Photoshop

About layer comps

Designers often create multiple compositions or comps of a page layout to show clients. Using layer comps, you can create, manage, and view multiple versions of a layout in a single Photoshop file.

A layer comp is a snapshot of a state of the Layers palette. Layer comps record three types of layer options:

  • Layer visibility—whether a layer is showing or hidden.

  • Layer position in the document.

  • Layer appearance—whether a layer style is applied to the layer and the layer’s blending mode.

Note: Unlike layer effects, Smart Filter settings cannot be changed across layer comps. Once a Smart Filter is applied to a layer, it appears in all layer comps for the image.

You can export layer comps to separate files, to a single PDF, or to a web photo gallery.

Choose Window > Layer Comps to show the palette.

Layer Comps palette

A.
Apply Layer Comp icon

B.
Last Document State

C.
Selected comps

D.
Layer Comp Cannot Be Fully Restored icon