Duplicating layers

[Davis_XI]

Trying to duplicate a layer in Indesign. I have a UK text layer which we need to Americanise. Is there a way of duplicating the layer without re-importing the master page items?

[winterm · Accepted solution]

Just right-click on the layer's name in Layers panel, select 'Duplicate Layer'. Master page items on the same layer will be also duplicated.

[Davis_XI]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the problem is that i don't want to re-import the items on the master page. In the past the designer has deleted items on the page that are on the master page. Now when i duplicate the layer the old items now appear again. The way i've been getting around it is to create a new layer and drag/copy the items to the new layer.

[winterm]

well, some dirty workaround then: maybe it would be easier to move master page items to temporary layer, than duplicate your layer, than move master items back to original layer?

[Davis_XI]

Much nicer way of eliminating what isn't used - thanks.

[cbishop01]

You could check the Scripts Portion of this forum.  They might have a script available that will do this.  IF not check and see what it would take to create this script.  They are pretty Creative when it comes to scripting.  If you cant find an answer in this form always good to check the script portion. 

[winterm]

Oh, yes, it can be scripted...

Here it is, originally wrote by Henrik Lideberg (AFAIK) for "copying layers" between docs. Post No.15 here.

Version adjusted for single doc might be:

app.activeDocument.layers.add ({name: "Copied Layer"});
var sourceLayer = app.activeDocument.layers.itemByName("Copy Me"); // write your correct layer name here!
var destLayer = app.activeDocument.layers[0];
sourceLayer.pageItems.everyItem().duplicate(destLayer);

Good news in Your case - not overriden Master items are not copied.

[Barb Binder]

Or next time, consider using three layers: one for the elements that are part of both versions, one for the UK text and one for the US text.

Another feature worth looking at for this sort of situation is conditional text. You can set up condition tags for the UK and US text, and hide show the content that way. Conditional text is used to create multiple versions of a single document and it's covered in David Blatner's Lynda.com title, InDesign Insider Training: Beyond the Essentials.  And here is a link for a free 10-day trial to Lynda.com: Online Video Tutorials at lynda.com • lynda.com.