How to Group and Ungroup Layers in Illustrator

In the following tutorial, you will learn how to group layers in Adobe Illustrator.

Once you learn how to group layers in Illustrator, you can head over to Envato Elements where you can get unlimited downloads of stock videos, music, graphics, photos, fonts, and more. 

What You'll Learn in This Illustrator Tutorial

• How to group layers in Adobe Illustrator


• How to ungroup layers in Illustrator

How to Group Layers in Illustrator

Step 1

Focus on the Layers panel (Window > Layers) whenever you need to group layers in Illustrator.

First, you need to select the layers that you wish to group in Illustrator. Hold down the Control key to select each layer one by one, or hold down the Shift key and click the top and bottom layers from the list of layers that you wish to group in Illustrator.

Once selected, open the fly-out menu of the Layers panel and go to Merge Selected. This will move the contents from your selected layers into the top layer, and the rest of the layers will be removed.

Step 2

Alternatively, you can group layers in Illustrator without losing each separate layer.

Select the layers, open the fly-out menu of the Layers panel, and go to Collect in New Layer. This will group all your selected layers in a new layer.

Step 3

There's one more command that you can use to group layers in Illustrator. Open the fly-out menu of the Layers panel and go to Flatten Artwork.

This will move the contents of the existing layers into the selected one (or the last selected), while the rest of the layers get removed.

Congratulations! You're Done!

Now that you've learned to group layers in Illustrator, feel free to use these techniques in your future projects.

You can find some great sources of inspiration at Envato Elements, with interesting solutions to improve your design portfolio.

Want to Learn More?

We have loads of tutorials on Envato Tuts+, from beginner to intermediate level. Take a look!

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