What's New?

We are excited to bring some great new features and improvements to Layer with our October release, including Multi-photo capture on iOS, the ability to summarize formula columns in Tables, and the ability to use formulas in bulk-editing of elements. Read on for the details!

Element Bulk Edit Improvements

Element bulk editing - accessible after selecting multiple elements in a table view - has been updated to allow the setting of element metadata fields, Name, Starred, and Completed.

Functionality for setting bulk values has also been expanded with the power of the visual formula editor, allowing you to calculate values for a given point in time and write them back to the selected elements.

Aggregations

Table view column aggregations are now powered by the Element Sync Engine, bringing more advanced capabilities to your workflows. To join the beta for aggregating Formula field values, contact support.

Multi-photo Capture on Mobile iOS

Use the new “Take Multiple Photos” options when adding files to Layer in the mobile iOS app to capture and upload files with fewer clicks. When using this options, devices will stay in capture mode until cancelled.

Other Improvements

• Improved the performance of loading related element values in the new Relationships field.

• Improved the recover-ability of deleted select field options from elements.

• Improved the “Send Email” automation action to no longer report a failure when an email has no intended recipients.

• Improved the user experience for formula functions that should be able to support an arbitrary number of similarly typed inputs. See the concatenate example below.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug with the visual formula editor dialog bleeding into the header on mobile iOS.

• Fixed a bug with the activity pane crashing the app when referencing users that have been removed from a project.

• Fixed a bug with creating or applying a template with many files.

• Fixed a bug with the search bar not clearing it’s input value when switching between views.

• Fixed a bug with the formula functions reference page.

We’re thrilled to introduce you to something we’ve been building toward for the last two years: Layer 4.

Layer 4 is the culmination of countless hours reimagining how you connect, relate, and summarize data in Layer—and it’s all been driven by you, our users, pushing the platform in incredible ways.

Watch the Announcement →

New Relationships in Layer

We’ve unified what used to be separate—related element, auto-lookup, and spatial relationships—into one powerful field. Now, no matter how relationships are created (manual, automatic, or spatial), they work the same way.

Relationships aren’t just links anymore—they’re live data sources. You can reference any related field directly, customize how it appears, and combine it with the brand-new Visual Formula Editor.

Relationship Types

• Manual - Manually relate elements between two categories by selecting elements in the project, just like the original Related Element field.

• Automatic - Build a set of filter criteria (think automatic lookups) referencing element data to return all matching elements. Automatic relationships compute based on live project data and instantly refresh when updated data is available.

• Spatial (Revit Categories only) - View the elements that are geometrically related to the given element, such as furniture in a room. Related elements can optionally be further filtered down with the same criteria available to automatic relationships.

Learn more about relationships →

Meet the Visual Formula Editor

This is one of the biggest upgrades ever to Layer.

The Visual Formula Editor gives you an intuitive, no-code way to build logic inside:

• Relationship lookups

• The new Formula Field

• Automation actions

You can now dig deep into relationships and perform complex calculations that were once impossible—like estimating total furniture costs by rolling up data through multiple layers of relationships.

Learn more →

Smarter Automations

Formulas now work inside Automations. Use calculated values in the Update Element action to create dynamic workflows that respond intelligently to your data.

A Faster, Smoother Revit Experience

For our Revit users, Data-Only Publish is here. Send model data to Layer in seconds, with automatic versioning every time you publish. No more waiting minutes for a model to publish. Get Revit data to Layer in seconds.

A Fresh Look

Layer 4 also comes with a refreshed interface—streamlined sidebars, modern visuals, and a more flexible color system designed to make your workspace feel faster and more expressive.

Layer 4 isn’t just an update—it’s a reset.

It’s our biggest leap forward since founding Layer, and it’s built to help you build faster, connect deeper, and summarize data like never before.

Minor Improvements

• Added the ability to recover deleted elements from the Activity log.

• Added support for viewing panoramic images in publicly shared views.

