How do I duplicate multiple layers but keep them from switching groups?

[Franky Spills]

Hey Eveyrone.

I have 4 different groups.  Each group has a layer in it.  how do I duplicate those layers but not have them switch groups?  Everytime I try to duplicate them the duplicates all move into one group.  I want duplicates to remain in their original group. And I don't want to duplicate them one at a time.  

Thanks.

[barbara_a]

I see the problem that you describe, but there doesn't seem to be a way to get around duplicating them one at a time. The Command-J or Control-J shortcut could speed up the process.

[Franky Spills]

Thanks Barbara...  I'm working on all kinds of tiling and stepping and repeating.  I'm going to have a lot of layers for a bit and don't want them to switch groups when I duplicate them.  It's important that I keep them separated but duplicateable in bulk...  I may switch over to illustrator and do it.

If anyone else has a suggestion I'm all ears.

[Bojan Živković]

If you always have exactly the same structure in the Layers panel then you may be able to automate that task. All groups must be one above another and expanded plus all layers and groups must be visible in order to automate task using actions.

When recrding action it is recommended to use keyboard shortcuts to select layers and to move through layers because hard coded layer names which are recorded when you click on layer/group will require layers and groups with the exactly same names to be present in the layers panel.