I have several documents with multiple layers, and by multiple I mean up to 100 or so. They are all very simple layers, most times with one word. The files are for printing to a laser engraver which has a standard shape on one layer, and the rest of the layers are single words that are centered to the shape layer. When I print, the shape layer is "visible" but not printable or selectable. Just one text layer is visible, printable, and selectable (for the purposes of printing "center/center" to the center of the wood piece being engraved). So, I'm only printing one layer at a time.
Here's the issue: The object manager obviously has a multitude of layers, all of them invisible except for the layer to be actually printed, and the shape layer visible just for visual reference. Many times, when I change a layer to invisible from visible (or vice versa), or change a layer from printable to non-printable (or vice versa), or make a layer selectable to non-selectable (or vice versa), the object manager will jump to another layer entirely, marking that layer with the change I made to the original layer (while also making the desired change to the original layer). So, it's doing its job, and then some. If I change layer 27 to "visible", for example, object manager will also jump to layer 54 and make the same change. I have to change layer 54 back to "invisible" and scroll back to layer 27 to resume work. I'm lucky, I guess, that at least it goes right to the unintended layer when it does this jumping around, but I still have to find my original layer to resume work. It happens with every change, so I'm spending a lot of time jumping all over the layer list in object manager. I can't seem to come up with a pattern for this behaviour, it seems the layers with the unintended changes are randomly chosen.
Sorry about the length of this question, but it's a little difficult to explain. I guess this might open up the discussion of "how many layers is too many layers", but these layers have extremely limited simple content.
I should add that this behavior is not constant. For instance, just ten minutes ago I was working on one of these files, and the object manager was making all kinds of unintended changes mirroring my intended changes. I finished my work, saved and closed the file. I just now reopened the file to add something else, and none of this behavior occurred. It seems that once this behavior starts, it is present for the rest of the time on that file. However, it can be absent on restart. I'd love to know what triggers it, and how I might be able to stop it once it starts. I never know when this will occur, and it seems that this behavior isn't always occurring when I start work on a file, but if it starts, it's there until I close the file.
I should add that this behavior has been present for me back to v2017, and on multiple computers and multiple files, all with the same behavior. Some files were transitioned to v2018, some were created entirely on v2018. It's certainly not life or death, but it is a time drain and aggravating.
Thanks for any input.
rpttrsn said:It's certainly not life or death, but it is a time drain and aggravating.
How do you feel about using a VBA macro?
I took that screenshot after:
That is a great macro. I'm not sure that it would be of help in dealing with the jumping around between random layers when settings are changed, but it opens up a lot of other ideas for me as to how I arrange my layers. Excellent.
It depends on what is causing the "jumping around". If the Object Manager is incorrectly applying the changes you are requesting, then you might be fine with the macro, because it is "flipping the switches" for the layers.
If you are interested in trying the macro, then contact me by private message through the forum, and I'll get you something to try.
It would be hard to claim that the object manager is incorrectly applying changes, it's just that it is applying the changes additionally to another layer unrelated to the original. It's overachieving. Unfortunately, it leaves me in an unintended place on the layers list, with some repairing and navigation ahead.
You wrote that clearly in your opening post, and I failed to pick up on it.
The good news is that I think I've found a way to replicate the bad behavior!
If I have a single object selected, and the layer is expanded in the Object Manager, then the Object Manager wants to automatically scroll to get the selected object into view in the docker. If the Object Manager is set to "Expand to Show Selection", then that will happen automatically any time an object is selected.
It seems that, when changing visible/printable/editable for a layer, the Object manager makes the change, then scrolls to bring the selected object into view in the docker - and THEN toggles the same setting for whatever layer happens to be under the mouse pointer!
If I try to perform similar operations without having an object selected, then the Object Manager does not keep automatically scrolling; no problem.
Here are two videos. One of them has an object selected; the other does not.
VIDEO: Object Manager over achieving
VIDEO: Object Manager just achieving
You might have to download those videos and play them locally. Google Drive seems to be slower than usual at processing them to allow them to be viewed in a browser.
A quick test shows that this problem is present in CorelDRAW X8, X7, X5, and X3.