Indesign Layer Visibility Override

Objects that are place into InDesign may loose some of their visibility settings when placed into an InDesign document. The example I encountered was an Illustrator file which was comprised of 3 layers. I had intentionally turned off the top layer before saving and placing it into InDesign. However, the layer was turned on during the import and I could see the unwanted layer.

The fix lies within InDesign. On the Links Panel you will see listed the links in your document. All my links are linked, however one has an eye icon next to it. On mouseover the icon reads "Object has layer visibility override".



1) On your canvas, select your placed object, and right click on it. Select "Object Layer Options..."


2) You will see the layers that make up the original file. In my example, I have a Illustrator file with 3 layers. All 3 layers are visible, but I only want the bottom 2 layers to be seen. To turn this top layer off, click the eye in front of the layer you do not want to be visible. I circled that layer in the image below.



3) Now the bottom 2 layers are visible, and the top layer is not. The object will display correctly in InDesign.




NOTE:
Turning these layers on and off in InDesign does NOT affect the layer visibility within Illustrator. Once you open the original Illustrator file, your layers will remain the same way you saved them in Illustrator. This InDesign tutorial only changes how it displays within InDesign.