Manipulating/moving multiple layers together

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
January 21, 2026
1 reply
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Hi. I'm new to Illustrator. I've been trying to create lines and arrows for callouts to use over photo images. I've created one layer for an arrow with white background at 4pt (and gaussian blur) and a second layer for an arrow with black outline at 2pt. I have the second aligned over the top of the first. Now I want to be able to manipulate the two together so I can make them longer or shorter and move them as a pair. (Ultimately I'd like to save them to a library and reuse them at will - but I'll worry about that later.)
No matter what I try, I can't get them to join together and work as a team. I've selected both layers in the Layers panel (shift + select) and tried Merge Selected, Flatten Artwork, and Collect in New Layer from the hamburger menu in thet Layers panel. And they still move independently from one another. I'm afraid I simply don't understand the concepts yet. I must be missing one simple step in the process.

Any tips on how to accomplish this, or suggested resources that will clear this up for me?

Sincere thanks.

How-to

L

Lut Van Nooten

Community Expert

If both objects are selected, you should already be able to move and transform them together. Try Group instead of Merge. Also double-check that both objects are actually selected (and not just the layers), and that nothing is locked. If it still doesn’t work, a screenshot might help.

C

christopher_6355Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I've now had some success. I hadn't understood that you need to select not only the two layers but the objects themselves on the artspace. I hadn't come across that important point when searching for an answer to this question. It's probably common sense for those with more experience with the product. Thanks for adding that.

On the other hand, because they are two lines, it is sometimes extremely difficult to select the two at once. It takes repeated tries at selecting the two lines, sometimes missing, and having to reselect the two layers, and then begin again at trying to select the two. Even zoomed in on the objects. If you know any tricks here ...

I've played around with grouping (Collect in New Layer, or dragging one layer into another) and I still don't see how that method makes the two objects (layers) behave as one. Ultimately, is there a way to make this combination of the two lines and their attributes become one object? (In other words, so that you can simply grab the combined object and manipulate it's length or angle as though it were one?) Or, to leave them in a state that allows them to be manipulated, must they forever be kept separate?

Again, my thanks. I know a lot more now than earlier today.

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