Moving items/objects between layers

[media kat]

1. What is the correct way for moving items, objects, etc. from one layer to another. I have been selecting the item and it shows the little colored square in the layers panel and I just drag the square to a new layer. Is this the right way of doing this?

2. If so, when I expand a layer it shows the separate sublayers or whatever they are called with additional colored squares. Do I not worry about expanding the layer and just use the main colored square or is there a reason to expand and select the other ones?

Thanks

[Monika Gause]

Moving the little square is one way to do so.

Please show screenshots of what exactly you are doing and what exactly is not going as expected.

[media kat]

I am tracing over a portrait and have items on different layers and I am trying to understand how to move some items between some layers and other layers for organization. Attached is a quick example I made.

1. Do the separate sublayers that appear under the main "Hair" layer just represent each time I used the Pencil to draw a path?

2. I press the circle to target all of the paths on the Hair layer and I want to join them so I press command + J, however, when I move them with the selection tool some of them move and some do not. Perhaps I should not be trying to join them?  However, if I selected everything on the layer shouldnt they be joined now? Is this the proper way of selecting everything on a layer?

3. If for some reason I wanted to move the second <Path> under the "Eyes" layer, should I just click on it and drag the square to the "Hair" layer?

Thanks! 

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

1. yes. But they are not sublayers. They are paths.

2. You can only join open paths.

3. You can only move paths into layers. So you can move a path into that layer, but if you want to move it below that layer, you will first need to create a new layer below that other layer to move a path there. If you want to move a path to a specific position in the stacking order that doesn't work by moving the small colored square. You need to then grab the layer itself and move it.