanks for the help, this is a really confusing feature.

 

[Ron P.]

6 hours ago, Florida said:

Hmm, how did I wind up with an adjustment layer with a mask?

All adjustment layers have built in masks. Since V2, (I think), they are hidden with the adjustment. Grab a brush, make sure the adjustment layer is selected in the layer stack, and start painting. The mask will appear.