Quick Layer: overview

Quick Layer replaces most trips to the Layer Properties Manager with a small popup that opens where your cursor already is. Type a few letters, the matching layers rank live underneath, press Enter. That layer is now current.

Two ways to run it

• Ribbon: the Layer panel on the MD Automation tab.
• Command line: type MDQUICKLAYER.

Command reference

Command	What it does
MDQUICKLAYER	Opens the layer popup at the cursor. Works pick-first: a selection made beforehand is captured.
MDQUICKLAYERSETTINGS	Sets how a pick-first selection is handled: Prompt, Never, or Always.

How the popup and its search work → · Layer state and colour controls →

What it does, in order

1. Optionally select objects first, then run MDQUICKLAYER.
2. A borderless popup appears at the cursor with the search box already focused.
3. Type part of a layer name: matching layers are listed and ranked as you go.
4. Arrow keys move the highlight; Enter commits, Esc cancels without changing anything.
5. The chosen layer becomes current. If objects were selected in step 1, they can be reassigned to it as well.
6. Or edit a row’s state: on/off, freeze, lock, plot, colour, and the popup stays open.

Settings

Setting	Controls	Default
Reassign selection	What happens when you pick a layer with objects selected: Prompt (ask each time), Always (reassign silently), or Never (only the current layer changes).	Prompt
Scope	The popup’s last pre-filter: All, Used, or Xref. Set by the button next to the search box and remembered across sessions.	All

Reassign selection is set with MDQUICKLAYERSETTINGS; Scope is set from the popup itself.

Good to know

• The popup is modeless. Editing layer state doesn’t close it, so a run of layer housekeeping happens in one place without reopening anything.
• Running the command again closes an open popup rather than stacking a second one.
• Some layers can’t be made current: an xref-dependent layer, or a frozen one. Quick Layer says so plainly at the command line rather than surfacing an error from AutoCAD^® software.

Not in this version

• No layer creation or renaming. The popup picks among layers that already exist; making a new one is still the Layer Properties Manager’s job.
• No layer states, filters or groups, and no per-viewport freeze.