RSS

Photoshop: Importing multiple images into multiple layers

By Joshua Schnell Sun, Feb 1, 2009 @ 6:00 PM

2958903567 fc3500ba55 Photoshop: Importing multiple images into multiple layersDid you know that you can load multiple images into a whole bunch of layers in one Photoshop file?  Well, if you said no, then you’re not alone! The internet is filled with questions on how to do this so I thought it would be best to give a quick tutorial.  I’m not sure about the support in CS3 and previously, but in CS4, Bridge gives you all the tools you need to import images into multiple layers in one Photoshop document.

  1. Open Bridge.
  2. Navigate to the directory that your images reside in
  3. Select the files.  You can click and drag around them, or use the shift button to select multiple files.
  4. Now in the menu bar select Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop layers

Now all those images are in one Photoshop files and you can get your edit or design on.  How simple was that?

Update: John Rossi let us know via email that In CS3 there is an ability to load multiple images into layers using a script. Choose File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.

  • pmhburyatia

    Thank you so much! what a save!

  • pmhburyatia

    Thank you so much! what a save!

  • http://www.tololoche.com carlos aguilar

    Shshs, love it, I hade to import 602 little photos to create my Wedding Invitation Card, thank you for this advive, or else I would not make the design I wanted.

    Thanks.

  • Leiah

    My Bridge doesn’t have this menu option… why? Is there another way to do this?

    • http://www.macgasm.net Joshua Schnell

      What version of the Photoshop Package are you using? CS1, CS2, CS3? I can look into it more if you can drop me some details.

      • Ian

        I also am not seeing this option. I’m running CS3 master collection on Windows Vista. do I need any kind of extra plug ins? or is it not available on PC?

        • http://www.macgasm.net Joshua Schnell

          I’m not sure about CS3 on Windows. I don’t have access to either. :( Sorry about that.

  • dacrew

    yo yo yo!!!! dacrew in da house!!! this tutorial no work!! earth to Joshua!! anybody there???

    • http://www.macgasm.net Joshua Schnell

      I only have access to CS4 so I can’t really comment on any other version.

  • Dean

    I can’t get it going.
    When I click load into layers from Bridge, it opens photoshop but doesn’t do anything.

  • Dean

    I’m running CS3 on a XP box

  • Kostar

    Dean, The following stuff works for me in CS3: (Probs for John Rossi..)

    Update: John Rossi let us know via email that In CS3 there is an ability to load multiple images into layers using a script. Choose File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.

  • http://www.softthoughts.info Nate

    Great tip! Thanks!

    • http://macgasm.net Josh Schnell

      No prob. Hope you like it enough to add us to your RSS reader. ;)

  • Rat

    good one :) spent an hour trying to figure out how to do that lol..
    And it does work on windows, I am using CS4 on windows, just have to make sure you have more than 1 item selected for it to show up in the menu

    • http://www.macgasm.net Joshua Schnell

      Thanks for letting us know that it works in Windows. I’ve had some people ask me, but I had no idea. :)

  • Anshum

    Another way of doing this directly in Photoshop CS4… File> Scripts> Load Files into Stack. Just select the files you want loaded as layers and you’re good to go ; )

    • Leo

      Thanks! Great save!

  • http://thomasarledge.com thomas arledge

    Hey joshua, thanks for the big save….I’m trying to put together an animated gif for a class assignment and this was the first step.

  • Kara

    How do you do this in CS2? I don’t have the Load Files into Stack option either.

  • julie

    I love you for this tip! I knew how to do it in lightroom, but not via the bridge in photoshop CS4!
    JN

    • http://www.macgasm.net Joshua Schnell

      Thanks Julie. It’s why we’re here. Hopefully you can find some other useful posts on the site. :)

  • http://elementalstudiotijuana.com Sandra

    You have just saved me a lot of time and mind twisting.. thanx!!

  • Den

    If you’re using CS2, Use Image Ready to create your Layer Stack. By selectng Import > Folder As Frames, then save as PSD. Open in Photoshop and bobs your uncle, sorted!

    • m

      you da man!

  • Scott

    Thank you very much. Saved my Butt

  • Shelley

    THANK YOU, thank you soooo much this is fantastic!! What a time saver :-)

  • http://www.barmajeyat.com Zaid A.

    thank you, saved me 60 minutes of pure donkey work.

  • http://www.realtyaustin.com Brittanie Flegle

    Wow, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you! (BTW–creepy avatar…jus’ sayin’.)

  • super

    Thanks! I knew it was in bridge somewhere.

  • http://stevemitchelldesign.com Steve Mitchell

    I didn’t read through all the comments to see if this had been mentioned but it bears repeating even so. You can also do this right in Photoshop through file > scripts > load files into stack. Accomplishes the exact same thing. Convenient if you don’t have Bridge open already.

