Duplicate, hide, lock, and delete

Summary

Duplicate copies a layer with a small position offset so you can see both. Hide toggles a layer's visibility without removing it. Lock blocks editing and moving a layer, but not deleting it. Delete removes a layer immediately, with no confirmation — undo it with Ctrl+Z if needed.

Use it when

• Use Duplicate to reuse a layer's content, position, or styling as a starting point for a variant.
• Use Hide to temporarily get a layer out of the way while you work on what's beneath or around it, without losing it.
• Use Lock to protect a finished layer from being accidentally moved or edited while you keep working on others.
• Use Delete to remove a layer you no longer need.

Before you begin

You need at least one layer on the artboard. All four actions are on each layer's row in Layers, or in its ⋯ menu.

Steps

Duplicate

1. Open the layer's ⋯ menu and select Duplicate.
2. The copy appears directly above the original in Layers, named <original name> copy, offset slightly from the original's position so both are visible.

Hide

3. Select Hide on a layer's row to make it invisible on the artboard. The button becomes Show.
4. Select Show to make it visible again.

Lock

5. Select Lock on a layer's row to block editing. The button becomes Unlock.
6. While locked, the layer's Transform fields (W, H, X, Y, rotation) are disabled, and dragging it on the artboard has no effect.
7. Select Unlock to restore normal editing.

Delete

8. Select Delete on a layer's row (or in its ⋯ menu context) to remove it immediately.
9. If this was a mistake, press Ctrl+Z right away to undo it.

What changes

• A duplicated layer is a fully independent copy — moving, recoloring, or deleting it does not affect the original.
• Hide does not affect a layer's position, size, or lock state — only its visibility. A hidden layer's Transform fields stay editable, and hiding/showing state persisted correctly through an undo of an unrelated delete in testing.
• Lock disables the layer's own editing controls, but a locked layer can still be selected — both by clicking its row in Layers and by clicking it directly on the artboard. Locking only blocks changing it, not selecting it.
• Delete removes the layer with no confirmation dialog, at any time, regardless of whether it is locked.

Print note

Hide is a canvas/editor state — a hidden layer is not part of the visible design, and whether it's included in exports is not verified in this article; check Export PNG and Print PDF + Silhouette cut guide if you rely on a hidden layer being excluded from output. Duplicate creates ordinary layer content, included in export like any other layer.

Warnings and limits

• Delete has no confirmation step and no distinct warning, unlike format switches or template applies. The only recovery path is Ctrl+Z, immediately, before other changes overwrite the undo history.
• Locking a layer does not protect it from deletion. Testing confirmed a locked layer's Delete button remains fully functional — lock only blocks moving and editing it, not removing it. If you want a layer fully protected, there is no additional safeguard beyond not clicking Delete.
• A duplicated layer's small position offset means it can visually blend with the original at a glance — check Layers for the copy suffix if you're not sure whether you're looking at one layer or two.

Desktop and mobile

Duplicate, Hide/Show, Lock/Unlock, and Delete are reachable the same way on desktop (left rail) and mobile (the Layers sheet from the bottom bar) — the same button set (↑, ↓, Hide/Show, Lock/Unlock, Delete, ⋯) was confirmed present per layer row on both layouts.

Troubleshooting

Related topics

• Select, reorder, and rename
• Size, position, rotation & opacity
• Undo, redo, fit & recenter
• Version conflicts

Verification note

Verified against Blotter Builder on 2026-07-20.

Source notes

Primary observations — all from the live application at https://blotterbuilder.tdl.fyi, 2026-07-20:

• Observed — Duplicate on Image 1 created Image 1 copy directly above it in Layers; Transform reported X/Y of 3.96in, 3.96in versus the original's artboard-center position of 3.75in, 3.75in — a small deliberate offset.
• Observed — selecting Hide on Image 1 copy changed its button to Show and made it disappear from the artboard, revealing the original underneath; its Transform X field remained enabled (disabled: false) while hidden.
• Observed — selecting Lock on Image 1 changed its button to Unlock and disabled its W and X Transform fields (disabled: true on both).
• Observed — with Image 1 locked, clicking it directly on the artboard still selected it (its Layers row showed the active state); attempting to drag it left its X value unchanged (3.75 before and after the drag).
• Observed — selecting Delete on Image 1 copy removed it immediately with no confirmation dialog; Ctrl+Z immediately afterward restored it, including its prior hidden state.
• Observed — selecting Delete on the still-locked Image 1 removed it successfully — locking did not block deletion.
• Observed — at 390 × 844, a layer row in the Layers sheet showed the same button set: ↑, ↓, Show/Hide, Lock, Delete, ⋯.

Verification log