A layer that helps at one zoom can drown the map at another. The "Visibility Controls" dialog — opened from the layer menu's "Visibility" item — decides when a layer's symbols and labels participate.
Symbols and Labels cards
The dialog leads with two toggle cards:
- "Symbols" — whether the layer's features draw at all. For raster layers this card is "Raster" instead.
- "Labels" — whether feature labels draw, independently of the symbols.
The split matters: a common pattern keeps "Symbols" on at every zoom but leaves "Labels" for close-in work, so a "Hydrants" layer reads as dots at city scale and as identified assets at street scale.
Scale range
"Scale range" pins the layer to a band of zoom levels, with "Minimum scale" and "Maximum scale".
Read the field help literally, because the names trip people up: minimum scale is the closest zoom where the layer still draws, maximum scale the furthest out. Outside that band the layer steps back on its own, so you're not toggling things as you navigate.
When to reach for this
- Dense layers overwhelm the map at small scales — set a maximum scale so they appear only once you zoom in.
- Labels collide at overview zooms — keep "Symbols" on, gate "Labels" by scale.
- Reference layers should stay quiet until someone is working closely in the target area.
A layer gated out by its scale range is still there — still in the project and still available to analysis. It also still takes part in rectangle and lasso selection: selection follows the layer's visibility eye and "Include in selection", not its scale range. To keep a layer out of a selection, turn its eye off or clear "Include in selection".