• Added support for searching your projects list.

• Improved performance of the project management dialog, particularly for larger projects.

• Improved performance of document view report exporting for single elements.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug with data cleanup.

Improvements

• Added support for FormulaV2 fields in public views.

• Added support for Revit Parameter fields in FormulaV2 field formulas.

• Updated the underlying structure of automations to support the use of formulas when setting element field values in the future.

• Various optimizations were made to improve app performance, especially in project with many users.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed several bugs causing issues with drawing view annotation thumbnail generation.

• Fixed a bug causing element version history to not be set correctly when a model had previously failed or cancelled versions.

Formula V2 (Beta)

The new FormulaV2 field has continued beta development, with this release adding support for an all new visual scripting editor for use in building formulas. Support has also been added for using FormulaV2 fields in document views, both in regular documents and summary document views.

The visual scripting editor also provides a more comprehensive view of your formula, including errors for individual nodes, information on the expected types for node inputs and output, as well as the output value of each node.

Related V2 (Beta)

The RelatedV2 field also saw improvements in beta development, with support being added for relative date filters in fields with automatic relationships and greater specificity provided when matching on Revit Models and Phases. Testing has also begun on inter-category relationships for manually related fields. Reach out to support at help@layer.team if you’re interested in testing same category manual relationships.

Improvements

• Related (V1 and V2) fields now support the ability to disable element creation from the field input.

• Related (V1 and V2) fields now support the ability to disable navigation upon clicking related element entries in the input.

Bug Fixes

• A bug was fixed that allowed restricted users to remove filters in the element select dialog for related fields.

FormulaV2

A new field type, FormulaV2 was added to public beta.

Improvements

• RelatedV2 field handling of multiple selections was improved and the option to sync selected quantities was added.

Bug Fixes

• A bug with restricted users and view management was fixed.

• A bug with auto related elements not appearing in table view was fixed.

• A bug with document views not accepting new blocks was fixed.

Improvements

• Updates to the app that power upcoming features.

Bulk Edit Improvements

Bulk editing element field data has been updated to allow for clearing field data for the select elements and given field. Bulk editing also support four new fields types:

• Related

• RelatedV2

• Person

• Toggle

Minor Improvements

• The update element field value automation can now clear field values out instead of just setting them.

• Single page report exporting was optimized to be much quicker.

• The character limit for field names was updated from 50 to 255 characters.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug causing bulk edit checkboxes to be shown to users without element update permissions.

• Fixed a bug with exporting a PDF reports from the view context menu.

• Fixed a bug causing no projects to show up upon page load.

Element Sync Engine Improvements

• Improved element sync engine performance, particularly for larger projects.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a few issues with the new document view report generation styling.

Revit Add-In

Version v3.7.2 of the Revit Add-In is now available to download

• Removed dependency on log4net library, thus eliminating version conflicts with other Add-Ins such as Chaos Enscape

Improved PDF Generation

This release replaces the underlying PDF rendering engine for Document View reports, improving the following aspects of PDF generation:

• Better support for large PDF reports that previously failed

• Better handling for automatic page breaks within tables that span multiple pages

• Better handling for multi-column layouts that span multiple pages

• Resolves issues where images may be dropped during PDF generation

Note that these improvements are being released to all users on a rolling basis in the coming weeks!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where some users were unable to edit a Document View within a Revit model category

Revit Add-In

Version v3.7.1 of the Revit Add-In is now available to download

• Support for Revit 2025

• Ability to write to Revit “type” parameters when writing data from Layer to the Revit model

• Stability improvements

Improvements

• New Related V2 Field in beta. See Layer User Community for more information.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with creating templates timing out

Features and Improvements

• Added the ability to set a Select Field via an automation based on the text from a Lookup or Text Field

• Improved the way fields are loaded throughout the app to improve app performance

• Added the ability for Restricted users to create reports

• Added the ability to set up Related fields in Form Views that have a filter pre-applied to them so that public form viewers can only select from a subset of the elements in the related category

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue navigating directly to a field within a field group where the field group would not automatically expand

• This release includes many behind the scenes changes that set the groundwork for a faster app experience and for an improved Related field. Stay tuned for more in future updates!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with incomplete lookup fields crashing document views.

