Skip to main content
B
boo_radley_2013
Inspiring
October 25, 2013
Answered

Copy Layer Name To Clipboard?

  • October 25, 2013
  • 1 reply
  • 4039 views

Hi, I've been searching for a way to copy the active layer name to the Windows Clipboard, I'm hoping this a quick solution. What I've managed to do so far is to open the layer properties dialog box, then hit 'CTRL+C' to copy the layer name (because the layer name is already highlighted at this step), and then this successfully copies the layer name to the Windows Clipboard.

But I find that when the system is under load, the layer properties dialog box is sometimes slow to open, and even so, it seems like it's an extra step that could be eliminated.

I searched through the keyboard shortcuts, and also through all the layer menus for a keyboard shortcut to just 'copy layer name to clipboard' but can't find anything.

Anyone know if there's a quick keyboard shortcut to do this or perhaps a quick script that will just copy the layer name?

Thanks in advance..

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer boo_radley_2013

You may not have clip.exe on your machine due to your OS version. This page should be of use as it does give a link to another version of clip.

http://www.c3scripts.com/tutorials/msdos/clip.html


Bingo! Thanks Philip/csuebele/pixxxel, it was the 'clip.exe' that was the problem for me. I pasted it into system32 and now it works. This is awesome - now I'm able to show a tooltip with the layer name every time I change layers (with help from my other 3rd party app) - this is especially useful when working in fullscreen mode where you can't see the layers pallet. It updates your tooltip with the layer name every time you use the keyboard shortcuts to select different layers.

If anyone thinks they'd find this handy, I'd me more than glad to share it... but it's using a different scripting software, so I may or may not be able to speak about it here. Shoot me a private message if I can't talk about it in here and you'd like to have it.

1 reply

Chuck Uebele
Community Expert
Chuck UebeleCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 25, 2013

What do you want to do with it once you have it copied? 

B
boo_radley_2013Author
Inspiring
October 25, 2013

I'm running another 3rd party application that enables you to display the clipboard contents in a tooltip whenever you press a certain hotkey.

So whenever I'm in my photoshop document, I'll press 'z' (for example), and when 'z' is pressed, it will show a tooltip at my mouse cursor. So the plan is to somehow copy the layer name to the clipboard, then press z, and it will show my current layer at my mouse cursor as a tooltip. This could be useful when in fullscreen mode and the layers panel is not visible.

If I can find a way to do this, I'd gladly share my 3rd party app with the script (along with its script - it also uses its own scripting language) for it to do this - I'm sure it would be very helpful to other users as well. The first step is finding a way to copy the active layer name.

Chuck Uebele
Community Expert
Chuck UebeleCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 25, 2013

Here's a thread on ps-scripts.com that seemed to work on a Win system.  I was going to say if you just wanted to do something inside PS, that would be no problem, as you most likely would not have to use the clipboard, but what you want to do does require that - I think.

http://www.ps-scripts.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3097&p=13862&hilit=clip.exe&sid=9db2a672c4900d87337ccfc6961f5fef&sid=9db2a672c4900d87337ccfc6961f5fef#p13862

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices