Layers & actions

See the pieces that make up your widget#

Think of a photo with a date written over it. The photo and the date are separate layers: you can change one without changing the other. The photo needs to sit behind the date so the words remain visible.

Layers is a list of those pieces. Use it when a piece is behind another, too small to tap, or hidden. Renaming pieces—for example, “Background photo” and “Today’s date”—makes a busy design easier to navigate.

Open a saved widget in Library, then tap Design Visually. Selecting a piece in Layers gives it the same tools as selecting it on the preview.

Open Layers#

On a phone, tap the empty canvas area outside the widget preview to leave any selection. Then tap Layers in the toolbar below the preview. In the editor’s wider layout, the layer list is already visible beside the canvas. Tap a layer to select it.

Change the order#

Hold and drag a layer in the list to reorder it. Drop it on a group to move it inside. The layer’s More controls also offer order actions.

On the widget, the actions are Send Backward and Bring Forward. Inside a side-by-side group they use left and right; inside a stacked group they use up and down.

Layer actions#

In Layers, tap the three dots beside a piece’s name to see its actions. The eye button beside it hides or shows the piece. You can also select a piece and open More in the toolbar.

Hide / Show

Hide the layer without deleting it, or show it again.

Rename

Give it a name that is easy to recognize in Layers.

Duplicate

Make another copy of the added layer.

Delete

Remove the added layer. Undo can bring back the edit.

Reset Changes

For parts of an existing page, remove the changes you made to that part. Those parts have different actions from layers you added.

Select several layers#

Tap Select in Layers, then pick layers in the same place. Tap Group them. Read the Groups guide for arrangements and moving things into a group.

Widget More and layer More#

With a layer selected, More acts on that layer. With no layer selected, More offers Sample data, Edit HTML, and Reset All Edits for the widget. Check the tray’s subtitle before changing something.