delete one guide at a time [2012]

For anyone looking to do this now almost 10 years in the future, the code would look something like this:

async function deleteAGuide() {
   await executeAsModal(async () => {
      app.activeDocument.guides[0].delete();
   });
}

Good luck

By @things_and_things

Thanks for sharing! Just to clarify, this is UXP .psjs code, not the more common legacy ExtendScript .jsx code.

Can you be more specific about what doesn't work? It's working fine for me in CC+

To test:

1. Create a new document.

2. Create a guide on the left side, then one on the right side.

3. Run the function above with removeGuideByIndex(0)

The guide on the left will disappear, as it was the first guide added.

*I'm making the assumption you are familiar with how JavaScript works. If not, the code above is just a function declaration and won't do anything unless you know your guide's index and how to call a function with it.

Yes, with older versions you are stuck with using Action Manger to work with guides. And as far as I can tell you can't remove a single guide with AM code.

You can remove all guides and you can create guides. I also have code that will let you get info about the current guides in a document. With that you could get the info about the guides in a document, remove all the guides, then add back the ones you want to keep. Not pretty but it should work. Here is the code.

To get guide info:

#target photoshop
app.bringToFront();
/* the info about guides can be found in the photoshop tag hex 35 42 49 4D 04 08
   the length of the tag is found at offset 11. that value is the length to the next tag
   the number of guides can be found at offset 27. From that point the data repeats
   for each guide. 4 bytes for the location. That value / 32 = pixels
   and one byte for type 0 = vert and 1 = horz
   Note: this info is just a best guess from looking at the data
*/
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Function: getGuideInfo
// Description: Saves the document as a temp jpg file
//                        and extracts the info about the guides
//                        in document if any
// Usage: var guides = getGuideInfo( activeDocument );
// Input: Document
// Return: Object: TotalCount property  = number of guides
//                  HorizontalCount property = number of horizontal guides
//                  VerticalCount property = number of vertical guides
//                  Horizontal = horizontal guides
//                  Vertical property = vertical guides
// Source: Modified from http://ps-scripts.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3283
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
function getGuideInfo( doc ) {
   saveOptions = new JPEGSaveOptions();
   // we don't care about image quality in the temp file
   // we do want the smallest file size
   saveOptions.quality = 0;// we don't care about image quality in the temp file
   var tempFile = new File( Folder.temp + '/' +'guideTemp.jpg' );
   // Dupe the doc, make it savable as JPEG, save it, then close the file
   doc = doc.duplicate();
   if( doc.mode == DocumentMode.BITMAP ) doc.changeMode(ChangeMode.GRAYSCALE);
   doc.bitsPerChannel = BitsPerChannelType.EIGHT;
   doc.changeMode(ChangeMode.RGB);
   doc.saveAs(tempFile, saveOptions, true);
   doc.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);
  tempFile.encoding = 'BINARY';
  tempFile.open('r');
  var str = tempFile.read();
  tempFile.close();
  tempFile.remove();
   var guideTag = '8BIM\x04\x08';
   var tagPos = str.search(guideTag);
   var guides = new Object;
   guides.toString = function(){ return 'GuideInfo'; }
   var horGuides = new Array;
   var vertGuides = new Array;
   if( tagPos != -1 ) {
      var tagLength = 12 + str.charCodeAt( tagPos + 11 );
      var guideStr = str.substring( tagPos, tagPos+tagLength );
      guides.count = str.charCodeAt( tagPos + 27 );
      var pointer = tagPos + 28;
      for( var i =0; i < guides.count; i++ ){
       //  var n = ((str[pointer] << 3) + (str[pointer+1] << 2) + (str[pointer+2] << 1) + str[pointer+3])/32;
      //var n = Number( '0x'+getHexString( str, pointer )+getHexString( str, pointer+1 )+getHexString( str, pointer+2 )+getHexString( str, pointer+3 ))/32;
             var n = ((str.charCodeAt(pointer)<< 32) + (str.charCodeAt(pointer + 1)<< 16) +
                    (str.charCodeAt(pointer + 2) << 8) + str.charCodeAt(pointer+3))/32;
if  (str.charCodeAt( pointer + 4 ) == 0) {
          //vertical
          vertGuides = insertValueInOrder(vertGuides, n);
       } else {
          //horizontal
          horGuides = insertValueInOrder(horGuides, n);
       }   
        // guides[ i ] =  [ (str.charCodeAt( pointer + 4 ) ? 'horz':'vert'), n ];     
         pointer = pointer + 5;
      }
     guides.HorizontalCount =horGuides.length;
     guides.VerticalCount =vertGuides.length;
     guides.Horizontal = horGuides;
     guides.Vertical = vertGuides;
   }else{
      guides.TotalCount = 0;
     guides.HorizontalCount =0;
     guides.VerticalCount =0;
   }
   function insertValueInOrder(a , n) {
      var b = new Array;
      var i = 0;
      if (a[0] == undefined)
         b[0] = n;
      else {
         while (a < n && i < a.length) {
               b = a;
               i++;
         }
         b = n;
         while (i < a.length) {
            b[i+1] = a;      
            i++;
         }
      }   
      return b;
   }
   return guides;
}
  function fromCharCode(input) {
      output = eval("String.fromCharCode(" + input + ")");
     return output;
   }
// demo
var masterDocument = app.activeDocument;
var guideInfo = getGuideInfo( masterDocument );
var s = "Vertical Guides: " + guideInfo.Vertical + "\nHorizontal Guides: " + guideInfo.Horizontal;
alert(s);

To remove all guides:

function clearAllGuides() {
     var desc = new ActionDescriptor();
        var ref = new ActionReference();
        ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID( "Gd  " ), charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" ), charIDToTypeID( "Al  " ) );
     desc.putReference( charIDToTypeID( "null" ), ref );
     executeAction( charIDToTypeID( "Dlt " ), desc, DialogModes.NO );
};

To add a guide:

function guideLine(position, type,unit) {// from Paul MR
   //units '#Pxl' pixel '#Rlt' =Relative  '#Prc' = percent
   // types: 'Vrtc' & 'Hrzn'
    var desc = new ActionDescriptor();
        var desc2 = new ActionDescriptor();
        desc2.putUnitDouble( charIDToTypeID('Pstn'), charIDToTypeID(unit), position);
        desc2.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID('Ornt'), charIDToTypeID('Ornt'), charIDToTypeID(type) );
    desc.putObject( charIDToTypeID('Nw  '), charIDToTypeID('Gd  '), desc2 );
    executeAction( charIDToTypeID('Mk  '), desc, DialogModes.NO );
};