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Is there a way to lock all but the selected object(s) inside a layer in Illustrator when working with many layers? Instead of individually locking all of them.

4 Answers 4

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To lock/hidden layers except one:

  • open layer panel (F7)
  • holding ALT key click on Visibility or Lock icon

To lock all items on some layer except selected you can lock all other layers first as it was mentioned and then use inverse selection (Select->Inverse) and lock (object->lock).

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Yes - Lock Others

....a somewhat hidden shortcut.

With the object(s) you want to remain unlocked selected... hit...

Command/Ctrl+Option/Alt+Shift+2

It's a key command for the menu Object > Lock > Other Layers.
It's just the Lock shortcut with Option/Alt and Shift added.

It will lock everything that is not selected, across all layers/artboards.

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Select all the layers you want locked, select the panel options button, click "Options for Selection", and make sure "Lock" is checked and press OK.

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Also, one thing I discovered way too late is that when hiding/showing a lot of layers, you can just click and drag over the "eye" icon instead of clicking every single one individually. So just click and hold the eye icon, and swoop down to hide all the layers you want hidden. Saves a lot of time for me at least.

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