Feature request: Bulk linking option for linking layers

[stevenmiller]

OS: Windows 11,  Affinity Photo 2.4.1

Dear AP team, the ability of Affinity Photo to link layers via the Link panel is a powerful feature.

However, the way it works via dragging layers is cumbersome. Moreover: The only way to link layers that are separated by other layers is by linking them one after the other.

Suggestion: Make it more efficient by allowing bulk linking several (separated) layers at once. The bulk link feature could work something like this:

1. Select all of the layers you want to link.
2. On Link Panel: Dragging layers onto the dotted squares is cumbersome, instead they should be checkboxes that you can simply tick. The top checkbox should be called „ALL“ and ticking/unticking it should tick/untick all the checkboxes for the features below. If you only want to link some features you can selectively tick the checkboxes below the top line of the Link Panel.

That‘s it! It would make life much easier.

[CM0]

Linking is one of the most powerful features in Affinity that has been hindered by the interface. The way it currently works you can't do any bulk operations. I'm not sure what inspired the current design, but it is very awkward to use. There are many times I want to use linking but avoid it just because of the frustration.

Being able to just select a bunch of objects and link them all together would be such a powerful update to this feature.

One other essential is the ability to duplicate a set of linked objects but break the link between the new group so the new group of linked objects can be modified independently as currently there is no way to do bulk separations either.

[Frozen Death Knight]

Been saying the same thing myself when it first was implemented. A fantastic feature with some clunky UI. It also should become a Publisher/Designer feature like they did with Layer States recently. Incredibly useful for doing symmetrical vectors that work with booleans. Not to mention Symbols are using the same linking system underneath by allowing you to enable/disable parts of the Symbols to do individual edits while syncing other parts. Have to switch between Photo and Designer just to get the full vector arsenal, which shouldn't be necessary.

[CM0]

Totally agree. I really wish they could combine the linking/symbols as more of a unified solution. There is so much potential there and yes, make it accessible from all 3 applications.