7.5. Anchor layer
| 7. The “Layers” Menu |

### 7.5. Anchor layer

If you have created a floating selection, a temporary layer, called a “floating layer” or “floating selection”, is added to the layer stack. As long as the floating layer persists, you can work only on it. To work on the rest of the image, you must “anchor” the floating layer to the former active layer with the Anchor layer command. If the image does not contain a floating selection, this menu entry is insensitive and grayed out.

| Note
If there is an active selection tool, the mouse pointer is displayed with an anchor icon when it is outside of the selection.

#### 7.5.1. Activate the Command

- You can access this command from the image menubar through Layer → Anchor layer, and from the local pop-up menu you get by right-clicking the Layer Dialog,

- or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+H.

#### 7.5.2. Alternative Ways of Anchoring a Floating Selection

There are more ways to anchor a floating selection:

- You can anchor the floating selection to the current layer the selection is originating by clicking anywhere on the image except on the floating selection.

- You can also anchor the floating selection to the current layer by clicking on the anchor button of the Layers dialog.

- If you create a New Layer while there is a floating selection, the floating selection is anchored to this newly created layer.

7.4. Duplicate layer |  | 7.6. Merge Down