Using Layers to Filter Entities

Drawings may contain several transparent Layers. The entities of a complete drawing are onto different Layers. The Layers, imposed on top of one another, form the entire drawing. Layers aid in visualizing the part or drawing. You can display or hide entities using Layers.

Use the Layers palette to control the Layers display.

You can use the Layers palette in two modes:

Editing mode. Displays tools that let you change Layer modes or delete entities on Layers.
Preview mode. Displays the list of layers from the current drawing. In preview mode, you cannot add, delete, or change Layers or the entities on Layers.

The Layers palette displays the list of layers from the current drawing.

The first column indicates the Layer's LineColor.
The button symbol indicates whether the Layer is shown or hidden. You can turn each Layer on or off independently.
In drawings with many Layers you can search for a specific Layer if you know a portion of the name.

Note: You cannot add, delete, or change Layers or the entities on Layers.

To display the Layers palette:

On the status bar, click .
Enable Layers.
The Layers palette appears.

To switch to preview mode:

On the Layers palette, select Switch to Preview mode .

To switch to editing mode:

On the Layers palette, select Switch to Editing mode .

To display all Layers:

Do one of the following:

On the Layers palette, select Show All .
On the menu, click Format > Layer Tools > Show All Layers.

To display layers:

Click in front of the Layer names to display.
Only the entities on the selected layers are displayed.

To search for layers:

Type a string in the Filter Expression box to filter the layer list.
Type wildcards (? for a single character, or * for a string of characters) to list the matching Layer names. For example, type "e*" to display all Layers starting with "e", or "*detail" to display all Layers ending with "detail" in the name.
Delete the string or click to cancel the current search.