Working with Layers

You may know the concept of layers from drawing or image editing software. Layers can be used for many different purposes, for example for separating printable and non-printable items like grids, to create multiple-language versions of a document in a single file or simply to ease editing certain objects without affecting others.

By default, a new document has only one layer, with the default name “Background”. Newly added objects will each be at their own Level on this layer, so you may have many levels on one layer. For many documents, only one layer will be necessary, but sometimes it may be desirable to work with more than one layer.

To add a new layer, open the Layers dialog under Windows > Layers or press F6:

The Layers Dialog

At first glance, the dialog looks simple, but it’s very powerful. At the top you can set a blend mode and layer opacity.

At the bottom of the dialog we have the basic layer management tools available, from left to right:

The major part of the dialog is occupied by the layer list, including various layer options. These are, from left to right:

Switching between layers

There are two options to switch between layers. The first is to select a layer in the layer dialog, but it is a bit tedious to open a separate dialog each time you want to do nothing more than continue your work on another layer. Fortunately, the Status Bar at the bottom of the Scribus windows has a layer selector. It lists all layers in a document by name and also displays a layer’s color.

Moving objects between layers

If you want to move an object from one layer to another, you can use “Send to Layer” from the Context Menu or the same command from the Item menu in the menu bar. The command is also available in the Context Menu of objects in the Document Outline.

Hints for working with layers

The Layers Dialog

Layers and their settings in Adobe Reader (left) and Scribus (right)