Skip to Content

How to Duplicate Layers in Procreate: Step-by-Step Guide

Duplicating layers in Procreate is important for making copies of your work, having extra layers you can experiment with, and having more control over your artwork overall.

To duplicate layers in Procreate, open the layers panel and swipe left on the layer you want to duplicate. Tap on the duplicate button to duplicate your layer. If you want to duplicate an object or selection, you’ll need to use the copy and paste function.

Before we dive into the specifics of duplicating layers, it’s important to distinguish between duplicating and copying and pasting. This is because, despite the words seeming like synonyms, these functions have different purposes in Procreate.

Duplicating is something you can do to an entire layer, which we’re going to cover in this article.

Copying and pasting, on the other hand, is something you’ll want to use with objects or selections. It’s also useful if you ever need to copy and paste parts of your art from one canvas to another.

If you came here for info on duplicating objects and selections, check out my full guide on copying and pasting in Procreate. In Procreate, duplicating is a function that’s used for layers, so for anything other than layers, you’ll want to copy and paste.

Alright, now that we’ve covered the differences between copying and pasting and duplicating, let’s dig into duplicating.

Here’s how to duplicate layers in Procreate, step-by-step.

1. Open your layers panel

In Procreate, your layers panel is in the top right corner of your toolbar. It’s the one with a square icon.

procreate layers panel icon flower

2. Swipe left on the layer you want to duplicate

Scan through your list of layers and find the one you want to duplicate. Swipe left on the layer to reveal the duplicate button.

3. Tap on the duplicate button

Once you’ve swiped left on the layer you want to duplicate, you’ll see a “Duplicate” button appear. Tap on it to duplicate your layer.

procreate layer duplicate button flower

4. Adjust your duplicated layer, as needed

When you duplicate a layer, you may need to adjust it.

To keep things organized, I would start off by renaming it. After it’s duplicated, it will have the same name as the original layer. This can get confusing very quickly!

procreate duplicated flower layer

To rename a layer, tap on it once to select it and then tap on it again to open the layer settings. Tap on the “Rename” button and rename your layer accordingly.

procreate rename flower layer

Once it’s renamed, it’s a little easier to keep track of things.

procreate duplicated flower layer renamed

You may also want to drag your layer to a new spot in your layers panel and make other adjustments you need to.

There you have it!

Duplicating layers has been such a huge help to me when creating my own art. For example, if I need to create a bouquet of flowers, it saves me a lot of time and energy to duplicate my flower layers and adjust them from there, instead of redrawing each flower manually.

Once you get the hang of it, duplicating is a simple process that can open up a lot of creative potential for your art, and possibly save you some time, to boot!

Sharing is caring!