Layer cannot be locked or unlocked

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •The padlock icon does not respond to clicks
• •A layer stays selectable after locking it
• •Members of a group cannot be unlocked individually
• •An element cannot be selected on the canvas at all

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   You are clicking the wrong icon on the row.

   Each layer row carries a visibility eye, a lock padlock, a solo circle and a type icon. The padlock is the lock.

2. 2

   The layer is inside a collapsed group.

   Click the expand arrow on the group row to reveal its members, then lock or unlock the member you want.

3. 3

   The group is locked rather than the member.

   Unlock at the group level first. A locked group makes its members unreachable on the canvas.

4. 4

   An element is locked and that is why nothing else works on it.

   If an element cannot be selected, transformed, duplicated or deleted, check its padlock before looking anywhere else — a lock blocks all of those at once.

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