Ability to open multilayer PDF in photoshop

Report · Apr 13, 2022

Currently when we want to open or import a multilayer PDF in Photoshop, all the layers are automatically merged. It would be absolutly fantastic to be able to keep all the layers when openned in photoshop, and also to keep the name of the layers.

Exemple of workflow: to transform a drawing for technical purpose made with Autocad to a nice colorized drawing for communication purpose with Photoshop. (An architectural drawing produced in Autocad (Autodesk), then exported to PDF with multilayer, and then openned in photoshop with all the layers would make a process of drawing "colorization" very effective. Currently the only option is to export - import layer on by one.)

Report · Apr 13, 2022

Layers in a PDF are not really "layers" in the sense that they are in Photoshop. Layers are a content filter, they are known as "Optional Content Groups" and can be used to show the visibility of content separated into different groups. The original file could be flat and contain vectors, text and images all in a single layer. The PDF can then have the OCG/Layers created to make it possible to view the text in a separate "layer", or the raster images etc... But the content is not in a separate physical layer as one would expect in Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign, it is just a content viewing/processing filter.

Unlike other software, PDF OCG "Layers" are not about the Z stacking order. It could be argued that Acrobat should never have used the term "Layers" for OCG in the first place.

Confusing the issue further, some software can translate native layers into OCG, so the content is physically separated into separate "layers" just like the source file, but this is not the same thing as creating the layer inside Acrobat Pro. I would expect an OCG created directly in Acrobat Pro to behave differently, as it doesn't really have any physical structure.

Therefore, I don't believe that PDF is the right file format for this task. The layers need to be rasterized as separate images and exported out of their native program – then the layers can be easily stacked in Photoshop. I believe that there are layer image saving scripts for InDesign and Illustrator has a good native method when saving to PSD and there are probably scripts for Illustrator as well.

All that being said, yes it would be great to do this "on the fly" with Photoshop being able to translate OCG content in a PDF convert it to separate layers in Photoshop.

I'll upvote, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

EDIT: Below are links to a simple Illustrator PDF file with no layers, and a version with OCG "layers" –

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/fe3b3af4-5e82-4a36-5863-beded0e960e1

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/275dc1c2-a14d-4f64-5604-e42563ec41ef