Quick Tip: Using Layer Previous
Layers are the lifeblood in AutoCAD®, and if you aren’t really good at managing your layers – and more importantly, knowing how to make them behave—here’s how to ratchet up your game. One of the oft-overlooked features on the Layers panel is Layer Previous. At its core, this feature is a layer-specific “Undo.”
How to Use Layer Previous
- Open a drawing you have been working on, then make a new layer [AW_FEB14], give it a color, and make it current; this will be our test layer.
- Change the Color of any other layer in the current drawing, but don’t make that layer current.
- On the test layer, draw a small rectangle somewhere.
- Click Layer Previous and the rectangle remains, but the color of the layer you changed is restored.
- Freeze several existing layers; now Rotate the test rectangle.
- Click Layer Previous and the previously frozen layers are thawed … but the rectangle is still rotated!
Needless to say, there are several situations where Layer Previous will save the day.
