Inspiring

Answered

Can I move guides from one layer to another?

Forum|Forum|14 days ago
February 5, 2026
4 replies
123 views

Simple enough, really. I had a bunch of layers that contained various elements for a spread.

I’m not an InDesign “power user” so I’m kinda picking my way through this.

I decided that the best way for me to stay organised was to put all of those elements into a single “spread” layer, so that I can have a different layer for each spread. I couldn’t move the layers into other layers, so I grouped each layer’s contents & then moved all of the groups into my “spread” layer.

Unfortunately, InDesign, like Illustrator, treats guides quite differently to what I’m used to in Photoshop. (Nothing wrong with that, of course, I’m just not used to it.)

Bottom line is that I went to delete all of my original layers, only to be told that they contain guides.

I need all my guides.

Can I move them to another layer? Can I even find out where they are? I can’t seem to see them as objects the way I can in illustrator.

I suppose it’s not the end of the world if I leave all my original layers there, just so I can see the guides, but it’s a bit of a clunky way of doing things.

Correct answer Dave Creamer of IDEAS

To answer your question…

Lock the layers with guides you don’t want to select.

Select all the remaining guides by using the Cmd-Opt-G or Cntl-Alt-G.

Using the Layer panel, move the guides to the desired layers. (Create any new guide layer in advance of this process.)

About your “layer per spread” mention…

I can’t see any major advantage to this workflow. Why do you think this would help you?

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Correct answer

Community Expert

To answer your question…

Lock the layers with guides you don’t want to select.

Select all the remaining guides by using the Cmd-Opt-G or Cntl-Alt-G.

Using the Layer panel, move the guides to the desired layers. (Create any new guide layer in advance of this process.)

About your “layer per spread” mention…

I can’t see any major advantage to this workflow. Why do you think this would help you?

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

BobLevine

Community Expert

I totally forgot about that KBSC!

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Yo Dawg,

“Curiously, one of the old layers is warning me that it contains objects when I try to delete it but when I click on the box at the end, it stays dark & nothing appears to be selected.”

Annoyingly, you would have to visit each page (and maybe the Parent page) and then Select All (Cmd/Ctrl+A) to see if any objects exist that need to be kept or deleted.

Mike Witherell

Snowdog63Author

Inspiring

Okay, further to this, writing it gave me an idea & that idea worked. I’ve succesfully moved all my guides into the “spread” layer.

Curiously, one of the old layers is warning me that it contains objects when I try to delete it but when I click on the box at the end, it stays dark & nothing appears to be seletced.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Layers are document wide. That is, a layer on the first spread is also a layer on every other spread.

Snowdog63Author

Inspiring

I don’t quite get what you mean by this. I’m making a separate layer for each spread (which a more experienced user may not bother doing - and which I may stop doing eventually - but right now it makes the most sense) and when I’m looking at pages 2-3, the layer for page 1 is shown as empty until I view page 1. Then all the contents for that layer appear & the contents of the “page 2-3” layer disappear.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Hi Snowdog,

Individual guides are selectable. If you have selected a guide or guides, you will see a square dot on the right side of the Layer. That square dot can be dragged to another layer. It is a great idea to make a Guides Layer and put all of them into that layer. That way you can Hide or Show them; you can Lock or Unlock them.

Mike Witherell

Snowdog63Author

Inspiring

Thanks so much for the reply. Yes, the old grey matter got there eventually! lol

Can you see my own reply to myself, though? Any thoughts on that?

Snowdog63Author

Inspiring

Also, when I duplicate my first “spread” group & move all the contants down to the next spread, the guides are not included. Is there a way for me to duplicate everything, including the guides, sp that every spread is the same?

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