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Known Participant
Apr 4, 2012 7:40 PM UTC
Answered

Possible to move multiple layers from one Illustrator file to another?

I have 2 large illustrator files (lets say version 1 and version 2). If I have 40 layers on version 2 that I want to send/add to version 1, is this possible (without copy/pasting in place each individual layer?)

thanks

Grant H
Grant HCorrect answer
Community Expert
Apr 4, 2012 7:44 PM UTC

in the layers panel flyout menu: make sure "paste remembers layers" is checked. Select  the artwork, copy paste in new document. It will recreate the layer structure as prev doc.

G

24 replies

Known Participant
Jan 27, 2021 8:21 PM UTC

This doesn't preserve the layer hierarchy. 

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thalvorson_7fold
Participating Frequently
Jun 21, 2019 6:32 PM UTC

Is it possible to duplicate a layer and avoid having both the parent and sublayers automatically get "copy" appended to the end of the layer name? I don't mind it for the parent layer but it becomes a major pain when having to also rename sublayers. Essentially we use this to track design options and each sublayer gets a graphic style applied for consistency. This way it's much easier to maintain or purge out old obsolete options. An ideal solution might be to specify the new layer name after running the 'Duplicate [Layer]' command rather than the command blasting all new layers with the 'copy' text appended to the end.

Thoughts on this anyone?

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miriambalsano
Participant
Oct 12, 2017 5:22 PM UTC

Thanks so much! I had no idea you could do that in Illustrator! This shortcut will save me TONS of time in the future! Can't believe I spent so much time in the past copying and pasting individual elements. Haha

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Known Participant
May 18, 2016 9:13 AM UTC

In my case, I got the error underneat, although both documents have the same size.

Solution: use 'Place in Front or Place in Back', which past the layer on the same position.

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Disposition_Dev
Legend
May 25, 2016 5:24 PM UTC

alternatively, paste in place, which is essentially paste in front i suppose. but it is another option.

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Disposition_Dev
Legend
Sep 1, 2015 10:41 PM UTC

Sorry to resurrect this post, although i suppose it's not really THAT old.

I use Paste Remembers Layers for some very specific applications, but have it turned off most of the time because it can break other parts of my process. However, I'm attempting to build a new procedure for my mockup artists which requires specific layer hierarchy to be retained from one doc to the next. However, I've found that the oh so handy "paste remembers layers" option does not do anything for blank layers...

Does anybody know of a way to copy a layer (full of blank sublayers) from one document to the next? I may end up just scripting the process, but if i can avoid that i'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

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Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
Sep 1, 2015 10:50 PM UTC

Have you ever considered using template files or new document profiles?

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Disposition_Dev
Legend
Sep 1, 2015 10:57 PM UTC

Indeed. I'm actually building custom templates that are conducive to scripting for very specific artwork placement and naming rules. But sometimes those templates need to be merged together (some orders will have multiple styles in the same master file). So I'm building the template exactly how i need it, but in the event that i need to merge two or more, i'm looking for a way to maintain the layer structure (even if some layers are empty) because those empty layers may be filled later, and it's important for the subsequent scripts for those layers to be named properly and in the right level of hierarchy.

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Participant
Feb 24, 2015 3:51 PM UTC

Thank you SOOO much. I knew there had to be a way to do this.

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Grant H
Community Expert
Grant HCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
Apr 4, 2012 7:44 PM UTC

in the layers panel flyout menu: make sure "paste remembers layers" is checked. Select  the artwork, copy paste in new document. It will recreate the layer structure as prev doc.

G

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Known Participant
Apr 4, 2012 8:01 PM UTC

Thanks!

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