Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe
Currently, the layer list in Butterfly is strictly linear.
When working on complex notes, large canvases, or deeply annotating imported PDF documents, managing a flat list of dozens of layers quickly becomes cluttered, disorganized, and difficult to scale.
Describe your feature request!
I would like to propose adding support for hierarchical layers (a parent/child nested structure). This would allow users to group related notes, highlights, drawings, or text elements under a main folder/parent layer, providing cleaner organization and much higher scalability.
Eg
Implementing nested layers would drastically enhance the utility of the existing native actions (View, Clone, Delete, and Merge) by applying them recursively down the hierarchy:
- View (Visibility): Clicking the visibility icon on a "Topic 1" parent layer would automatically toggle the visibility of all its nested child layers (e.g., highlights, text notes, and diagrams) at once, clearing up the canvas in a single click.
- Clone: When creating a structural template (like "Topic 1" with separate layers for drawings and annotations), cloning the parent layer would duplicate the entire structure. This creates a ready-to-use "Topic 2" group with its sub-layers intact instantly.
- Delete: If an entire section or concept becomes obsolete, deleting the parent layer would recursively wipe out all corresponding nested child layers, saving the user from hunting down individual flat elements.
- Merge: This opens up advanced consolidation workflows. For example, if a user builds a "Quiz" parent layer containing separate "Questions" and "Answers" child layers across multiple topics layers, merging the parent layers could seamlessly consolidate a master quiz for the whole file.
- Rename: This would remain independent, ensuring individual sub-layers or parent nodes can still be precisely labeled.
Additional context
This feature would uniquely position Butterfly as a highly advanced tool for academic and structural note-taking compared to other minimalist sketching applications.
Code of Conduct
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe
Currently, the layer list in Butterfly is strictly linear.
When working on complex notes, large canvases, or deeply annotating imported PDF documents, managing a flat list of dozens of layers quickly becomes cluttered, disorganized, and difficult to scale.
Describe your feature request!
I would like to propose adding support for hierarchical layers (a parent/child nested structure). This would allow users to group related notes, highlights, drawings, or text elements under a main folder/parent layer, providing cleaner organization and much higher scalability.
Eg
Implementing nested layers would drastically enhance the utility of the existing native actions (View, Clone, Delete, and Merge) by applying them recursively down the hierarchy:
Additional context
This feature would uniquely position Butterfly as a highly advanced tool for academic and structural note-taking compared to other minimalist sketching applications.
Code of Conduct