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Known Participant
November 21, 2023
Open for Voting

Make renaming layers consistent across Adobe applications.

  • November 21, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 413 views

Currently, the process of renaming layers in Adobe's apps is inconsistent and misleading for new users.It provides a frustrating experience when working in several apps simultaneously. To rename a layer, users need to perform different actions in Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects:

 

 Double ClickReturn key
After EffectsOK
PhotoshopOK
IllustratorOK

 

Please, fix it, and make it consistent.

3 replies

Shebbe
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 9, 2023

I do like the use of Enter to rename a layer. Would be welcome to see that in Ai/Ps. Especially for Mac users it's very easy to get in to because it's the same as in Finder. Double clicking exactly on the layer's text is super cumbersome.

Known Participant
November 21, 2023

@Rick Gerard ,

but all of that is inconsistent. Here is the updated table about renmaing layers in these apps:

 

 Double ClickReturn keyContext MenuMenubar MenuCustom Shortcut
After EffectsOKOKOK
PhotoshopOKOKOK
IllustratorOK
Community Expert
November 21, 2023

A double-click in After Effects opens the layer in the Layer Panel, so you can use Layer Panel tools like Motion Track, Paint, Rotobrush, and Clone and see the motion paths of effects like Lens Blur. Text and Shape layers will not open in the Layer Panel. I wish they would so you could see things like shape layer/Contents/Rectangle 1/Rectangle 1/Transform/Position so you could edit that motion path in the Layer Panel using the Pen tool. That would be useful.

 

When a Layer is selected in After Effects, you can rename the layer by pressing the Enter key and typing.

 

In Photoshop and Illustrator, a double click on a layer also opens the Layer Panel to give you options.  In Photoshop, the Layer name is not highlighted, so you have to click on the layer name to start typing. In Illustrator, the Layer Panel (layer options) opens with the Layer Name highlighted, so you can simply start to type. 

 

In Illustrator and Photoshop, you can double-click directly on a layer name to rename it. Perhaps the most useful change would be opening Illustrator and Photoshop's layer panel by simply selecting a layer and pressing enter.