Manager

Inspiration

Adobe Express is a powerful design tool,

What it does

adds a robust

View and reorder all elements on the canvas

or better organization

Lock/unlock items to avoid accidental edits

Toggle visibility of elements

Group

How we built it

We built this add-on using:

JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for the UI

The Adobe Express Add-ons SDK to interact with the document and elements

A custom framework to map and monitor layer hierarchy in real-time

Drag-and-drop

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was working around the lack of native layer APIs. We had to implement a custom tracking system to

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Successfully created a prototype that mimics Photoshop-like layer handling inside Express

Designed an intuitive and minimal UI that integrates naturally with the Express environment

Built a smart logic system to detect element relationships and update the layer view accordingly

What we learned

Deep understanding of Adobe Express's SDK limitations and capabilities

How to architect a complex UI panel that communicates with a host design tool

How important even small UX details are in productivity-focused tools

What's next for Layer Manager Pro

Adding support for sub-groups and smart folders

Custom icons and labels for layers

Keyboard shortcuts for power users

Integration with templates to auto-organize elements

Launching on the marketplace for both free and Pro Express users

Built With

• add-ons
• adobe
• apis
• asset
• cloud
• css
• development)
• express.js
• fast
• html
• javascript
• pixi.js
• react
• rest
• sdk
• storage
• vite