The option to hide linked layers

​@GazzaBrad 

The following script toggles the visibility of an active layer and all linked layers.

/* 
Toggle Linked Layer Visibility v1-0.jsx
Stephen Marsh
v1.0 - 14th May 2026
https://community.adobe.com/feature-requests-713/the-option-to-hide-linked-layers-1561098
*/

var activeID = getActiveLayerID();
var linkedIDs = getLinkedLayerIDs(activeID);

if (linkedIDs.length === 0) {
    alert("The active layer has no linked layers!");
} else {
    // Use the active layer's visibility to determine toggle direction
    var currentVisibility = isLayerVisible(activeID);
    var newVisibility = !currentVisibility;
    // Toggle the active layer
    setLayerVisibilityByID(activeID, newVisibility);
    // Toggle each linked layer to match
    for (var i = 0; i < linkedIDs.length; i++) {
        setLayerVisibilityByID(linkedIDs[i], newVisibility);
    }
    var state = newVisibility ? "Visible" : "Hidden";
    app.beep();
    //alert(state + ": " + (linkedIDs.length + 1) + " linked layer(s).");
}


///// Functions /////

function getLayerDescriptor(id) {
    var ref = new ActionReference();
    ref.putIdentifier(charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), id);
    return executeActionGet(ref);
}

function getActiveLayerID() {
    var ref = new ActionReference();
    ref.putEnumerated(charIDToTypeID("Lyr "),
                      charIDToTypeID("Ordn"),
                      charIDToTypeID("Trgt"));
    var desc = executeActionGet(ref);
    return desc.getInteger(stringIDToTypeID("layerID"));
}

function getLinkedLayerIDs(layerID) {
    var desc = getLayerDescriptor(layerID);
    var linkedIDs = [];

    if (desc.hasKey(stringIDToTypeID("linkedLayerIDs"))) {
        var linkedList = desc.getList(stringIDToTypeID("linkedLayerIDs"));
        for (var i = 0; i < linkedList.count; i++) {
            linkedIDs.push(linkedList.getInteger(i));
        }
    }
    return linkedIDs;
}

function isLayerVisible(layerID) {
    var desc = getLayerDescriptor(layerID);
    return desc.getBoolean(charIDToTypeID("Vsbl"));
}

function setLayerVisibilityByID(layerID, visible) {
    var ref = new ActionReference();
    ref.putIdentifier(charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), layerID);

    var desc = new ActionDescriptor();
    desc.putReference(charIDToTypeID("null"), ref);

    var action = visible ? stringIDToTypeID("show") : stringIDToTypeID("hide");
    executeAction(action, desc, DialogModes.NO);
}

1. Copy the code text to the clipboard
2. Open a new blank file in a plain-text editor (not in a word processor)
3. Paste the code in
4. Save as a plain text format file – .txt
5. Rename the saved file extension from .txt to .jsx
6. Install or browse to the .jsx file to run (see below for more info):

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

Once installed, a custom keyboard shortcut can be applied to the script, or, you can record the script execution into an action and run from the action panel or action F-key shortcut.