Feature Request: Option to Hide Layers from the Layer Panel

[andreyshinami]

Hi everyone,

When working in Affinity Designer, I often create a group layer named "Backup" to store elements I might need later. However, this can lead to a cluttered layer panel, making navigation slower and less efficient.

I thought it might be cool if there was a button to "Hide Layers from the Layer Panel", so that I could only see the layers (including hidden ones) which are relevant to the current workflow. This would make the interface cleaner and more focused.

So, it's different from just controlling a layer's content visibility. I’d call it "Layer Declutter," "Organize Layers," "Visibility Config," or something similar.

Thank you for your attention. 

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @andreyshinami

Since you are using Designer, have you considered using Artboards?

You could create an Artboard (or many Artboards, each for a different purpose) called, for example, “Backup stuff” to contain layers that you might want later and then just drag those layers back to the ‘real’ Artboard when/if you need them.

10 minutes ago, andreyshinami said:

I thought it might be cool if there was a button to "Hide Layers from the Layer Panel", so that I could only see the layers (including hidden ones) which are relevant to the current workflow.

By “including the hidden ones” do you mean the layers which have their Visibility set to OFF, or the layers which have been hidden via this new functionality, or something else?

[Pšenda]

14 hours ago, andreyshinami said:

I thought it might be cool if there was a button to "Hide Layers from the Layer Panel"

If you hide/suppress the layer(s) so that they are not displayed in the Layers panel, you will have no way to display them if necessary. So, in addition to the mentioned button for suppressing the layer, you will need some other way to display them repeatedly (some "Show suppressed layer" mode in the Layers panel).

[andreyshinami]

@GarryP @Pšenda

Sorry for my late reply. I am aware of artboards and use them too. However, artboards are also displayed in the Layer Panel and I'd like to hide them as well when I don't need some of them. 

Here is the illustration of what I mean.

 

[andreyshinami]

image #3 illustrates the clean look I'm going for. 

Anyway, it's just a suggestion for a cool feature. If it doesn't fit anyone else's workflow, feel free to disregard it.

[andreyshinami]

(oh image #6 should also have that "button" below. I forgot to add it there.)

[GarryP]

That’s a nice idea but – especially when the user has been reordering, or even deleting, layers – how would the software know where to put the ‘hidden’ layers back?

For example, say I have a Rectangle, inside a Circle, which is itself inside a Polygon, and the Circle has an Adjustment Layer as a child layer. If I ‘hide’ the Adjustment layer and then delete the Circle, when I drag the Adjustment Layer back from being ‘hidden’ where would the software put it?

Would the software always put the layers where the user drags them back to? And, if so, what if the user just wanted to put them back where they were, especially if they couldn’t remember where they used to be?

Like I said, it’s a nice idea but I think it needs a lot more consideration before it could be 'properly' useful.

[andreyshinami]

Option 1:
Not allowing child layers to be placed in the "postponed" folder. However, I agree that this option probably won’t work because users would typically want to postpone elements within an Artboard, which would then require moving the entire Artboard to the "postponed" folder.

Option 2:
Displaying a warning that deleting the Circle will also delete the child Rectangle, which is currently postponed. This seems reasonable.

 

At this point, the potential implementation of this feature may need to be further pitched to the Affinity Team, in case they find it worthy of discussion.

 

[MEB]

Hi @andreyshinami,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Doesn't the Assets panel do what you are looking for (storing objects you re-use frequently)?

[andreyshinami]

@MEB

It does! I didn't know about the Assets panel. Thank you. 

So, I can store the current state of some element which I might wanna revisit later and there's no need to keep it in my Layer Panel. That fits me! Thanks!

I'll try to implement it into my workflow and see how it goes! 

[MEB]

You're welcome.