# Hide layer(s) or rearrange layers **URL:** \ **Category:** McKinley\ **Created:** [July 20, 2026, 9:27pm UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13 "2026-07-20T21:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![talos-iconfactory](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/user_avatar/doubleandthrice.discourse.group/talos-iconfactory/32/18_2.png) [@talos-iconfactory](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/u/talos-iconfactory)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 9:27pm UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13/1 "2026-07-20T21:27:10Z")
Say I have Layers A, B and C. I want to align or scale an object in A to match something in C. So I need to hide B in order to view C. Another work around is to able to drag and rearrange the layer orders. ---
**Author:** ![AmyWorrall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/user_avatar/doubleandthrice.discourse.group/amyworrall/32/5_2.png) [@AmyWorrall](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/u/AmyWorrall)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 1:39pm UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13/2 "2026-08-03T13:39:03Z")
These features are now available. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/uploads/doubleandthrice/original/1X/3e9fcfeda512afde978f51f0fe5b258b5ea3e3d2.png) There’s an ‘eye’ icon in the layers palette to hide a layer. Drag-reordering layers should now work more reliably. (Previously it had some bugs at the top and bottom of the list, but it should now work better.) ---
**Author:** ![AndyDentPerth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/user_avatar/doubleandthrice.discourse.group/andydentperth/32/29_2.png) [@AndyDentPerth](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/u/AndyDentPerth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 7:55am UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13/3 "2026-09-08T07:55:31Z")
As seen in your screenshot, after importing, all the imported layers are nested inside one master (true?) layer. To be able to hide and show them either hide needs implementing at Group level or import needs to _explode layers_ into more than one _Imported._ ---
**Author:** ![AmyWorrall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/user_avatar/doubleandthrice.discourse.group/amyworrall/32/5_2.png) [@AmyWorrall](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/u/AmyWorrall)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 11:22am UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13/4 "2026-09-08T11:22:23Z")
hi Andy. That screenshot is from an earlier beta version of McKinley, and is a bit confusing (which is why it doesn’t work that way any more!). I’ll try and explain what’s going on. - In the screenshot, what you see is a bunch of _paths_ that happened to be _named_ “Layer 1” etc. That was a weird thing from an earlier beta which no longer happens. McKinley now names the imported paths “Imported 1” etc, like so: ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/uploads/doubleandthrice/original/1X/28486fb58d2bf5c536793fe87013555b83cc0e3c.jpeg) - One thing to note, layers in McKinley aren’t the same as layers in the SF Symbols app. In SF Symbols, you need to use layers just to colour objects. McKinley can apply colour information directly to objects, so you don’t need to use layers for that. - Layers in McKinley can be used for your own organisational structure. They’re also the home of two settings, “animates children together” and “composites as one unit”. - When importing a symbol, McKinley tries to import onto as few layers as possible. Essentially the importer only starts a new layer when it needs to use one of the above settings. In the case of the screenshot in this post, we’ve ended up with the share icon on one layer and the tick badge on another, because each of them needed “animates children together”. So what if you _want_ more layers, so that you can independently hide things? You can make a new layer and just drag the paths between them in the layer palette. Dragging from one layer to another works fine. However, then they won’t be inside the same “animates children together” setting, so it does make a difference to your exported symbol. If you’d like to see hiding at an _object_ level (i.e. I put the eye icon on every object in the layers palette, not just on the top level layers), I can consider that. I didn’t add it, because I thought it might be confusing and too easy to get lost about what’s going on in your document. But I could reconsider… ---
**Author:** ![AndyDentPerth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/user_avatar/doubleandthrice.discourse.group/andydentperth/32/29_2.png) [@AndyDentPerth](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/u/AndyDentPerth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13/5 "2026-09-08T12:50:43Z")
I think Layers, with the limitations you mention here, are probably _too granular_ to be the only hideable concept. Both Affinity and Sketch have hiding individual objects (curves or groups) so that probably matches most designer expectations. I know when doing icon design that quickly toggling hiding on and off for individual items has been very useful for fine-tuning a design. I’ll also use it for playing with a few variations. ---
**Author:** ![AmyWorrall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/user_avatar/doubleandthrice.discourse.group/amyworrall/32/5_2.png) [@AmyWorrall](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/u/AmyWorrall)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 1:04pm UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13/6 "2026-09-08T13:04:13Z")
That is a fair point. I’ll try adding the hide buttons to individual items (which will apply to paths and groups – not subpaths, since that wouldn’t really make sense IMO). I’ll check how the UI feels, but you’re probably right that it would be a good addition. ---
**Author:** ![AmyWorrall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex052/user_avatar/doubleandthrice.discourse.group/amyworrall/32/5_2.png) [@AmyWorrall](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/u/AmyWorrall)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://doubleandthrice.discourse.group/t/hide-layer-s-or-rearrange-layers/13/7 "2026-09-22T22:55:01Z")
You can now hide individual objects.