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There are several questions relating to layers vs groups.

 

I want to know specifically why, if I have a document with a single layer and two children (objects e.g. circles) if I use the hot keys to:

 

select all: CMD+A

copy: CMD+C

(switch to new document)

paste: CMD+V

 

I only paste the objects not the layer.

 

If I want to paste the layer I have to click on the layer and then copy paste.

 

Likewise if I click on an object in a layer, I first select the object in the layer I clicked on rather than the layer?

 

How to get around this?

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3 hours ago, sumneuron said:

How to get around this?

Short answer: select whatever it is that you want to copy before you copy it.

Longer answer: the app has no way of knowing if you want to copy a Layer or some or all of the objects in it. "Select All" is affected by the "Edit all layers" button at the bottom of the Layers panel -- if it is not enabled, only the objects in the current Layer will be selected; if it is, all objects in every Layer will be. It is sometimes easier to select items from the Layers panel than from the canvas. Using the 'auto-scroll' option can help with that: you can select one object on the canvas, & with it enabled, the Layers panel will automatically scroll to that object, opening the Layer it is in if it not already open.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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@R C-R I appreciate the input but your answer isn't really the answer. The answer I guess is that Affinity doesn't work the way I want it to.

 

How do I want Affinity to work? Double clicking drills down. Single click selects.

 

If I click on an object, it selects the parent be it group or layer. double click picks the first child containing that object, double click again continues to drill down. This is how groups work and how layers should work. Honestly it seems like groups are stronger than layers and layers are just there for people who come from photoshop? but I am new to this and could just be frustrated and ignorant

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1 hour ago, sumneuron said:

Honestly it seems like groups are stronger than layers and layers are just there for people who come from photoshop?

OK, I suppose in some theoretical sense a Layer (the capital L layer type) could be considered a 'weak' container because unlike groups, making  selections on the canvas ignores that they are containers so their contents can be selected directly, but what is so bad about that? Nothing prevents users from placing certain items into a Layer to organize them when they want to be able to select them directly, & into a group when they don't. Groups & Layers can also be used together in various combinations to build complex hierarchies with different selection properties that would not be possible if both behaved the same way.

Layers also have at least one other unique feature that some users find useful, that being the customizable Layer Color property, which sets the color of marquee selection boxes, selected vector paths, control handles, etc. of items in that Layer. For example, below are two shapes in different Layers, each of which has a different Layer Color, with some of the nodes from each shape selected.
489366027_Layercolor.jpg.2419aeb6c0cf0034cb45d3a036daf18a.jpg
Basically, Layers are just another organizational tool. 

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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