You can control which layers names are listed in the Layer Properties Manager by using layer filters. A layer filter limits the display of layer names in the Layer Properties Manager and can also be used to limit the layers displayed in the Layer control drop-down in the Layers panel of the Home ribbon.
Open the Layer Properties Manager palette. Here, you can see which layers have and have not been used by the appearance of the icon in the Status column.
On the left side of the Layer Properties Manager is an area labeled Filters. You can click the arrow at the top or bottom of the Filters panel to collapse or expand the panel. The Filters panel displays a list of layer filters. By default, there are two pre-defined filters: All and All Used Layers. The All filter displays all of the layers in the drawing. When you select All Used Layers, the layer list becomes filtered so that it shows only the layers on which objects have actually been drawn.
When you select the Invert Filter checkbox at the bottom of the Filters list, the layer list changes to show only the layers on which objects have not been drawn.
When a filter is selected, that filter is also applied to the layers displayed in the Layer drop-down in the Layers panel on the Home ribbon. With the All Used Layers filter and Invert Filter both selected, expand the Layer drop-down. The list displays only the current layer and the three layers on which objects have not been drawn.
You can use controls in the Layer Settings dialog to control whether layer filters are applied to the layers displayed in the Layer drop-down. To display this dialog, in the upper-right of the Layer Properties Manager, click the Settings button.
In the Layer Settings dialog, in the Dialog Settings group box, Apply layer filter to layer toolbar determines whether layer filters are applied to the Layer drop-down. And Indicate layers in use determines whether the icons in the Status column of the Layer Properties Manager indicate layers that have been used or not used.
Clear the Apply layer filter to layer toolbar checkbox and then click OK. Now, when you expand the Layer drop-down, you can see all of the layers even though the filter is still set to All Used Layers and Invert filter is selected.
Open the Layer Settings dialog again, select Apply layer filter to layer toolbar, and click OK, so that filters are applied to the Layer drop-down.
Source: Autodesk
