Revise layer panel icon for a symbol with layout applied

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1

When you have layout applied to either a group or symbol instance, they both have the same icon in the layers panel (the only difference being the icon color). I have found on a few occasions where, when I have one of those layers selected, it’s hard to tell if it’s a symbol or a group. I feel like if there was a slight difference in the icon for a symbol that has layout applied then it would be much easier to tell.

Right now I have to deselect that layer, check the color of the icon to see if it’s the symbol instance color, then select it again.

layer-icons
layer-icons1084×311 24.7 KB

2

What are some scenarios where being able to tell one from the other via the Layer List comes into play for you?

3

The main one that I’m noticing is when I have a group of nested symbols with some sort of smart layout applied.

So the structure would be something like this:
Symbol Source Artboard [parent]
– Group with vertical smart layout [group]
---- Symbol with vertical smart layout [nested 1]
---- Another symbol with vertical smart layout [nested 2]

Scenario:

  • I have an instance of the [parent] symbol, and I want to hide [nested 1] and [nested 2] symbol.
  • If I click on [parent] then press enter, it’ll highlight [group 1]. I’ll press delete but nothing happens.
  • If I look at the layer list, I can’t tell if [group] is actually a symbol or a just a group with smart layout applied. So I have to click off of it (so it’s not highlighted), then I’ll see that is the text and icon are gray, so I’ll know it’s just a group and not a symbol.
  • At this point I’ll know that I need to hit return one more time to get to the actual symbols.

This could be taken care of it group was a symbol, but I think this is just a simplified scenario. I have some fairly complex symbols that are a mix of nested symbols and groups which can make it difficult to know if I can quickly show or hide something based on the symbol alone.

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4

The main issue is that at a quick glance I can’t tell if a highlighted layer is a symbol with smart layout or just a group with smart layout because I need two separate things to tell: Icon + Color. If the color is removed because all highlighted layers have the same symbol and text color, then I can only rely on the icon… but the icon is the same for a symbol and group with smart layout applied.

Granted, it’s a small issue because I just highlight something else to check the color, but it does still cause a distraction.

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