Glyph

Boolean operations and layer merge

Merge active layer

Arrange → Merge active layer runs a layer-wide union of every boundary/box/widened-path shape on the currently active layer. Touching/overlapping polygons collapse into one; isolated islands stay separate. Single-undo step.

Two overlapping polygons selected in Glyph ready for a boolean operation, with the hint toast explaining the U, D, I, and X keys for union, difference, intersect, and XOR.

Boolean operations

There are no toolbar buttons for these — select 2+ shapes on the same layer, then use any of: the keyboard shortcuts below, right-click for the context menu, or Arrange in the menu bar.

Key Op What it does
U Union (OR) Merge into one polygon
D Difference (SUB) Subtract subsequent shapes from the first
I Intersect (AND) Keep only overlap
X XOR Symmetric difference

Large boolean ops (over 20 000 input vertices) run in a background worker so the UI stays responsive, and a Cancel button appears next to the progress pill — cancelling leaves your drawing exactly as it was, with nothing on the undo stack. Smaller selections are computed immediately, since the round-trip to the worker would cost more than the op itself. If the drawing changes while a background op is running, the result is discarded rather than applied to geometry that has moved. The result lands on the shapes' layer; the originals are replaced in one undo step.

Updated 2026-08-26

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