Change the display of the layers panel – Adobe Illustrator CS4 User Manual
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USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Selecting and arranging objects
The Layers panel provides columns to the left and right of the listings. Click in a column to control the following
characteristics:
Visibility column
Indicates whether items in the layers are visible
or hidden (blank space), or whether they are
template
layers or outline
layers.
Edit column
Indicates whether items are locked or unlocked. The lock icon
indicates that the item is locked and
cannot be edited; a blank space indicates that the item is unlocked and can be edited.
Target column
Indicates whether items are targeted for application of effects and edit attributes in the Appearance
panel. When the target button appears as a double ring icon (either
or
), the item is targeted; a single ring icon
indicates that the item is not targeted.
Selection column
Indicates whether items are selected. A color box appears when an item is selected. If an item, such
as a layer or group, contains some objects that are selected and other objects that are unselected, a smaller selection
color box appears next to the parent item. If all of the objects within the parent item are selected, the selection color
boxes are the same size as the marks that appear next to selected objects.
You can use the Layers panel to display some items as outlines and other items as they will appear in the final artwork.
You also can dim linked images and bitmap objects to make it easier to edit artwork on top of the image. This is
especially useful when tracing a bitmap image.
Display options for layered artwork
A. Object displayed in Outline view B. Bitmap object dimmed to 50% C. Selected object displayed in Preview view
See also
Change the display of the Layers panel
1
Choose panel Options from the Layers panel menu.
2
Select Show Layers Only to hide paths, groups, and collective elements in the Layers panel.
3
For Row Size, select an option to specify the height of rows. (To specify a custom size, enter a value between 12 and
100.)
4
For Thumbnails, select a combination of layers, groups, and objects for which to display thumbnail previews.
B
C
A