Layer states

A layer state is a named snapshot of how your layers are set: which are on, frozen, locked or plotted, and their colour, linetype, lineweight and transparency. Save a state before you change things, then restore it later. States are stored in the drawing.

Opening the manager

Press States... in the Layers panel header, or type LAYERSTATE (LAS) or LMAN. All three open the Layer states dialog. In the app: Help ▸ Show me.

The dialog lists the saved states with their descriptions. A tick marks a state that matches your layers as they are now.

Saving

Set the layers up the way you want them.
Choose New..., give the state a name and, if you like, a description, then press OK.

If the name already exists you are asked whether to replace it. Update re-saves the current layers under the selected name.

Restoring

Select a state and press Restore, or double-click it. The whole restore is one undo step, so U brings back what you had.

Under Restore these properties, untick any property you want left alone, for example untick Colour to restore only on/off and frozen settings. Your choice is remembered between sessions.

Tick Turn off layers not found in the state to switch off any layer created after the state was saved. This setting lasts for the session.

Note

The current layer is never frozen by a restore. If the state would freeze it, a message tells you and the layer stays thawed.

Other buttons

Rename... and Delete act on the selected state.
Export .las... saves the selected state as an AutoCAD .las file named after it.
Import .las... adds the states from a .las file. If a name clashes with one already in the drawing you are asked whether to replace it.

Tip

Save a state called "Plot" with construction layers off, and "Work" with everything on. Switching between them takes two clicks.

See also Layouts and viewports for per-viewport freezing, which is separate from layer states.

In the app: Help ▸ Show me