In Visio, layers let you organize the shapes in a drawing. You can group a related set of shapes in a layer, which allows you to change various properties of all the layer members at once.
The following properties can be set:
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Visible – Show or hide a layer.
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Print – Include or exclude a layer when the diagram is printed.
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Active – Automatically assign shapes to active layers when the shapes are added to the diagram.
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Lock – Prevent or allow changes to the shapes.
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Snap – Ensures that shapes align with a grid or other shapes in the drawing. Turn Snap on or off.
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Glue – Ensures that connectors remain attached to shapes. Turn Glue on or off.
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Color – Applies the assigned color to all shapes on a layer. Turn Color on to see which shapes are included in that layer.
Templates have default layers that shapes are assigned to when you drop the shape on the page. You can keep these default layers, or remove them and create your own.
See which layers a shape is assigned to
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Select the shape on the drawing page.
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On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Layers, and then click Assign to Layer.
The Layer dialog opens and shows a list of layers in the diagram. The layers that the shape belongs to are selected. You can add and remove layer associations by selecting and clearing the check boxes in this dialog.
If you want to use your own custom layers, first create the layers and then assign shapes to them.
Create a layer
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On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Layers, and then click Layer Properties.
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In the Layer Properties dialog box, click New.
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Type a name for the layer and then click OK.
In this dialog you can also remove an existing layer, which also deletes all shapes that are assigned to that layer from the diagram. To keep the shapes, first use Assign to Layer to remove all shapes from the layer, and then use Layer Properties to remove the layer.
Lock a layer
Shapes on a locked layer cannot be selected, moved, or edited. Also, shapes cannot be added to a locked layer.
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On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Layers, and then click Layer Properties.
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In the Layer Properties dialog box, select or clear the check box in the Lock column for the layer.
Assign a color to a layer
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On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Layers, and then click Layer Properties.
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For the layer you want to color, click in the Color column to add a check mark.
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Select the layer name, and then, in the Layer Color list, click a color name.
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To make the layer transparent, drag the Transparency slider to the value you want.
A value of 100% makes the layer invisible; a value of 0% makes the layer opaque.
The color and transparency you assign to shapes on a layer temporarily override each shape's original color and transparency. Turn off the layer color to return each shape to its original color. Shapes assigned to more than one layer use their original color, rather than the layer color. Layer colors appear in both the displayed drawing and the printed drawing.
Identify shapes that are on more than one layer
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For each layer defined on the page, turn on the Color property and assign a color to it (as described immediately above in "Assign a color to a layer.")
The result of this action is that all shapes assigned to a layer will take on the color of the layer they are assigned to. But shapes that are assigned to more than one layer won't change color.
Note: Shapes that aren't assigned to any layer also won't change color.
So by turning on the Color property for all the layers, you can quickly get a sense of which shapes are assigned to more than one layer, or need to be assigned to a layer.
Activate one or more layers
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On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Layers, and then click Layer Properties.
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For each layer you want to make active, click in the Active column to add a check mark.
The layer is active for the current page. When you drag a shape that does not have a predefined layer assignment onto the page, it is assigned to the active layer. Making a layer active is a fast way to assign shapes to a layer as you add them to the page. You cannot activate a layer that is locked against editing.
Note: The "layers" feature is available in Visio Plan 1 and Visio Plan 2. It isn't available in Visio in Microsoft 365.
See which layer a shape is assigned to
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Right-click the shape, then select Assign to Layer.
A submenu shows a list of all the available layers, and there is a check mark next to the layer that the current shape is assigned to.
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To reassign the shape, on the submenu, select the layer you want to assign the shape to.
Create a layer
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On the Home tab, select Layers.
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In the Layers pane, select Add New Layer.
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Type a name for the layer and then click OK.
Lock a layer
Shapes on a locked layer cannot be selected, moved, or edited. Also, shapes cannot be added to a locked layer.
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On the Home tab, select Layers.
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In the Layers pane, point at the layer you want to lock or unlock, then select or
Make a layer visible or hidden
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On the Home tab, select Layers.
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In the Layers pane, point at the layer you want to change, then select the toggle icon for visibility.
Select all the shapes on a layer
You can select all the shapes on a layer so that you can apply formatting or properties to them at once.
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On the Home tab, select Layers.
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In the Layers pane, point at the name of the layer whose shapes you want to select.
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Choose More Options, then choose Select Shapes.
