DWG layers: how to show, hide and find missing layers

DWG layers are the named groups a drafter sorts a drawing into (walls, dimensions, hatch, text), and each one can be shown, hidden, frozen or locked. In the browser viewer you toggle them from the Layers panel; nothing is uploaded and the file itself is not changed. This page explains the layer states, why some layers seem to be missing, and what happens to layers when you print or export to PDF.

What a layer is in a DWG

Every entity in a DWG (line, arc, text, hatch, block reference) belongs to exactly one layer. The layer carries defaults: color, linetype, lineweight, whether it plots, and its visibility state. Drafters use layers the way you would use sheets of tracing paper: structure on one, electrical on another, annotations on a third. Layer 0 always exists and is where block geometry usually lives, so it behaves slightly differently from the rest.

Layers survive DWG to DXF conversion unchanged, which is why the browser viewer can list them after it converts a DWG on your device. They do not survive export to PDF, PNG or SVG; those formats flatten everything into one picture.

Show and hide DWG layers in the viewer

1. Drop the DWG or DXF on the viewer and wait for the entity count to appear in the status bar.
2. Open the Layers panel. It lists every layer in the drawing with a checkbox for visibility.
3. Uncheck a layer to hide it; check it to bring it back. Hiding dimensions, hatches and text is the quickest way to read a cluttered plan.
4. Press fit to view afterward if the drawing looks empty: hiding the layer that held the frame can leave the camera pointed at nothing.

Changes are only in the tab. The DWG on disk keeps its original layer states, and closing the tab discards your toggles. Layer visibility is one of the few editing-like things a viewer can do; moving entities between layers still needs a CAD editor, see edit DWG online.

Frozen, off and locked layers

AutoCAD has three different ways to make a layer step back, and they are saved in the file:

A viewer only cares about visibility. Frozen and off layers arrive hidden; locked layers arrive visible. Also note the No Plot flag and the Defpoints layer: both are visible on screen in AutoCAD yet never print, which explains most of the my layer is not printing complaints.

Why some layers look missing

• Frozen in the saved view. The drafter froze the layer before saving, so it loads hidden. Turn it on in the Layers panel.
• Frozen per viewport. Layout viewports can freeze layers individually (VPLAYER). The model may show a layer that a layout hides, or the other way around.
• Content inside blocks on layer 0. Geometry drawn on layer 0 inside a block takes the properties of the layer the block is inserted on. Hiding that insertion layer hides the block, even though layer 0 is still on.
• Xref layers. Layers from an external reference are named drawing|layer and only exist while the referenced file is available. A DWG opened on its own, without the xref files next to it, simply has no xref content to show.
• Color matches the background. White entities on a light theme, or dark ones on a dark theme, are easy to miss. Switch the viewer's theme.
• The layer is empty. Layer tables keep names even after the last entity on them is deleted; PURGE in AutoCAD removes those.

Layers when exporting to PDF or printing

PDF, PNG and SVG have no layer table, so export flattens the drawing: what is visible gets drawn, hidden layers are left out, and the recipient cannot toggle anything afterward. Hide what you do not want before you export. The PDF comes out as vector geometry on an A-series page, which keeps lines sharp; the walkthrough is on DWG to PDF.

Common AutoCAD plot problems have layer-related causes:

• Hatch not printing. The hatch layer has No Plot set, or the hatch transparency is set and the plot option Plot Transparency is off.
• Dimensions not showing in the print. They sit on Defpoints or a frozen-in-viewport layer.
• Printing in color when you want black. The plot style table is set to acad.ctb instead of monochrome.ctb, or a true-color layer bypasses the index-color mapping.
• Text showing up as boxes. A missing SHX or TrueType font was substituted; the text layer is fine. Send the font or convert to a standard one.
• Xref fades on paper. XDWGFADECTL only affects the screen; faded output usually comes from a plot style with screening applied to the xref layers.

Viewport locking is a related question: in AutoCAD, select the viewport, right-click and choose Display Locked > Yes, or set its Display Locked property, so zooming inside it cannot change the plot scale. Unlock the same way.

Frequently asked questions