Skip navigation
andi.power
andi.power Calculating status...
Currently Being Moderated

How to duplicate a layer including sub layers

Feb 5, 2013 7:18 AM

Tags: #fireworks #duplicate #layer

Let's say I have a Layer (1. Product) that contains a subfolder (Infos), which also contains 2 subfolders.

screenshot.PNG

If I drag the 1. Product Layer to the "duplicate layer" symbol only one layer (Artikel...) gets duplicated, but not the subfolders!

How can I duplicate the whole layer structure? It's no problem to do this in photoshop.

Thank you for your help in advance!

 

Andi.

653 Views   7 Replies   Latest reply: John Dunning, Feb 26, 2013 12:34 PM
 
Replies
  • groove25
    Currently Being Moderated
    1. groove25,
    Feb 5, 2013 8:25 AM   in reply to andi.power
    Report

    I don't seem to have a problem with this. Are you dragging the layer/folder icon (not the object inside)? Because that would be crucial.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • andi.power
    Currently Being Moderated
    2. andi.power,
    Feb 5, 2013 8:31 AM   in reply to groove25
    Report

    Yes I drag the whole folder. But the items in that folder are not marked.

    If I want to duplicate everything within the folder, I have to ctrl + click on every item to mark it. This is not a good workflow.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • groove25
    Currently Being Moderated
    3. groove25,
    Feb 5, 2013 9:05 AM   in reply to andi.power
    Report

    Fireworks' sublayers are definitely problematic. I avoid them. That said, this is one area where the sublayer system seems to work just fine. When using the Duplicate Layer function, it's OK that the sublayers and their content don't appear to be selected; they're still copied when you drag the containing layer to the Duplicate Layer icon.

     

    At least that's how it works on my system: Fireworks CS6 on Mac OS 10.6.8. (What version of Fireworks are you using and on what operating system?)

     

    If you work with sublayers a lot, you might be interested in developer Aaron Beall's Layers Commands extension, which includes commands like "Select Entire Layer and Sublayers" and "Explode Sublayer".

     

    http://fireworks.abeall.com/extensions/commands/Layer/

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • andi.power
    Currently Being Moderated
    4. andi.power,
    Feb 5, 2013 9:10 AM   in reply to groove25
    Report

    That's strange, It doesn't work here. I have to select every single sub layer/sub folder in order to duplicate them.

    I use Fireworks CS6 on Windows 7 (PC).

    Thanks for the hint to the extension, I'll give it a try.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • groove25
    Currently Being Moderated
    5. groove25,
    Feb 5, 2013 10:07 AM   in reply to andi.power
    Report

    That's a shame. Maybe selecting the items on the canvas might be easier?

     

    This gets to what bugs me most about sublayers: You'd think that selecting a layer would select its contents—all of its contents. You know how layers are independent from one another? Well, sublayers pretty much act just like regular layers in that sense. All I can think is that Adobe must have added the sublayer feature in haste, to help support Photoshop compatibility, and then left it at that.

     

    In any case, I'm surprised that the Duplicate Layer function is letting you down here; hopefully, you'll stumble onto what's causing the problem or else find a decent workaround.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • andi.power
    Currently Being Moderated
    6. andi.power,
    Feb 5, 2013 12:11 PM   in reply to groove25
    Report

    Exactly. How do I move all objects in one layer including sub layers? Do I really have to select all items with ctrl + click? That is such a pain.

    If I also want to move the invisible objects within that sub layer, I can't even select them on the canvas.

    Please fireworks development team, just use the layer system that you use for photoshop. The work flow is extremely circumstancial if you work with many layers and sublayers.

    I think at the moment, it is the best to use sub layers very rarely.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • John Dunning
    Currently Being Moderated
    7. John Dunning,
    Feb 26, 2013 12:34 PM   in reply to andi.power
    Report

    I rarely use sublayers, so I didn't notice that selecting a layer doesn't also select all the elements in its sublayers.  That's obviously stupid, but Aaron's command is a workaround that you could assign to a keyboard shortcut to quickly select everything.

     

    When I want things to move together, I use groups, and often groups within groups.  You can't see the contents of a group in the Layers panel, sadly, but you can sub-select elements in the group directly on the canvas.  If you do want to see inside a group, Aaron has a panel for that: http://fireworks.abeall.com/extensions/panels/#Object

     
    |
    Mark as:
Actions

More Like This

  • Retrieving data ...

Bookmarked By (0)

Answers + Points = Status

  • 10 points awarded for Correct Answers
  • 5 points awarded for Helpful Answers
  • 10,000+ points
  • 1,001-10,000 points
  • 501-1,000 points
  • 5-500 points