I'd like to see the ability to lock in place items in the tree

I’d like to see the ability to lock in place items in the tree. If i overlap items to swap out lets say names, the larger item keeps getting selected. Very frustrating.

My background (constant in a series of engravings)

The names im swapping out

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OK, get out of my head! I was thinking this exact same thing this morning when I had to change out the names in a file. I ended deleting/cutting the large part of the file so I could select and change out the names and then pasting the rest of the file back. Was a pain for sure.

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YES! I discovered this “feature” recently myself and was very frustrated.

Give each name a different fill color then Align/Distribute by center in your favorite design program so they’re all directly on top of each other.

When you load the file into the GF app each name will have its own step that you can ignore as needed.

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Not looking for a work around, i already have one. Im asking for a specific feature to be added. Thanks though. I just don’t want to drown my request in work arounds. I wont glowforge to take my request seriously.

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Yes. There a lot of cases where this would be useful.

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my bad, thought a method more efficient than moving things around willy nilly and eyeballing would be appreciated.

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That’s how I do it – everything is perfectly lined up, no moving stuff around. It’s not a “workaround,” it’s actually a faster and more precise way of doing it. :slight_smile:

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That’s what I do when I am swapping out names, but there are still other reasons for wanting to lock things in place. One doesn’t negate the other. :slight_smile:

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If the individual names are added after the design and show up in the upper right corner corner you can easily drag them into place. Then after the cut is made Undo will kick them back to the corner to be deleted.

In general those things added after the original design are kept separate from the original even if the same color and are easier to pick out. If needed you can even undo back to before the new part was added and it just goes away. I really don’t see the problem. If the part is selected and becomes unselected undo will reselect it as well.

It IS a work around to MY REQUEST.

You’re not the only person who reads the forums, Phil. Other people might actually appreciate knowing of alternate ways to accomplish things.

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I should probably say nothing, but what the heck. Phil made a support request for a specific feature with an EXAMPLE of why the feature would be useful. I think it’s nice that people have jumped in to provide options for how to be efficient without the feature, but this is not a request for help. It’s a request for a feature. I think he has a right to say, “Thank you, but I still would like this feature.” And a right to request that the post focus on the request and not all the other ways to accomplish the specific example he gave.

I mean, sure, there are a number of different ways you can work with your files and moving things and there’s always undo, but locking a layer in place is a pretty basic feature for graphic design-type software and since we can’t align things easily by eyeballing, a lock option couldn’t hurt.

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You can always email Support directly if you don’t want input from other users. Pretty much the whole point of having P&S in the forum is so other users can chime in with help and ideas.

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A counter opinion: I like the way it works now because it keeps logically connected things aligned.

Clearly the people at GF feel the same way. So now the challenge, should GF want to add this, is: “how to do this so that both workflows are supported without adding a lot of complexity for the bulk of users?” Suddenly the request isn’t just for a simple feature, it’s now for a complex UI question, which must be balanced against the larger question of “who do we design for primarily?”

I suspect it’s not the technical Phils of the world, but more the average user who isn’t making tons of repeat projects – there are fewer of those people than the average casual user who wants it to be simple and easy. (10,000 GFs sold, and I don’t hear a clamoring for this feature to date, so…)

That being said, there are times when it would be nice to do what Phil is asking for, but I tend to agree with GF’s direction here: do your editing outside of the app, and drop text in as necessary. It’s not a workaround, it’s the designed workflow. A workaround implies that something is broken or deficient, and that’s simply not the case here – you don’t blame the hammer for not being able to turn a screw, as it were.

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Thank you @ChristyM! Thats exactly how i feel. My request for a specific feature is now being drowned out by tips and tricks i didn’t ask for and already do in other scenarios.

You can always start a tips post in another section. I’m asking you nicely not to in my request for a specific feature. Thank you.

It didn’t feel all that “nice” to me, actually.

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How the heck can you make that assumption? No one from glowforge has chimed in. They add features and updates all the time. Im planting a seed for one. But people have an uncontrolled urge to give thier advice (which is good advice i already use that method), but they are so in the “i need to help everyone” mode that they cannot see that this IS NOT A REQUEST FOR HELP. this is a request for a specific feature. Thats it. Its not up to anyone here to ya or na it. Its a simple request for a toggle to lock elements in place.

What assumption? The quote you refer to isn’t an assumption, as far as I can tell.

@vee please see my top post for my REQUEST and lock this thread. Thank you.