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newbieking
Known Participant
April 4, 2012
Answered

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

  • April 4, 2012
  • 7 replies
  • 168835 views

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

    Correct answer Grant H

    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

    7 replies

    D
    david50B9
    Known Participant
    January 27, 2021

    This doesn't preserve the layer hierarchy. 

      thalvorson_7fold
      thalvorson_7fold
      Participating Frequently
      June 21, 2019

      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?

      miriambalsano
      miriambalsano
      New Participant
      October 12, 2017

      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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        -Jaydude-
        Known Participant
        May 18, 2016

        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.

        Disposition_Dev
        Disposition_Dev
        Community Expert
        May 25, 2016

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

        Disposition_Dev
        Disposition_Dev
        Community Expert
        September 1, 2015

        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.

        Monika Gause
        Monika Gause
        Community Expert
        September 1, 2015

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

        Disposition_Dev
        Disposition_Dev
        Community Expert
        September 1, 2015

        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.

        T
        Terri-Bleeker
        New Participant
        February 24, 2015

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

          Grant H
          Grant HCorrect answer
          Community Expert
          April 4, 2012

          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

            J
            jeffblakemore
            New Participant
            June 24, 2015

            I'm not sure if this function no longer works in CC or if I'm not doing it correctly, but I made sure "paste remembers layers" is active, then selected the layers and objects I wanted to copy, but when I paste in a new document it all pastes into the active layer. No new layers are created.

            Larry G. Schneider
            Larry G. Schneider
            Community Expert
            June 24, 2015

            Paste Remembers Layers must be on in both documents.

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