Release to Layers but retain layer names

[byronnash]

I am unable to find a script that will do this. The default application functionality is really frustrating how it just slaps a generic "Layer 1", "Layer 2" layer name on the new layers. I would rather have the name of the sublayer become the name of the new layer. Has anyone seen a script anywhere that does this?

[gmmapns]

Hey Jass,

Thanks for the answer. 

It still doesnt work for me, I dont understand. I follow all the steps and the same error keeps coming up. Really annoying. Any further help would be super appreaciated.

Thanks

Gemma

[CarlosCanto]

Hi Gemma, what's the error you're getting?

[gmmapns]

Hey Carlos,

I'm getting the same error than before, see attached.

I saved the text as plain text and tried .js and .jsx

Any help, really appreaciated.

Thanks

[gmmapns]

Hey again,

Well I don't know what the different is between these files (see attached) but it works for "bg_beach.ai" but not for the rest.

At least I know that it works with some files! Exciting.

[CarlosCanto]

ok, then the script works. Make sure your layers are setup like the file that had no issues running the script on.

or follow the below steps

1. your layers should look like this

2. select Layer 1 then do Release to Layers (sequence)

3. keep Layer 1 selected then run the script, your layers should look like this

enjoy

[Simon21975009djky]

Might not be relevant but I was initially getting an error as I'd copied Carlos' text into Text Edit (I'm on a Mac) before saving out as a .jsx file.

Problem was, I'd left it as Rich text. Once I'd formatted it to plain text and resaved, bingo.

[Simon21975009djky]

Many, many years later, amazing, thanks Carlos!

[nils12338]

It's crazy that this is still an issue, but also, thanks from me, Carlos! And thanks, Simon, for mentioning the "rich text" issue; it helped me a lot. 🙂

[Peter33375105jutd]

If anyone is out there still having the 1302 error, editing the code like this worked for me. It had to do with the type of layer inside my layers, if that makes sense. I just removed pageItems. Here's the edit:

var idoc = app.activeDocument;

var ilayer = idoc.activeLayer;

for (i=0; i<ilayer.layers.length; i++)

     {

          var sublayer = ilayer.layers[i];

          sublayer.name = sublayer[0].name;

     }

[Peter33375105jutd]

Well it worked for some of my layers. I edited the code further so that it tries both types and if it doesn't work it just skips them. @CarlosCanto sorry to bother you. Any ideas?

var idoc = app.activeDocument;

var ilayer = idoc.activeLayer;

for (i=0; i<ilayer.layers.length; i++)

    {
        var sublayer = ilayer.layers[i];
		  
		try {
			sublayer.name = sublayer.pageItems[0].name;
		}
		catch(err) {
			try {
				sublayer.name = sublayer[0].name;
			}
			catch(err) {
				// pass
			}
		}
    }

[Peter33375105jutd · Accepted solution]

Got it working. Here's code:

var idoc = app.activeDocument;

var ilayer = idoc.activeLayer;

for (i=0; i<ilayer.layers.length; i++)

    {
        var sublayer = ilayer.layers[i];
		  
		try {
			sublayer.name = sublayer.pageItems[0].name;
		}
		catch(err) {
			try {sublayer.name = sublayer.layers[0].name;
			}
			catch(err) {
				alert(err);
			}
		}
    }

[Sam386458968dj1]

Hi Peter! After using this code, I am recieving a different result than expected. Please see the screenshot attached.

[Peter33375105jutd]

All the issues I had were to do with the types of "layers" I was trying to get the names from. For some of my "layers" they weren't actually considered layers, but groups or lines or something. That's why I put the error checking with pageItems because I discovered that Illustrator considered some of my "layers" with the names to be pageItems instead of actual layers. I would suggest learning more about that so you can customize the code to work with your project. Or perhaps you can create new literal layers and put all your stuff in them and then try it, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the code.

[Sam386458968dj1]

Thank you for this! 

[Elias296435051nl8]

Maybe I am missing something here, but when i run the .jsx file it does nothing.
Can anyone help?

[CarlosCanto]

make sure your layout is similar to the screenshot I posted here

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/release-to-layers-but-retain-layer-names/m-p/...

[MaxAppian]

Peter you're my frikin hero.

[Agence Pulsemedia]

Hello, thank you for the code! I'm more than a year late but do you know if the language used on the software affects the results? I use Illustrator in French and nothing seems to have changed 😕 

[CarlosCanto]

it should work in the French version, do you get any error messages?

[brandon_7398]

Hello, I tried to apply this script and I can´t :C

[Larry G. Schneider]

If you're on a Mac and using Text Edit please make sure you have set the save format as Plain Text. The line shown indicates the file was saved as a Rich Text file.