• Fixed a few issues with exporting large reports.

• Fixed an issue with automations running redundantly.

• Fixed an issue with superscript formatting crashing model imports.

• Fixed an issue with select field values not showing in certain contexts after navigating.

• Fixed an issue with element names not being properly updated during data imports.

• Fixed an issue with creating drawing view annotations while in offline mode.

Other Features and Improvements

• Updated notification handling to no longer notify users of person field mentions due to template creation or application.

• Updated table view to always keep element multi-selection check-boxes in view.

Layer API

We've optimized the Layer API to return results faster, especially when querying large sets of element data. Learn more about getting started with the Layer API at docs.layer.team.

Public Views

• Added a banner to indicate that the current device is offline when viewing a Public Form View

• Changed the behavior of Public Form Views so that new versions of the web app are loaded onto the device after submitting a form rather then immediately

Bug Fixes

• Fixes issue where field groups were not included in templates

• Fixed an issue some users were experiencing duplicating fields

• Fixed an issue where clearing site data/cache would cause a user to be unable to log in temporarily

• Fixed an issue where placing annotations on a Drawing View while when accessing Layer on an iOS device could cause the browser or mobile app to crash

• Fixed an issue where reports generated more than one week ago were not able to be accessed using the provided download link

• Fixed an issue where processing Revit models with large amounts of Revit object data could cause the applying stage to fail

• Fixed an issue where stacked fields could not be added to Summary Document Views

Other Features and Improvements

• Performance improvements to Document View report generation, especially when generating reports a large number of elements

• Updated the interface of online users in the project sidenav to better accomodate large sets of online users

• Improved element imports to better handle large imports

• Added support for Sign in with Apple on mobile and desktop

• Improved the stability of Sign in with Microsoft, especially when using the native iOS app

Field Groups

Field Groups give you a new way to organize fields within a category, enabling you to create collapsable groups of fields.

To create a new Field Group, click on the ••• menu to the right of a category's name, then select Edit Category Fields. This will open the new Manage Fields interface, allowing you to create Fields and Field Groups and organize the them using drag and drop.

Other Features and Improvements

• Updated color options for fields, field groups, and dividers that better match other colors used throughout the app

• Redesigned full-screen Manage Fields interface

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where ampersands caused unexpected behavior in document views

Improvements and Features

• Added the Element Number to the values that can be found with an all-text search.

• Improved the speed of duplicating an element.

• Improved the resultant ordering when duplicating fields.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with columns in excel reports not being sorted according to the associated view.

• Fixed an issue with some options not appearing for stacked fields in document view related elements tables.

• Fixed an issue with element numbers not appearing on Model View dots.

• Fixed a bug not allowing contrubutors to delete their own elements.

Conditional Formatting in Document View

Conditional Formatting allows you to create custom rules in a Document View that dictate how field values are formatted based on when the field was last updated. Rules can define the text formatting of field values (such as adding a highlight to recently updated fields) and the file formatting (such as adding a border around recently changed photos).

To set up conditional formatting, click on the ••• menu in the top right of a Document View, and select Conditional Formatting (availiable to all project Editors, Owners, and Admins).

Stay tuned for more conditional formatting rule options in coming releases!

