Moving Layers from One File to Another?

Hey @Darling_0124 

There is already a script done for that 😉

it's rather robust. I've used it quite a few times and worked great.

https://github.com/AdobeInDesignScripts/indesign-copy-layer

Hi @Darling_0124 ,

below my scripting solution from this other thread written in ExtendScript.

I did a lot of comments there. Please read them before trying the script code.

You have to edit the code and insert the right names for the source layer and the target layer.

Both names could be the same. Make sure, that you change "SourceLayer" to "TheNameOfYourLayer" and do that also with "TargetLayer".

/*

IMPORTANT NOTES:

The code below works with ONLY two documents open.

sourceDoc : the active open document
targetDoc : the other open document

Make sure that the target document has the same number of pages like the source document.
Make sure that the target document has the named layer you want to duplicate items to.

*/


// The open, active document is the source:
var sourceDoc = app.documents.itemByID( app.documents[0].id );

// The second open document is the target:
var targetDoc = app.documents.itemByID( app.documents[1].id );

// The name of the source layer:
var sourceLayerName = "SourceLayer" ;

// The name of the target layer, that must be already there in the target document.
// Both names could be the same.
var targetLayerName = "TargetLayer" ;

var sourceLayer = sourceDoc.layers.itemByName( sourceLayerName );
var targetLayer = targetDoc.layers.itemByName( targetLayerName );

// Here comes the workaround for the problem reverse order of elements after using duplicate:

var tempDoc = app.open
(
	targetDoc.fullName , true , OpenOptions.OPEN_COPY
);

var tempLayer = tempDoc.layers.itemByName( targetLayerName );

// That produces a reverse order of the original stacking order of elements:
sourceLayer.pageItems.everyItem().duplicate( tempLayer );

// That re-produces the original stacking order of elements in the target document:
tempLayer.pageItems.everyItem().duplicate( targetLayer );


// Close the temp document without saving:
tempDoc.close( SaveOptions.NO );

Kind regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

Hi @Darling_0124 ,

we already discussed the issue a couple of years ago with a scripted solution by @heatherw6960836 here:

InDesign Script: Issue - copy layer items (using Duplicate), in target file layer items reordering
@heatherw6960836 , Nov 22, 2019

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-script-issue-copy-layer-items-using-duplicate-in-target-file-layer-items-reordering/td-p/10756588

See my comments to circumvent the problem, that in scripting with duplicate() the stacking order of elements in the target is in reverse order. My solution: "Simply" duplicate the page items of a layer first to yet another document and then duplicate the layer's page items from that to the final document.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-script-issue-copy-layer-items-using-duplicate-in-target-file-layer-items-reordering/m-p/10762682#M165713

Or look into @heatherw6960836 's solution, that would perhaps not directly suit your needs where Heather is using copy() and pasteInPlace() spread by spread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-script-issue-copy-layer-items-using-duplicate-in-target-file-layer-items-reordering/m-p/10764471#M165857

Kind regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

Hi @Darling_0124 it would be worth posting a demo of your set up—just a few pages and a couple of .indd documents and a sample of the review data (.csv or .xlsx or .json?) corresponding to the demo documents.

- Mark

I'm guessing this could be scripted...not by me, mind you...but it seems simple enough even manually. Lock the other layers, select all, copy and then paste in the other file.