Selecting locked layers

[nathandh]

Once a layer is locked, is there a way to select it? This would be useful if I want to a) unlock it, or b) want to right-click it so that I can find the layer in the layer list. How else would you find it if you have hundreds (or thousands) of layers?

 

In Sketch, if you right click a layer, you can still select it even if it's locked by right-clicking (see attachment). Anything like that in Designer?

[Chris B]

Hey Nathan,

 

I think this is an excellent feature request, actually. You of course have no idea how to find that object if it is nestled as a child layer when you could potentially have hundreds of parent layers. Perhaps holding down a key and clicking could highlight the object or even something on the parent level could indicate it contains a locked child layer...

I'll move this over to Feature Requests.

I've also noticed you have used your email address as your username. You might want to change this as these forums are searchable and you might be setting yourself up for some spam. You can leave it if you wish but it's just some friendly advice.

Thanks :)

[bikeman]

I wouldn't like to click a layer have it do nothing, then have to try another way of selecting it (right click etc), I would prefer that if I try to select locked layer it get selected but see a red bounding border if it is locked. I think this would work much better than the previous suggestion.

 

On a related issue I think that it would be nice to be able to lock layers directly in the layers panel nor have to select the layer and then move off teh layer up to the lock icon.

[Alfred]

I wouldn't like to click a layer have it do nothing, then have to try another way of selecting it (right click etc), I would prefer that if I try to select locked layer it get selected but see a red bounding border if it is locked. I think this would work much better than the previous suggestion.

 

When you lock a layer via the Layers panel, its adjustment handles turn into crosses. I think it would make sense to retain this behaviour if we could lock objects directly in the workspace.

 

On a related issue I think that it would be nice to be able to lock layers directly in the layers panel nor have to select the layer and then move off teh layer up to the lock icon.

 

You can right-click a layer in the Layers panel and choose 'Lock'. (You can also unlock a layer via the context menu, but that seems much less efficient than simply left-clicking the padlock on the layer!)

[bikeman]

I think the main problem I and others have is if a doc has hundreds of layers it is practically impossible to find the layer in the panel. I'd like to see when you try to select a locked layer, that it is highlighted in some fashion on the page and gets selected in the layers panel.

 

As far as locking the layer via a padlock on the actual layer, instead of the padlock only being visible when the layers locked, just change it to a toggle switch. 

[mallow]

• It would be great for me too if I could select locked layer somehow.
• Please also give us the way to filter/search layers by their names.

 

I am currently trying to replace Adobe Illustrator with Affinity Designer in my workflow and those 2 things would help a lot. AD has really nice vector editing skills. I like it more and more :)

[Kaze]

+1000 for this. It doesn't seem very hard to implement and would make the workflow soo easy. Maybe use a modifier key (Alt, Ctrl) when clicking the object to selected it in the layers panel. Obviously, this feature it's missing in Illustrator.

[raptor]

Hi, I too have requested this and other features regarding lock/unlock about year ago - https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/24994-better-lockunlock-workflow-gui-skinning-and-other-suggestions/#comment-118274 . At least we now have the Unlock All command. But it is still not enough for me because it is destructive - it doesn't retain the memory of your strategically locked items and doesn't allow you to lock the items again once you are done with editing. Serif should really add non-destructive Unlock All (= Unlock All temporarily). Xara (see the second GIF in the linked post) has had this very elegant feature for a long time (temporary Unlock All and temporary Show all). It is an essential feature for me and once you try it for a while every other layer based 2D software that doesn't have something similar seems very slow and unwieldy. Sadly Xara has some huge problems as far as vector editing and precision so I am looking more and more at Affinity Designer. I hope Serif will really start to make the user experience of the Affinity apps much better and more elegant. As far as UX Affinity apps have been really lacking a lot of smart features and thought-out ways since the launch of the project - up until several days ago we even haven't had the basic destructive "Unlock All"! I was very surprised by this when I first tried the Windows beta. I had expected the complete opposite since it was a brand new software and Serif could learn from mistakes of other 2D software makers and countless wishes of users (for example Illustrator users had requested better lock/unlock workflows for ages).

I am going to post a new feature request regarding the "temporary Unlock all" and "temp. Show All" soon. I posted the previous thread in the beta section, it is old now and mixed with other requests. I also want to make better demo videos.

You can try these two workarounds I discovered:

workaround 1) Switch the "View mode" to "Outline". Outline mode allows you to select even locked object directly on the canvas. The catch: it doesn't work every time. I think bitmap images get ignored and something else might as well.

workaround 2) Click Layers > "Unlock All". Select the desired object (let's call it "object-X") on canvas. It should get automatically selected and shown at the Layers palette. Remember its position in the Layers palette - it should be at the bottom of the visible part of the list - as the last fully visible item (if you don't have a lot of items in the list it might be higher). You can point your cursor directly at it. Now apply Undo (or Ctrl z) - "Unlock All" will get undone. The object-X will get deselected and locked (it will revert to the previous state) but now you know its position in the Layers palette and you don't have to scroll to find it at all. It is the next-to-last item in the visible part of the list (right below your cursor). So now you can simply select it via the Layers palette.

I will probably make a short video about this.

 

[Kaze]

Billiant, thanks @raptor for the Outline mode workaround!

[raptor]

On 12/2/2017 at 5:28 PM, Kaze said:

Billiant, thanks @raptor for the Outline mode workaround!

No problem at all, Kaze. I have just posted my tips (illustrated with animated GIFs) here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/51458-affdes-lockunlock-workarounds-and-tips/