Is there a way to merge layers with the same name inside a photoshop document?

Question

I have a bunch of psd files with exact same layer stack in each. They contain different information, but the layer position in the stack, naming, blending modes are exactly the same in everyone of them.

I want to find a way to merge all those files into 1 psd file that preserves exact same layer stack structure without doing it all manually by hand.

Example:

File 1 contains "Layer 1 Soft Light" "Background"

File2 contains "Layer 1 Softlight" "Background"

Desired result: File 3: "Layer 1 Softlight" (merged information from all layers with this name) "Background" (merged information from all layers with this name)

I thought that duplicating layers to one file and then merging layers with the same name may be the easiest way of doing it (with some scripting maybe?)

Is there a way to achieve what i want?

Answer 1

The fact that all of your layers are in the same position made a light bulb go off, a PS macro might be the easiest option.

The thing with macros that always prevents me from using it was the fact that it always took longer to make the macro than it did to perform the task by hand. So I won't use them if I have 5-10 actions but I will if I have 100, or 1000 actions.

You could also try File >> Scripts >> Export layers to files, delete the ones you don't want (using Windows / Mac sort) then re-import.

Photoshop scripting is yet another option. It is a "programming language" in and of itself but very powerful and if none of the options above work, this one definitely will.

Both will work, and either way its a great learning process to start automating tasks in Photoshop.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I don't know if you can do it %100 automated but you should be able to get at least a good %92 automated by creating an action in Photoshop, it's actually pretty easy because all you have to do is open the panel and push record then do the steps you need to do and it keeps track of it. That way later on you can click on something and push play and it will do all those same steps.

The way I'm guessing it would have to go is you can set it to open the "Open" window so you can select a file and click ok, then it will automatically select all layers and take them back into the document you want them saved in then make a new folder and place them in it then pull up the "re-name" dialog for you. THen once you fill out whatever you want to name the folder and click ok it will automatically go back to the "Open" screen for you to select the next file then it'll do it all over again until you rename the folder n continue.

So it's not a lot of work on your part... but it's better than doing them one by one lol. There's ways to automatically batch images in Photoshop but I don't think those would work for this instance...