Layers overview

Layers provide a way to manage all the objects that make up your artwork. In Illustrator, layers help you organize and manage different parts of your artwork without affecting other elements. You can also move items between layers and create sublayers.

Layers can be simple or complex. By default, all items are placed in a single parent layer. You can create new layers and move items between them as required.

With the Layers panel, you can select, hide, lock, and modify the appearance attributes of artwork. You can even create template layers to trace artwork and exchange layers with Adobe Photoshop.

Learn the basics of using layers in your document with the organize content with layers tutorial.

Layers column overview

The Layers panel has four columns, and you can use it to control the layer properties:

• The Visibility column indicates if the layers are hidden or not. The visibility column also shows the template   icon for Template layers and outline   icon for Outline layers.
• The Edit column indicates whether the layers are editable or not.
• The Target column indicates whether items are targeted for applying effects and editing attributes using the Appearance panel. If the target column appears with a double ring   icon, the item is targeted.
• The Selection column indicates whether objects are selected or not. A color box displays next to the selected items. For groups or layers, a smaller color box appears in the parent layer. If all items within a layer are selected, a full-sized color box appears.

A. Visibility column B. Edit column C. Target column D. Selection column