Add a Layer

Layers group similar types of events together on your timeline.

For example, in a timeline about your life, you might have a layer for places you've lived, another for places you've worked, and another for your relationships. Grouping your jobs, schooling and certifications the same way is the whole idea behind a career timeline. Giving each team or workstream its own layer turns a project plan into a swimlane timeline.

Add a new layer

When you create a timeline with the Simple layout, all events go in the same layer, called "Events". Preceden doesn't display this default layer's name on your timeline:

A timeline whose only layer is the unnamed default one, holding a single New York City event spanning 2012 to 2017

The other starting layouts begin with two or three layers called "Layer" instead, and their names appear in the list below the timeline from the start.

To add a layer, click the Add Layer button above your timeline.

Name is the only required field.

The Add Layer dialog, with a required Name field and a Notes field above the Add Layer button

You can also:

Add layer notes
Set a color for the layer
Hide the layer
Choose where it goes in the layer order

Layer notes appear under the layer's name in the list below your timeline. By default, they also show up in a popup when you hover over the layer's name on the timeline.

Let's add a layer called "Places I've Worked":

The same timeline after a second layer is added: the New York City event sits in the Events layer and the new, empty Places I've Worked layer appears below it

Now that there are two layers, the default layer's name ("Events") appears on the timeline.

That only happens because the "Events" layer already has an event in it. If it is still empty when you add a layer, Preceden removes it, and your new layer becomes the only one on the timeline.

The timeline with the default layer's name, Events, highlighted now that a second layer makes it visible

You can rename it by clicking the layer name on the timeline, or its name in the list below the timeline. Let's change it to "Places I've Lived".

With more than one layer on your timeline, each event gets a Layer menu for choosing which layer it belongs to:

The Update Event dialog for a Microsoft event, with the Layer menu highlighted and set to Places I've worked

The new event is in the "Places I've Worked" layer, so it is grouped separately from the events in the "Places I've Lived" layer:

The finished timeline with New York City in the Places I've Lived layer and Microsoft in the Places I've Worked layer below it

To move a lot of events into a new layer, the Bulk Editor is quicker if your plan includes it: drag each event by its grip icon into the layer you want, and Preceden saves the change right away.