Other Improvements and Features

• Improved handling and reliability for large sets of data imported into Layer using Excel import and Revit import

• Added the ability for contributors to add new select field options for select fields that have the "Allow options to be created at selection by typing" option enabled

• Added Plumbing Equipment as a category that we calculate spatial relationships for

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where individual element document views could not be exported unless the view was a Default view

• Fixes issue where the field dropdown menu would use outdated data, such as when duplicating a field

• Fixed an issue where the incorrect set of users was displayed in the User Access section Edit View page when switching between views

• Fixed an issue using SSO to sign in on an iOS device web browser, which would cause the Layer mobile app to open with an error

• Fixed an issue with quantities now showing up in Excel exports for Lookup fields

• Fixed an issue with Drawing View references not appearing in shared Gallery Views

• Fixed an issue with not being able to use a mouse click to select users or element mentions in text area fields

• Fixed an issue duplicating Form Views, which would result in a blank view

Public Form View Data Handling

Several behind-the-scenes improvments have been made to the storage and processing of publicly submitted forms, ensuring that user-entered form data is never lost. The public app will also reload whenever an update is available and the app version is now visible in a menu accessible from the button in the bottom-right hand corner of the screen.

Upgraded Revit Model Iteration Handling

Revit Model iterations can now have a status of "Canceled", which is assigned whenever a new iteration is updated before the previous one can complete. Revit Models that are currently processing are now checked more frequently for completion, lowering the overal time to get model elements into Layer and reducing the number of issues resulting from long running model processing.

Other Improvements and Features

• Dates from formula fields are now formatted in the same way as Created At and Updated At fields

• You can now use Created At and Updated At Fields inside of Formula Fields

• Element Numbers are now usable when building and setting the Element Name in automations

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where multiple update element actions in a single automation would cause element field data to be overwritten.

• Fixed an issue where deleted fields could be selected in the import elements workflow.

• Fixed an issue with recently updated related element field data causing report generation to fail.

Access Controls for Views

This is our biggest update to how you can manage your views! We've heard from you that your list of views under a category can become large and difficult to manage, which is why views can now be hidden on a per-user basis.

Views can now be given one of three visibility settings that can be set when creating a new view or updating an existing view:

• Default - The view will show in all users' projects and cannot be removed. This was the way views functions previously, so all your existing views have been automatically given Default Visibility.

• Everyone - Anyone in the project can access the view and add it to their sidenav for easy access

• Just Me - A private view that only the view creator has access to

To see all available views you can add to your sidenav click on the ••• menu next to a category name in the sidenav and select Manage Views.

Restricted User Project Role

We are introducing a new role in projects of Restricted. This role allows only specific views of elements within a project to be shared with a user. To change a company user's role to Restricted, the project Owner can click on the + icon next to the Team heading in the project sidenav.

Users with the Restricted role have the following abilities:

• Access to all views that have their view visibility set as Default

• Access to views that have their visibility set as Everyone so long as a project Owner or Editor grants access for the user from the View Settings

• The project-level files, notes, tasks, automations, and activity are hidden for Restricted users

• Within view(s) that the user has access to, they can:

Document View Text Area Styling Settings

We know how important it is to get your document views looking exactly as you want, which is why we are introducing new settings for Text Area blocks in Document View that will allow you to define which styles you want to use in ther document. These options are:

• Remove text area styling completely strip out any styling from the Text Area field and opt to style the text area field within the Document View

• Override text & highlight color - opt to use any text and/or highlight colors defined in the Document View rather than those defined in the Text Area field

Other Improvements and Features

• When viewing a public Form shared view, any filters set up when selecting a related element for a Related Element field are stored as part of the shared view URL and able to be shared with other public users

• Added the ability to configure which fields should display be default in the Related Elements element picker. To configre fields, open the Field Settings for a Related Elements field

• Restricted the editing and deletion of notes to only be allowed if a user is a project Owner or if they are the orignal creator of the note

• The experience of downloading a Drawing View PDF with annotations is improved to better support large PDFs with a large number of annotations. Downloaded Drawing Views will also now appear in Files → Reports for easy access

• Increased maximum length of select field options from 100 characters to 250 characters

• Updated the user experience of creating and updating views, including making the preview image of the view dynamic based on view configuration

• Performance and speed improvements to Table View

• Update bulk edit field value interface to better match the recently updated element pane fields interface

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where text area fields would have no height unless the height was re-set in the field settings