Linking layers in Affinity

If you need to keep some layers perfectly aligned, you can group them. However, in some instances, you need to have non-adjacent layers linked together. This means that grouping them is not a satisfactory option. How do you link non-adjacent layers in Affinity?

Linking adjacent layers

Sometimes, you have adjacent layers that you need to keep perfectly aligned. Here is an example of a layer and a matching shadow on its own layer.

Since they are djacent, it is easy to group them together. Their position will not change. Simply select the two layers (or more if you have more), right-click, and choose the Group command.

And now, you can see those layers inside a single group.

That is the simple and intuitive way to go.

Linking non-adjacent layers

Unlike other programs, there is no "one-click" way to link layers. But there is a way. Let's assume that we want to link these two layers.

First, you need to open the Links panel, which you can find under Window > Links.

You will get this panel to appear. On top, you will see the name of the layer that is currently active. If none is active, the panel would be blank. To link layers in order to keep them aligned, we will use the Transform option.

To link the bottom "Raster 2", simply click and drag that layer from the Layers panel to the Links panel, directly onto that square beside the Transform option.

Once you release the mouse button, you will see the link icon on the two layers.

At this point, moving one of the linked layers will automatically move the other one.

Linking more than two layers

In this example, we also want to link the shadow layers too. Intuitively, we would be tempted to drag the shadow layer to the Transform option in the Links panel.

However, that will yield a different result than expected. The new layer will be linked to the active layer, but what was previously linked, is now unlinked.

Going through this process, you can only have two layers linked at once. That is not what we want, obviously. But there is a not-so-obvious way to link multiple layers. Here are the steps.

First, we need to activate the layer we want to add to the already linked ones. This is an important step.

Then, we need to drag and drop a layer that is already linked, in the same way.

And now, you can see that all three layers are linked.

And if we want to add a fourth layer, we repeat the process: activate the layer we want to add to the linked group and drag a linked layer on the Transform option of the Links panel.

Limitations of linking layers

You might typically have only a few layers to link together, but if you have a lot, Unfortunately, there’s no way to link multiple layers at once. The process must be done layer-by-layer, making it time-consuming for larger projects. .

If you need to link layers in PaintShop Pro, check out this article.