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I often have some PDF file that contains an electronic board design which is made in layers (e.g. bottom PCB side and top PCB side).

You can actually see that it quickly renders the bottom layer before covering it over with the top layer.

What I want to do is be able to look at each layer separately.

Is there any way to accomplish this?

tonypdmtr
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1 Answers1

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Is there any way to accomplish this?

Yes

  1. Choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Layers.

  2. To hide a layer, click the eye icon. To show a hidden layer, click the empty box. (A layer is visible when the eye icon is present and hidden when the eye icon is absent. This setting temporarily overrides the settings in the Layer Properties dialog box.)

enter image description here

Note:

  • A. Eye icon indicates a displayed layer
  • B. Locked layer
  • C. Hidden layer

Information can be stored on different layers of a PDF. The layers that appear in the PDF are based on the layers created in the original application. Use the Layers panel to examine layers and show or hide the content associated with each layer. Items on locked layers cannot be hidden.

Some layers may be organized into nested groups with a parent layer. Other layers may be in groups with no parent layer.

It is worth pointing out the following limitation of Adobe Reader.

A lock icon in the Layers panel indicates that a layer is for information only. Locked layers can be created from AutoCAD and Visio files. In Acrobat Standard, the visibility of a locked layer cannot be changed. In Acrobat Pro, use the Layer Properties dialog box to change the visibility of a locked layer.

This means if the author has locked the layers within your document. You will have to use a PDF editor that either allows you to unlocked the layer or a PDF editor that does not have this limitation.

Source: About PDF layers

Ramhound
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  • @OuzoPower - The question was about `Adobe Reader`. I think it's pretty obvious my instructions are for `Adobe Reader` or `Adobe Acrobat`. Please keep commentary relevant to the question or on ways to improve this answer. – Ramhound Sep 08 '19 at 17:35
  • Thanks, but it was not obvious that `Adobe Reader` could also do it. Adobe has many products with different capabilities. – OuzoPower Sep 09 '19 at 17:17
  • @OuzoPower - Any event I had forgotten to link to the Adobe article anyways, it seems obvious that I would only submit an answer, that is relevant to Adobe Reader. **The answer was accepted, so I am not going to make an edit to the answer, to indicate it applies to Adobe Reader.** – Ramhound Sep 09 '19 at 20:29