QGIS » QGIS Application

I often find myself working off of a Composer map that I have previously created. I love that I can freeze layer visibility in Composer so that I don't have to set layer visibilities every time I open the Composer. In fact, I love it so much that I sometimes wish I could set layer visibilities in the canvas view based on what is visible in my Composer.

In my particular case, it would make it easier to add or remove a single layer from the Composer without having to remember exactly which layers were visible at the time I created the Composer.

Implementation: Either a button or menu option in the Composer view "Sync layer visibility on canvas from this Composer map"

Use case 1: A user has received a new dataset that needs to be included in all project maps. User follows these steps:

1. The user opens a Composer map
2. Syncs layer visibility on the canvas
3. Unchecks "Lock layers for map item" in Composer
4. Makes the new layer visible on the canvas
5. Checks "Lock layers for map item"

Under the current setup, the user would have to go through and recreate the exact layer visibilities for each Composer map. In some cases the user may not even remember exactly which layers were visible in the canvas.

Use case 2: A user wants to browse the map canvas, examining the layers that are included in a particular Composer map. User follows these steps:

1. The user opens the Composer map
2. Syncs layer visibility on the canvas
3. User returns to canvas

Under the current setup, the user would have to remember exactly which layers were turned on/off and manually select each one.

The same need could be met with a feature in Composer that allows the user to check/uncheck layer visibility, much like the canvas' table of contents.