When two elements overlap, one has to sit on top. livediagram paints boxed elements in the order they were added: the newest lands on top. The Layer controls let you change that order whenever you want, and fade an element so the content behind it shows through.
Bringing things to front and back
Right-click an element (or use the floating toolbar) and open the Layer category:
- Bring to Front moves the element on top of everything else, so nothing overlaps it.
- Send to Back moves it behind everything else, so other elements paint over it.
Both also work from the keyboard while an element is selected:
- Cmd+Shift+] brings the selection to the front.
- Cmd+Shift+[ sends it to the back.
The menu stays open after each one, so you can nudge an element forward or back a few times in a row without reopening it. Layer changes are a single undoable step.
Newly added elements always land on top, which is what you usually want. Reach for Send to Back for the rarer case where a shape, frame, or background image should sit behind your content.
Fading an element with opacity
The same Layer category holds an Opacity slider, from 0 to 100%. Drag it to make an element semi-transparent so whatever sits behind it stays partly visible. It's useful for a background watermark, a frame that shouldn't compete with its contents, or a "ghosted" element you want present but quiet.
Opacity is a cosmetic property, so the format painter copies it along with colours and borders, and it carries through to PNG and SVG exports.
A note on arrows
Arrows always render in a single layer on top of every boxed element, so Bring to Front and Send to Back reorder shapes, text, stickies, and images relative to each other rather than relative to arrows.
Layer order and opacity both appear in the multi-select menu too, so you can push a whole group of elements to the back or fade them together in one action.
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