Hi and sorry for my English. I want to move a object from layer 1 to sub layer of layer2, but I don't know how. I'm in OSX thxxxxxx

Welcome to the forum

Assuming that layer 1 is below layer 2, that would be Shift + PgUp. That's how it is in Windows, but I don't think it's any different in Macs. Or Layer menu > Move selection to layer above. Click once for each layer that you need to move across. That's why the key shortcut is more convenient.

I'm surprised there is no way to move object directly to a chosen layer. Essential if you have complex drawing with large numbers of layers. The Layer list is also very short. I can only see 3 Layers in the list before I have to scroll.

H ianp5a,
Both issues have been officially requested. All we can do is give developers time and have patience (unless you happen to have programming skills, then maybe you could offer to help )

Uummm....there might be a way to use the XML Editor to do that more directly. But calling up the XML Editor already defeats the purpose of a direct route....

ianp5a wrote:The Layer list is also very short. I can only see 3 Layers in the list before I have to scroll.

Does the layers dialog not get larger when you drag on the border? Are your dialogs floating or docked? In docked mode there is a separator bar that can be dragged and should stay the size you make it.

ianp5a wrote:I'm surprised there is no way to move object directly to a chosen layer. Essential if you have complex drawing with large numbers of layers. The Layer list is also very short. I can only see 3 Layers in the list before I have to scroll.

If you're just moving something up or down a couple of layers then the keyboard shortcuts Brynn mentioned are pretty fast. You can press them repeatedly without having to wait for Inkscape to redraw between each, so if you want to move your object(s) up three layers just hold shift and press Page Up three times.

When I have to move something through many layers I usually just cut it to the clipboard, switch to the destination layer, then use Edit > Paste In Place.

Regarding the docked Layers dialog, it's tiny size was the first thing I noticed about it. I know there's a feature request to make it bigger. I've also noticed another problem, which I suppose is a bug. I don't think I actually filed a report about it, but I remember discussing it with ~suv, who may have made a report (I'm not sure). (Actually if they could just make it bigger to begin with, the other issue will become irrelevant.) But I have developed a couple of workflow tips to help, until they can make it a little bigger.

When you have any docked dialog open by itself in the docking area, it's vertical size cannot be changed. You can make them wider, but not longer. Most dialogs contain enough content to make them larger. But the Layers dialog, being a list, that is not populated until you add more layers, starts out tiny. However, even in docs with several layers, usually the dialog opens only large enough to see the first 2 or 3 layers.

When you open another docked dialog, the 2nd one is opened above the first one, in the docking area. And having the 2nd one open allows you to change its vertical size, by dragging the line that separates it from the 1st one. (Position mouse over the line until you see a 2 sided arrow, then click + drag.) The vertical size of the first opened docked dialog (which unless you manually change their order in the docking area, stays on the bottom) can't be changed.

So the first tip is to open another docked dialog first (I usually open Fill and Stroke, because I almost always use it).

The problem that I noticed with the Layers dialog, is that after you drag it longer, it doesn't always stay longer. If you click in any open area in any other open, docked dialog (or even in Layers itself), the Layers dialog jumps back up to its original tiny size. If you click in a text field, or use a slider, e.g. in F/S dialog, the Layers dialog stays long. However, if you use, e.g. in F/S dialog the up or down arrows, e.g. Blur or A (alpha) or any of them, to change the values, and you click more than once, Layers jumps tiny again. If you click slowly enough, it prevents Layers from shrinking. In my experience the clicking speed is about the same as that which will change the Selection tool to the Node tool. (If you click slowly, you get the rotation handles, but if you click too fast, you get the Node tool.)

So the 2nd tip, if you have dragged the Layers dialog longer, you have to be very careful to keep it longer. Avoid clicking in any open area of any docked dialog. And if you have to click more than once in any field, click slowly.

(Now that I think of it, I'm going to look up the feature request to make Layers bigger, and add my support. I hate to overload the developers with requests, but this is one that I use a lot, and it annoys me a lot

Edit
I could not find a request for longer Layers dialog. I'm sure I've seen one, but I couldn't find it. So I made a new report, and included the info about the shrinking dialog. https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1001739