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I am a web dev and competent in Fireworks but not so much in Photoshop.

I have just received a layered PSD file to turn into a web page. Can anyone tell me the easiest way to export all layers to individual png files?

There are lots of layers and doing this manually seems wrong.

I have seen this but it does seem there should be native functionality for this in PS.

I have access to Photoshop CS4. Any pointers appreciated.

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Is there any way to avoid having the .pngs turned into Index mode? I need them RGB. I could probably just create a droplet for it, but didn't know if there were an easier way... Thanks for the tip though, this is great! – user2995 Nov 25 '11 at 23:17

migrated from photo.stackexchange.com May 10 '11 at 18:18

3 Answers

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File >> Scripts >> Export layers to files...

enter image description here

Here are some related questions...

Exporting layers in Photoshop

Export Layers to Files exports only 4 png files from 100 layers

EDIT

I spent some time and wrote my own script file to automate this process. This process is much faster than the built-in script mentioned above.

I ran this script on a 100 layer, 450MB file in under 60 seconds. Running the built-in script on the same file takes me about 30 minutes.

The script can be found here.

Please let me know if you run into any issues with the script.

I have updated the script to include Mike June Bug Captain's transparency fix. I have also allowed the option to save as PNG or JPEG (and select quality.)

Instructions for use: File >> Scripts >> Browse (then find the script)

Here are screenshots to help if you need additional help.

IMPORTANT: The images will automatically be saved in whatever directory your multi-layer file is contained in! Feel free to make any adjustments to the script as needed.

Disclaimer: Please use script at your own risk, I'm not responsible if your computer freezes up or anything like that.

Update [09/26/12]: Script now saves layers using their layer name, rather than a numerical increase.

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Good answer - apoligeis for the original post being in photography had no idea Graphic Stackexchange existed! – user256888 Jun 9 '11 at 9:19
Thank you for your answer and this does seem to work on simpler files...but... the more experience I have of this the more laggy it seems. The PSD files I get arent massive maybe 100 layers tops but running the above technique seems to take hours (literally) and hangs and errors quite a lot. My PC is half decent but this process seems to run it into the ground - am now on CS5 but this has become unworkable any more suggetions please? – user256888 Aug 29 '12 at 22:03
I wrote my own script that does this process much faster. Let me know how it goes! Cheers. – Johannes Sep 1 '12 at 3:18
+1 For coming back and providing the script - it sounds great. One thing when I run it on a psd with multiple layers it always throws an alert saying ".....this document contains 1 layer continue?" but it actually contains many more layers? I think I might be missing something as mentioned I'm not a PS expert! Thanks – user256888 Sep 4 '12 at 10:41
That's weird. What version of Photoshop are you using? Could you give me more information on the types of layers they are (regular raster layers, text, masks, etc.)? I can't seem to replicate your problem. – Johannes Sep 5 '12 at 2:11
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CREDIT GOES TO JOHANNES FOR CONTRIBUTING THE FILE. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I have added a function that helped me go through my 2448 layer file in about 3 hours.

Here is the link to the modified file Download Here

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Glad to have helped. I assume the change is that you hide all other layers? – Johannes Sep 2 '12 at 4:48
Yes cause with a big file like that it would take forever to manually hide all layers. For some reason when i tried your original script it would save the files with all the layers visible which would have a output png with all layers visible. Which was weird. So i added the function to hide all others layers except current one then save then hide it. – Mike June Bug Captain Sep 2 '12 at 8:10
Oh my! I forgot to take into account transparency, you're right. I just have it turn off the top-most layer. I'm actually building a slightly more customizable script, and I'll add your transparency thing in. – Johannes Sep 2 '12 at 9:21
+1 For broadening on the answer - thanks. – user256888 Sep 4 '12 at 10:39
up vote 2 down vote

I have updated Johannes' solution of a year ago with many improvements. Significantly:

  • Layer groups are now properly handled so that all layers get written.
  • File names are auto-incremented to prevent collisions (this happens when more than one layer has the same name).
  • Performance is increased. The script can save 500 simple layers in a few minutes.

Besides this, the code has been cleaned up. For example, global variables have been integrated into a single array.

Note that the initial popup message will only tell you the number of top level layers. This is to avoid performance degradation. I can't really imagine a case where you don't know anything about the file you are dealing with, so this should not be much of a compromise.

Grab the script here. Thanks to the previous author for leading the way.

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