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JonathanArias
Legend
August 19, 2021
Answered

error message

  • August 19, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 1511 views

hi,

 

what does this mean? 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Doug A Roberts

That layer contains a hierarchy of 29 nested groupings, which is apparently some hard limit for Illustrator. I've never personally come across this before.

It means you have object(s) inside groups, inside groups, inside groups, (or perhaps) inside sub-layers... x29

Do you need your file to be constructed this way? Can you ungroup everything 29 times and then try again?

If it includes clipping masks, sub-layers, or other constructions it might not be that simple. Please include a screenshot of your layers panel in this case.

1 reply

Doug A Roberts
Community Expert
Doug A RobertsCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
August 19, 2021

That layer contains a hierarchy of 29 nested groupings, which is apparently some hard limit for Illustrator. I've never personally come across this before.

It means you have object(s) inside groups, inside groups, inside groups, (or perhaps) inside sub-layers... x29

Do you need your file to be constructed this way? Can you ungroup everything 29 times and then try again?

If it includes clipping masks, sub-layers, or other constructions it might not be that simple. Please include a screenshot of your layers panel in this case.

Doug A Roberts
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 19, 2021

That said, I just now spotted someone encountering this on Reddit:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/AdobeIllustrator/comments/p7fbwb/cannot_perform_layer_actions_error_the_layer_is/

 

As there is only one other Google result for this message, that's quite the coincidence (if this isn't you cross-posting?)