Lesson 16 of 16 · 1:36
Layers
One diagram, several audiences: show, hide, lock, and hand off.
Written guides for this lesson
- How do layers work?
Layers let one diagram serve several audiences: file the room set, the cable plot and catering on their own layers, then show, hide or lock each one. Hidden layers stay out of exports and share links; a copy of a shared diagram arrives with the sender's work on a locked layer.
Transcript
0:03Sometimes one drawing has to serve more than one audience. The banquet captain wants the tables. The production crew wants the cables. The caterer wants neither. Layers are how one diagram does all three.
0:16This keynote has three layers: the room set, the audio-visual gear with its cable runs, and catering. They're the chips along the bottom of the canvas.
0:26Click a chip to hide that layer. Click it again to bring it back. Hide the cabling and the catering, and this is the plan the banquet captain gets.
0:33Show all puts everything back.
0:36Hold Option and click, and you get that layer on its own. That's the cable plot, ready to print for the crew. Exports and share links only ever carry what's showing.
0:46The dots open the Layers panel. That's where you add a layer, rename one with a double-click, and see how many objects each one holds.
0:53Whatever you place next lands on the active layer — the highlighted one. Click a layer to make it active before you draw, and your work files itself.
1:02Lock a layer, and nothing on it can be selected or moved. That's how a venue protects its room set while a production company works on top of it.
1:10To move something onto a layer, select it and pick the layer on the right. Or right-click it. A whole selection moves at once.
1:17And when someone shares a diagram with you and you take a copy, their work arrives on a locked layer. You build on top, and theirs stays exactly as they sent it.
1:27That's layers. One drawing, and everyone gets the version they need.