In Elements (I'm using version 9 for Mac), is there a single operation that will let me open a bunch of files as one image, with each file as a layer in that image?
If I were using GIMP, for example, I'd choose "open as layers", and that would add multiple files as layers on the top of my current image.
In Photoshop is easy, making an Action (sort of macro) and then applying it in file menu/automate/batch. In Elements, you cannot make actions, you can use actions which are premade and given free or sold, done by full Photoshop users.
There is an super cheap (12$) addon that you can get, which adds batch funcionalities to Elements 9. You can there use it to open multiple files and even do operations to it, etc. I haven't checked if one of the many scripts of the pack does actually that, but you could look there:
http://elementsplus.net/v3/en/batch.htm
The main page is:
