Layers opening all the time!

[Napapiiri]

Hei - Just posted that thread about layers and groups.
Partly because I find it very annoying that Illustrator always opens
my complete folder structure when I open a file and it takes always 1-2 minutes to close these (I have sometimes 40-60 layers on large files at the moment).

Anybody here who knows to prevent that?

Greets! Björn

[kialua]

Hi Bjorn, welcome to the forum.

I'm a little lost as to why you don't want the layers to open. Just take too long? 60 layers isn't a really big file, some have a lot more layers. I don't work in Illustrator too much, not more than I have to for a logo or so.

[joeparis]

If it is 60 layers, each containing, say, 50 "object layers", then I can see that it would be a pain to navigate through the Layers Palette without closing most of them. I really don't think there is a solution, I'm afraid.
There is always "Show Layers Only" but that limits the effectiveness of the palette.

[Scott Weichert]

Nothing you can do about it.

For some unexplained reason AI will always expand Layers if there are sub-layers present. It is indeed very annoying.

I've put in a feature request several times to have them stay in their last state. So far it hasn't happened.

Submit a feature request too.. the more Adobe gets the more they are likely to address the issue.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

[kialua]

Ah sub layers, yeah that would increase it. I knew you guys would know! Too bad that feature isn't available yet.

[Lukas Engqvist]

You can in the layer pannel access the "panel options"
You can then choose to view "layers only" Is that what you are asking for?
1663
You probably can save time by turning off thumbnail (preview). This can be set for layers groups or for object.

[Scott Weichert]

Unfortunately, even with "Show Layers Only" checked, any layer which contains a sub-layer will still expand upon opening a document. That menu item simply hides the groups and objects.

[Lukas Engqvist]

The only thing that I know takes time is the generation off all the previews.
The previews can be set to render for just top layers and option clicking the arrow can collapse all to layers, grouping in a logical sublayers should be managable. I am finding it very hard to visualise that it could work any other way, and find the options work well… I am still very curious how the OP thinks it should work.

[Scott Weichert]

Basically... if you have a file like this:

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/2325/ailayers.jpg

File was quickly set up for this example.

All you see there are 3 top layers and 11 sub layers contained within each top layer - no groups or objects (other than the clipping paths).

If, I collapse the top layers "Bird Scene copy 2" and "Bird scene copy", save, then close the file it is expected that the next time I open the file "Bird Scene copy 2" and "Bird scene copy" will be collapsed (that was the saved state). That's how I saved and closed the file. But they aren't. Upon reopening the file all top layers will be expanded again to show all 11 sub-layers they each contain.

For this example with only 33 sub layers and 3 top layers it's not that bad. But imagine 20 top layers each containing 50 sub layers. The Layers Panel is then very, very long every time you open the file. This often causes you to have to collapse several layers just to get to the layer or sub layer you want. It wastes a lot of time and is annoying.

My feature request asked that the Layers remember their collapsed/expanded state in the document so if I collapse a top layer, it remains collapsed the next time I open the file.

Imagine if every time you opened a multi-layered Photoshop file all the layer effects and groups were expanded.... That's basically what Illustrator does with layers and sub-layers. I hate it.

[Lukas Engqvist]

OK thank you for taking time to post example. Yes there are some small things like that, that could be improved in the software. (a bit booring having every layer look the same though :p)

[grnofslt]

You show the main layers and the sub layers which open all the time. Just look at how many sub layers created by individual paths that didn't open. Maybe Illustrator just opens to the Major layers/Sub layers, but doesn't always open to show each individual path's sub layer.

I don't know, just a thought…

Bill

[Scott Weichert]

Correct. Illustrator always expands Layers which contain sub-layers or nested layers. Objects, which also appear in the Layers Panel, are not layers and they do not cause layers to expand.

The name "Layers Panel" is somewhat misleading. The panel actually shows 4 things -- Layers, Sub-Layers, Groups, and Objects. Both Groups and Objects aren't really "layers" so they don't act exactly the same in the Panel.

[grnofslt]

That behavior might almost cause one to turn each layer into a group just to keep from having the layers panel expand all the time. For my skills with Illustrator, I'm not sure it that is a good procedure or not.