Improve Control of Display Order / Stack Levels

[Benjamin Bloch]

The current step-by-step adjustment of the Display Order is time-consuming and unintuitive. Users should be able to directly assign an element to a specific Stack Level (e.g. 1–14), ideally through a small palette or control in the Element Settings. This would allow multiple elements — for example, all elements on a specific layer — to be assigned to the same Stack Level and maintain a consistent stacking order.

[Space_Agency]

Absolutely agree on this. At best one can use the element info palette to at least see the display order number. But that just tells you the info with no ability to affect it other than clicking up and down on the display order arrow/send to front/send to back. At minimum, just let us enter the display order number we want via the info box so that it is an attribute that is controllable, organizable etc. And also to have a DEFAULT SETTING for display order for all elements. We almost always want out dimensions, notes, and labels on the top display order, at least as default. Why it would be set otherwise (the way it is now) makes zero sense. We deal with this short coming on nearly every project. 

Other example scenarios with benefits: graphic override rules changing visual characteristics of elements of a particular display order number, "Find and select" criteria, to be able to select all elements of a particular display order, etc.

The display order is really solving a "visual layering/ behind or in front of" problem but the fallout is that sometimes elements are on a particular display order and then get "lost". Layers used to be like this but are solving other element organization issues. The old idea of layers was sheets of paper composited on top of each other but layers became an organizing principle well beyond that. My guess is that display order is a remnant of the original layer idea. Could be a lot more powerful as an assignable attribute. 

[dushyant]

Is this close to what you're looking for?
https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/General-discussions/Re-Display-order-tool/td-p/710330

[Karel Landa]

@dushyant Probably yes but I think that the wish remains valid since it was asked from Graphisoft in multiple posts and could be implemented natively.

But for the time being, this is great.