Photoshop Friday Tip
Angie (chic_mama) here to give you an easy and fast way to load a bunch of files into one psd document in Photoshop.
This first series of instructions works if you have Photoshop CS3. These instructions are also written for those of you working in Windows. If you have an earlier version or Photoshop Elements skip down to the next part…
First you’ll need to figure out what you want to work with and get those files open in Photoshop. The easiest way to do this is to open Windows Explorer and drag the files into Photoshop. I am working with Kim De Smet’s Mutual Devotion kit in these previews.
Now that you have all the files open in Photoshop you can run a little script that will copy all of these files into one Photoshop psd document.
Go to
File –> Scripts –> Load Files Into Stack
You will get a pop up box that will ask you some questions…
Choose to “Add Open Files”. It will take a few minutes for Photoshop to find all of the files you have open. Then click on “Ok” and watch the magic happen.
Photoshop will copy each file into a separate layer in one psd document. The cool thing is that it also names each layer with the name of the file it came from. I absolutely love this feature because it makes credits so much easier!!
For those of you with earlier versions of Photoshop or Elements….
If you do not have CS3 I know of another feature that will probably work for you in much the same way. Follow the same steps as above to get all of your files open in Photoshop.
Now Go to
File –> Automate –> Photomerge
You will get a pop up box that will ask you some questions…
Choose to “Add Open Files” and make sure you uncheck the box that says “Blend images together”. It will take a few minutes for Photoshop to find all of the files you have open. Then click on “Ok” and watch the magic happen.
Photoshop will copy each file into a separate layer in one psd document. You still get the cool feature of having each layer with the name of the file it came from.
One little note…. sometimes this process will end up creating a canvas size that is a bit irregular. You might need to go in and change the canvas size to 12×12, 8×8, or whatever size you want. Your layers will all remain intact but you might have to move them around a bit to get them centered up correctly.
That’s it – easy peasy! I hope you enjoy this little trick as much as I do!
Notes (10)
awesome tip Angie! I am definitely going to give that a try on my next LO!
Such an Awesome tip! I am defintely going to be tying this one! Thanks…
Wow! Thanks for this tip! I waste alot going back and trying to figure out who designed what in my LOs, was just wishing I knew a way to do this.
Thank you! Thank you!!!!!
FANTASTIC tip!!! This is SO cool! Thanks for letting us know about this feature…and walking us through it!
I dont have CS3, but I tried the second method out in CS2 — the options are different, and it puts all files into one file, but blends them together into one flattened document. It allows you to arrange them on the page where you like, but nothing is editable
looks like CS3 has lots to offer. I have been hesitant to install it on my computer as I dont want to loose all the actions, styles, textures that I have in CS2.
This is SO Awesome! I’m running a Mac, and was having some difficulty with another “tip” that was given to me. THe first ioption is apparently not available to Mac users (the Script option is not listed on the file menu), but the Automate/Photomerge certainly is and boy does it ROCK! You just don’t know how valueable this little gem is. Thanks ton for sharing it – you are the best!
There are so many tricks to use in photoshop and this one is wonderful. What a time saver.!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING.
whaaaat!!? you mean there is an easier way! LOL!
thanks for this time saving tip!
Thank you for the great tip!!! I just purchased CS3 and can’t wait to try tihis!!!!
THIS is very COOL!!! THANKS so much for the tip!!!!!