Layers Tab

To show or hide a layer, click the box to the left of the layer's name to toggle its visibility. A layer with an eye in the box is visible and a layer with an empty box is hidden.

To show or hide a parent layer and all its child layers at the same time, right-click the parent layer and select Show Layer. This toggles the show/hide setting of both the parent layer and all child layers.

To show only one layer, right-click the layer name and select Isolate. The selected layer and its children will be shown and all other layers will be hidden.

See Using Layer Visibility for more information.

Click and drag a layer to move it to a new location in the layers list. A small triangle will appear to show where the layer will be located when you release it. Move the cursor to the right to make the layer a child of the layer above the cursor.

Adds a new, blank layer to the PDF. By default, the new layer is positioned immediately after the layer that is currently selected; if no layer is currently selected, the new layer is positioned at the end of the layers list. Click the triangle to the right of the button to choose a different position for the new layer:

• Add Before: Creates a new layer before the selected layer.
• Add After; Creates a new layer after the selected layer (default).
• Add Child: Creates a new layer as a child of the selected layer.

Adds a layer to the PDF from the content of a source PDF. By default, the new layer is positioned immediately after the layer that is currently selected; if no layer is currently selected, the new layer is positioned at the end of the layers list. Click the triangle to the right of the button to choose a different position for the new layer:

• Add Before: Creates a new layer before the selected layer.
• Add After; Creates a new layer after the selected layer (default).
• Add Child: Creates a new layer as a child of the selected layer.

See Adding Layers to a PDF: Creating or Importing Layers from a PDF for more information.

Opens the Delete Layer dialog box to delete the selected layer and its children, if applicable.

Shows the current configuration. Select a configuration from the dropdown menu to switch to it.

Saves the current visibility settings to the selected configuration. Click the triangle to the right of the button for additional options:

New Configuration: Saves the current visibility settings to a new configuration.

Delete Configuration: Deletes the selected configuration.

This menu contains additional options for setting the visibility of layers.

Expand All: Expands all of the trees in the layers.

Collapse All: Collapses all of the layers with children.

Reset All Layers: Resets the display of layers to the selected configuration.

Show Print Layers: Sets to visible only the layers that have Print Usage set to On in the layer properties.

Show Export Layers: Sets to visible only the layers that have Export Usage set to On in the layer properties.

Show All Layers: Sets all layers to visible.

Show Layers on Page Only: Hide the layer names that are not on the current page.

Show Layers Alphabetically: Sort the top level layers alphabetically.

The following options are available in the context menu of a selected layer (right-click a layer to reveal this menu):

Show Layer: Toggle to display or hide current layer or layers.

Isolate: Display this layer and its children, and hide all other layers.

Show All: Display all layers.

Markup Layer: Sets the selected layer as the Markup Layer. New markups will be created on this layer. The markup icon displays after the layer name.

Add Layer from Page: Creates a new layer from another PDF file. Works exactly as the Add Layer from Page button.

Add New Layer: Creates a blank layer. Works exactly as the Add Layer button.

New Layer Group: Creates an item in the layer list that is not a layer. This is primarily an organizational tool. Layer groups are recognizable by the fact that they do not have a toggle box to the left of their names.

Rename (F2): Change the name of the layer.

Delete: Works exactly as the Delete Layer button.

Export Layer to Page: Exports the selected layer or layers to a PDF. If a layer has children, they are also exported. If a selected layer is not currently displayed, the layer will export without the content.

Import Layer from Page: Imports a PDF content and its layers. The Import Layer dialog appears.

Flatten Markups: Flatten all markups to the selected layer. The Flatten Markups dialog appears with Assign Layer and the selected layer pre-selected. The default is that the markups will be flattened to their existing layer.

Unflatten Markups: Unflattens markups that have previously been flattened.

Layer Properties: Opens the Layer Properties dialog box to control the settings of a layer.

Title: The name of the layer. Does not appear if multiple layers were selected.

Default State: Set the default display state when the PDF is opened.

Lock: The title and default state cannot be changed from the layers list while this is checked. A  will appear before the layer name when it is locked.

View: Sets whether a layer will be shown (On) or hidden (Off).

Print: Sets whether a layer will be included in when the PDF is printed.

Export: Sets whether a layer will be included in an export when using Export Layer to Page.

Zoom: Sets whether the contents of a layer are always visible or are only visible when the user zooms in (or out) within a defined range. To enable, select On when in range and then define a zoom range. The contents of this layer will only appear when the display zoom is within this range.

Note: Selecting Layer Properties when multiple layers are selected allows you to control common settings among the selected layers in one action.