  • grris my name

    i need to bring a psd file into a new psd file, but i cant get seem to get the bridge to work, got soem wacky error code, and i need ALL the layers from the one file to be brought over. >.>

  • http://www.hetijzerengordijn.nl THE IRON CURTAIN

    Here’s a CROWN for you!

    I’ve been looking for this for quite a time..

    thanx a million

  • smashthatpumpkin

    Have used “load into PS layers” through Bridge in past and have found major loss in photo quality once brought into my PS doc (images 300dpi going into 300dpi PS file) – I have ended up manually “placing” images in order to retain high quality. Anyone else experienced this? And anyone know a way to fix this prob? Thanks

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginnyle/ Ginny Le

    I’m using CS4 and the tip works well, very useful for making gif.
    Thanks for sharing ^_*

  • Darek R

    Hi,
    In Bridge CS3 select images, then choose Tools/Photoshop/Photomerge – it will open Panorama tool window with selectet images loaded.
    :)

  • fraggle

    Awesome. Thankyou for posting this. I was going bonkers! Bonkers at all the waste of internet time and space relating to this topic.

  • Vishakh

    Thanks for the tip. That saved a lot of time :)

  • http://www.yooronyaa.com juronja

    Ok, nice one, but i want to make a gif how do i tell bridge or photoshop to open the files in reverse order… that is… it takes the last image for the first layer :S

    any help would be great.. thanx!!

    • bo

      open timline – there’s should be a reverse all frames tag in rollup menu

  • isuagronomy

    Wow. And I though bridge was just Adobe annoyance-ware. Thanks for the tip, this is going to make my life SOOOOO much easier.

  • Jack

    Thank you. You rock, Sir.

  • Peter

    Thank you!

  • David

    I saw this, “Dean Says:
    August 9th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
    I can’t get it going.
    When I click load into layers from Bridge, it opens photoshop but doesn’t do anything.”

    And quickly read through all of the replies hoping there would be a fix. I just loaded CS5, and when I try to open image in Bridge as Layers in PS CS5, PS opens but the images do not. Sigh. More than a year later and no fix. I saw the work around, but why does the tool in Bridge not work on a Windows machine but does on a Mac? Sheesh.

  • http://blog.sandrobatista.com Sandro Batista

    Great help!!!!!

  • Adrián

    Nice one!! thanks i was wondering all day how to do that whitout drop files into PS :)

  • http://www.psyched.be/wordpress/ CiNiTriQs

    Thx for that, never too late to get to know something handy extra. seriously, saved me about an hour or two ;) must love search engines n sites like these for an easy n fast solution.

  • Nathalie

    Joshua? I knew that trick but my problem is that I need to incorporate a bunch of images into a smaller format. You see, they will become layers of a animated gif 100X80 and the original size of those pictures is at least 10 times bigger. So, I open my psd file and when I script>load files into stack, it opens a new psd file fitting the same format size of the bigger image.

    Is there a way to do it like, for example, Fireworks?

  • http://derricksmash.com derricksmash

    omg. THANKS!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jasonleecooksey Jason Cooksey

    so awesome!! thanks :)

  • http://twitter.com/chrismarx chrismarx

    in cs3 you can use photomerge from the Tools > Photoshop menu, and select manual placement and no photo blending-

  • Melj

    I’m using cs4 and loading files into layers from bridge normally works, but now when I try the files load in photoshop then disappear. How can I fix this? The same thing is happening with load files into stack.

  • sue

    works perfectly, joyfully simple! great help, thanks a lot!

    • sue

      just found another trick. :) If you have photoshop cs3-cs5, you could also use: file>scripts>load files into stack. that works fine & simple as well!

      • sue

        ps: sorry, just saw the tip in the update note. question: how can i delete my last 2posts here? ;}

  • http://www.adityatalpade.com/ Aditya Talpade

    Thanks a trillion!!! This is amazing
    It saved me decades of time lol

  • _Terry

    HOLY SHIT LOL THANKS

  • http://www.facebook.com/StevenWaltersSmallBusinessHelper Steve Walters

    For windows Photoshop CS2 users, you can get the required script for free from… http://www.scrapartist.com/blog/2010/03/06/tips-tricks-load-files-into-stack/

    - I just did, it works.

  • http://www.facebook.com/StevenWaltersSmallBusinessHelper Steve Walters

    For windows Photoshop CS2 users, you can get the required script for free from… http://www.scrapartist.com/blog/2010/03/06/tips-tricks-load-files-into-stack/

    - I just did, it works.

  • Manohar Singh Hoonjan

    best for animation

  • kevin

    thanx!! That was perfect!!

  • maria

    OMG! YOU’VE SAVED ME !!!!!!!!!! until now i was killing my self to position the layers on the correct position! THX THX THX THX THX