Layers
Separate plants, hardscape, and annotation into named layers you can show, hide, lock, or fade at any time.
LayersOpen Filters in the canvas menu bar to find three parallel tabs: Layers, Surface classes, and Tags. Layers organize drawing objects; surface classes are system-defined classifications; project tags are reusable labels you create for your own organization, such as “Front garden,” “Existing planting,” or “Phase 2.” Objects can have several tags. Use the separate visibility, temporary isolation, highlight, and selection controls to focus your working view. Highlight helps you find matching objects without selecting them. Select chooses visible matching objects for editing. Display filtering keeps hidden objects in the drawing and leaves quantities and costs unchanged.
Open Layers in Filters
Click Filters in the canvas menu bar, then choose Layers. The menu also has Surface classes and Tags tabs. Use the Layers tab to manage the current drawing’s layers. The highlighted row is the active layer.
Create a new layer
Use the add control in the Layers header. If it opens a menu, choose the layer option rather than Underlay or Backdrop. The new layer becomes active. Layer editing controls can be unavailable in read-only or fixed-layer contexts.
Double-click a layer name to rename it to something descriptive like "Plants", "Hardscape", or "Annotations" so your layer stack stays readable as the project grows.
Set the active layer
Click a layer row to make it active. The row shows (active). New drawing objects normally use the active layer; specialized tools can assign a system layer, so check the selected object if its layer differs from what you expected.
Reorder layers
Grab the grip handle (the six-dot icon) on the left edge of any layer row and drag it up or down. A drop indicator shows where the layer will land. Release to confirm. Objects on layers higher in the list render in front of objects on layers lower in the list.
Toggle visibility and lock state
Use each layer’s visibility and lock controls to hide its objects or protect them from ordinary selection and editing. Locked objects remain visible. Object, group, class and tag protection can also affect editing, so check those controls if an object remains unavailable after unlocking its layer.
Adjust layer transparency
Expand a layer row to use Transparency, which fades its drawing objects from fully opaque (0%) to fully transparent (100%). Underlays have separate rows and their own transparency controls; changing a drawing layer’s transparency is not a substitute for adjusting the underlay.
Inspect and select objects within a layer
Expand a layer row to inspect its objects on the active page. Use an eligible object row to select it, or its visibility and lock controls for that object. The object’s own visibility or lock does not override a hidden or locked containing layer. Additional rows can be revealed when the list is long.
Delete a layer
Expand a layer and use Delete Layer. For a layer containing objects, read the confirmation and choose Move to Default Layer to keep them or Delete objects too to remove them. The dialog identifies affected pages: layers can contain objects across more than the active page. The default layer cannot be deleted.
Choose "Move to Default Layer" if you reorganized layers and want to consolidate objects rather than lose them.
Use the Tags tab for project-wide labels. Create or rename tags and add an optional description to explain their purpose. Descriptions appear in tooltips in the tag list and selected-object Inspector. Select an object to assign tags in its Inspector, or use Add tag from the selected objects’ context menu to tag a selection. Manage tags opens the project tag manager. Deleting a tag removes its assignments across the project; it does not delete the garden objects. Layers and tags are user-managed; surface classes are system-defined. Underlays and Backdrops remain separate sections in the Layers tab.