Make Guide Lock Persistent Across Files, Sessions, and Smart Objects

[ImranWagan]

Currently, when I lock guides in a Photoshop file and then close the file or restart Photoshop, the guides become automatically unlocked when the file is reopened. This causes accidental guide movement when making quick edits, which disrupts workflow and precision.

I would like guides to remain locked persistently until the user manually unlocks them — regardless of:

• Closing and reopening the file

• Restarting Photoshop

• Making changes in the document

Additionally, this issue becomes more problematic when working with Smart Objects. If guides are locked in the main document and I double-click a Smart Object to edit it:

• The Smart Object opens in a new document

• The guides in that Smart Object file are not locked

• This leads to accidental guide changes while editing the Smart Object, even though the parent file’s guides are locked

Requested Improvements

1. Persistent Guide Lock State
   Locked guides should stay locked across file saves, file reopen, and Photoshop restarts.
2. Guide Lock Consistency in Smart Objects
   When editing a Smart Object, guides should respect the same locked behavior or allow an option to inherit the locked state.
3. Optional Preference Setting
   A preference such as “Keep Guides Locked Until Manually Unlocked” would greatly improve accuracy and prevent accidental changes.

This enhancement would significantly improve precision-based workflows, especially for UI, print, and layout designers who rely heavily on guides.

Thank you for considering this improvement.

[Stephen Marsh]

Until such a feature is possibly added, you can set this via an action or script and then use the Script Events Manager to automatically run after the appropriate event is triggered.

[ImranWagan]

@Stephen Marsh How can we add it can you explain?
I have tried the method you mentioned (HERE), but it didn't work for me..

That's why I created a new post to remind the Adobe developers.

[Stephen Marsh]

but it didn't work for me..

What bit/s specifically didn't work?

Creating the action?

The script code if not using an action?

Configuring the Script Events Manager to run the action or script on the open file event?

[Stephen Marsh]

@ImranWagan 

Here are some screenshots of setting up the action and configuring the Script Events Manager for the Open document event (smart objects will need a separate setup):

 

 

 

 

[Stephen Marsh]

To configure the Script Events Manager to apply the guide locking action directly after editing a smart object, you will need to setup a custom event:

The "Descriptive Label" must be entered as (case sensitive, no spaces):

placedLayerEditContents

[ImranWagan]

Thank you, @Stephen Marsh. Now it worked as you guided. 
Initially, I was creating an action, but just like normal actions, I used the shortcut keys to lock the guides. However, it wasn't working because the action wasn't recording. This time, I chose to select 'Insert Menu Items' as you guided, and that worked.

Thanks. 

[Stephen Marsh]

Thank you, @Stephen Marsh. Now it worked as you guided. 
Initially, I was creating an action, but just like normal actions, I used the shortcut keys to lock the guides. However, it wasn't working because the action wasn't recording. This time, I chose to select 'Insert Menu Items' as you guided, and that worked.

By @ImranWagan

You're welcome, yes, I originally wrote in that topic: Create an Action, insert the menu command for "Lock Guides"... The screenshots in this post probably helped if English isn't your native language.