A fast, friendly manager for QGIS map themes (layer visibility presets): create, activate, edit, rename, duplicate, batch rename, delete, import/export and copy/paste themes, all from one window.
- Fast. The theme list is built in a single pass. Refreshing 300 themes with 60 layers takes about 0.02 s (version 1.0 took about 33 s). Theme visibility is computed directly from the theme records, without cloning the layer tree.
- Always up to date. The list follows changes to themes, layers, the layer tree and the project automatically. It only does this while the window is visible, and a hidden window refreshes when it is shown again.
- Knows the current map. Themes that match the current layer visibility are shown in bold with an eye icon, and the status bar names them.
- Search themes and layers. Type part of a theme or layer name. When only one theme matches, Enter activates it.
- Details panel. Lists the layers of the selected theme in layer-tree order.
- Remembers its windows. Window size and position are saved together with the monitor and its resolution. If that monitor is gone or its resolution changed, the window is moved proportionally and kept fully visible. It also reacts when monitors are connected, disconnected or resized while it is open.
Tick the layers and groups that should be visible. The editor has a filter, layer icons, expand/collapse, check/uncheck all, Use Current Map and Reset, plus a live counter of visible layers. Partially checked groups are saved correctly, so their visible children stay visible.
Find/replace, prefix and suffix with a live preview. Name clashes are resolved
automatically, and swaps such as A → B, B → A are safe.
Clipboard, JSON import/export and options. Paste is only enabled when the clipboard holds copied themes.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Activate selected theme | Enter (in the list or the search box) |
| New theme from current map | Ctrl+N |
| Edit theme | Ctrl+E |
| Update theme from current map | Ctrl+U |
| Rename | F2 |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D |
| Delete | Del |
| Batch rename | Ctrl+B |
| Copy / Paste themes | Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V |
| Export / Import JSON | Ctrl+S / Ctrl+O |
| Refresh | F5 |
The list also has a right-click context menu. Double-click opens the editor; under More, you can switch double-click to activate the theme instead.
- Download
LayerThemeManager-<version>.zipfrom the latest release. - In QGIS open Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins → Install from ZIP, choose the file and click Install Plugin.
- Open it from Plugins → Layer Theme Manager or with the toolbar button.
Copy the plugin files into a folder named LayerThemeManager in your profile's
plugin directory, then restart QGIS and enable the plugin:
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\QGIS\QGIS3\profiles\default\python\plugins\ - Linux:
~/.local/share/QGIS/QGIS3/profiles/default/python/plugins/ - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/QGIS/QGIS3/profiles/default/python/plugins/
Themes are exported as JSON together with each layer's name, source and file name. On import, layers are matched by ID first, then by name, full source and finally source file name. This lets themes move between projects. The import report lists re-linked and unmatched layers.
- QGIS 3.x and QGIS 4.x (PyQt5 and PyQt6). The code only uses
qgis.PyQtimports, and the enum handling works with both. - Tested headless on QGIS 3.40.8 (Qt5) and QGIS 4.2.2 (Qt6).
renameMapTheme()is used when available, with a fallback for older QGIS 3.
- The editor focuses on layer and group visibility. It keeps the style and legend-item settings of layers that stay in the theme. Layers newly added through the editor use their current defaults.
- Expanded/collapsed state is preserved where the QGIS API exposes it, but it cannot be edited.
GNU General Public License v2.0 or later. See LICENSE.