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I am currently working with an .ai file which has many many layers.

I would be taking the same file to after effects later. I don't need to transport all those layers to AE.

As I am moving through the layers in Layers panel in AI, I am selecting Layers for which I need to toggle the visibility off.

I was wondering is it possible to toggle the visibility off for multiple selected layers at once in AI?

Thank you in advance.

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    Put them in a second layer and toggle the visibility of that layer
    – joojaa
    Commented Jan 26, 2022 at 14:07
  • I have inherited an artwork that has 1674 layers. Your idea would work if the ai file has less number of layers. But not with that many layers.
    – smpa01
    Commented Jan 26, 2022 at 14:09
  • i doubt there are that many layers, what you see in layers panel are both layers and objects. They are not the same thing, its just that the panel is for historical reason misnamed. This by the way a really importand detail
    – joojaa
    Commented Jan 26, 2022 at 14:12
  • THe other alternatives is to load selections and toggle those or use a script. Neither of which is less work than making a new top level layer and arrange stuff you need into those
    – joojaa
    Commented Jan 26, 2022 at 14:23

4 Answers 4

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If you by "selecting Layers" mean highlighting them in the Layers panel, you can just go to the sandwich menu, select Options for Selection and untick Show. This also works for objects.

This doesn't work with so-called Selected Art with the blue square indicator to the right in the Layers panel.

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You can also select an eye icon and drag your mouse up/down to quickly show/hide multiple objects. Just click down, then keep your mouse button down and drag across the objects you want to toggle.

enter image description here

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I don't believe there's a multi-layer visibility toggle. At least not one which is easy to access and doesn't require multiple clicks (in which case, it may be of no help). One could script it... or structure layers in a manner that makes it a matter of merely toggling a single layer or two rather than a large layer stack.

Hide others may help though...

  • Select what you want visible on the artboard(s).
  • Hit Command/Ctrl+Option/alt+Shift+3 -- this will hide everything not selected.
  • Then the standard Command/Ctrl+Option/alt+3 to show everything again.
  • Repeat.
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There's a plugin called Particular that lets you assign layers to a group and then lock/hide etc them with a single click. It's very useful.

https://www.hotdoor.com/controlplugins

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