Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 8/12/2011

Question
QUESTION: In illustrator CS4 or CS5, is there a way to select all layers, both visible and hidden, so that I can either move everything together or copy and paste everything to another document?

I work with files that contain many layers, often showing different visual states...so sometimes many of those layers will be off.  I dont want to be forced to turn on all of my hidden layers just to move everything, it is just too cumbersome.  (Then you have to go back and remember which layers to turn back off).

It seems like an obvious feature, to be able to select everything in a document (hidden or visible), but I have not been able to discover a way to do this...or if it is even possible.

ANSWER: Hi Tris,

The trick is to select your layers using the layers panel. When you are copying between docs, be sure to go to the Layers menu options and choose "Paste Remembers Layers"

Thanks

Kevin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Kevin, I do realize I need to use the layers panel to select layers.  However, my question is...how do I select "all" layers, both visible and hidden...together, at once?  For instance, say I want to select all layers and 20 of the 50 layers are hidden, but I need to select all so I can shrink all layers together. How do I do that?  As far as I can tell, there is no way to select both visible and hidden layers all at once to perform some option...whether moving, scaling, duplicating, or copying to another document.  Is there a way to do that?  Thanks much, this has been an ongoing thorn in my side regarding Illustrator.

Answer
Hi Tris,

If you hold the shift key down and highlight the layers (even hidden) in the layer panel by clicking on the name, you can use the layers menu to Merge Selected. It will give you an option to delete or keep the hidden layers.

However, the other options you are asking for (Move, transform, etc.) are not available to a hidden layer at this time. The issue is you cannot preview the movement or scale when your layer is hidden.

Thanks

Kevin