CS3 - Ungroup objects so that they go back to their original layer.

[Martin_d35]

Hello,

I've done a few searches and I think I already know my answer but as one last resort I will ask the community.

First, I will state that I am using CS3. When I try to ungroup objects they remain on the layer as they when they were grouped. Is there a way (in CS3) to ungroup layers so that they go back to their original layer state?

My guess is that this feature wasn't included in CS3. So far I've only seen “Ungroup remembers layers” in newer versions as the solution. Which CS3 doesn't have. Or does it??

Thank you!

Jim

[BobLevine]

Can’t be done in CS3.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

Well, I remember a startup script that added this to InDesign before it was officialy possible in later versions. Wasn't it one from Tomaxxi?

[Frans v.d. Geest]

Ah, still had it (but it is a Dutch menu in the Layers fly-out menu):

Dropbox - NL_group_event.jsx.zip

At that time I even wrote a Dutch blog entry about it:

F vd Geest DTP: Lagen behouden bij groeperen/degroeperen!

I did not test it on a version as old as CS3, but you can always try...

[Martin_d35]

Hi Franz,

I'd be interested in trying the script but I don't know a lot about scripts. I know even less Dutch! Will the script affect anything else? Say change the layers menu to Dutch? Also if the script doesn't work, can I uninstall it or will it cause any issues?

Sorry if this sounds silly!

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Frans+van+der+Geest+%28ACP%29  wrote

Ah, still had it (but it is a Dutch menu in the Layers fly-out menu):

Dropbox - NL_group_event.jsx.zip

At that time I even wrote a Dutch blog entry about it:

F vd Geest DTP: Lagen behouden bij groeperen/degroeperen!

I did not test it on a version as old as CS3, but you can always try...

Hi Frans,

the script was written by Gerald Singelmann in 2009.

Just started up my old MacBook Pro with CS3 and found Gerald's script installed.

And a quick test is showing that the script is working as expected:

German OSX 10.6.8 with German InDesign CS3 version 5.0.4

To Martin:

1. You have to install the script before doing the groups.

2. It is a Startup script you will not load or double-click from the Scripts panel.

3. After installing and restarting InDesign a new menu command should be added to the Layers panel:

"Ebenen beim Gruppieren erhalten" ( translated best perhaps with: "Group remembers layers" )

By default this menu should be checked.

If not, check it before doing groups.

Then the script will write information to page items while you are grouping them.

So that if you ungroup a group the initial layers can be found or new layers can be added if the old layers were renamed or removed.

The script must be installed in the Startup Scripts folder of either the Scripts folder of your InDesign installation or in the Startup Scripts folder of your Scripts folder of InDesign in the InDesign Preferences.

If there is no Startup Scripts folder, you have to create one.

To navigate to your personal Scripts folder open the Scripts panel in InDesign, right-click the User folder that is presented there and open it in Finder (Mac OSX) or Explorer (Windows). Create a folder exactly named: Startup Scripts .

Move the script group_event.jsx to the Startup Scripts folder.

Restart InDesign: You have to restart InDesign so that the script can add a new menu item to the Layers panel.

Here a link to Gerald's blog post in German about this script:

Ebenen beim Entgruppieren wiederherstellen | InDesign FAQ

The script can be downloaded from there.

Unpack the downloadable zip file before doing anything.

And if you are carefully with the code, the strings used for alerts and the new menuAction can also be translated to English.

Use the ExtendScript Toolkit app for this that is coming with every version of InDesign.

Regards,
Uwe

[Frans v.d. Geest]

the script was written by Gerald Singelmann

Ah, right. Thanks Uwe.

[Willi Adelberger]

This function was added in ID CC 2015, with the Layer Panel's Menu option ”Ungroup remembers Layers“, but in CS3 it is not possible.

[Laubender]

Hi Willi,

actually the Layer Panel's Menu option ”Ungroup remembers Layers“ was added with InDesign CC 2014.2 but with a severe bug.

The bug was never fixed with CC 2014.2 but was fixed when CC 2015.0 came out.

However, I think Gerald's solution is still superior in some aspects.

Quoting myself from a different thread:

Re: InDesign crashing when ungrouping objects

One of the logical problems [with InDesign's own ”Ungroup remembers Layers“] is, that when you add a new layer, remove an old layer and rename that new layer to the name of the removed layer, the feature will not place the object to that layer after ungrouping. So implicitly InDesign's "Paste Remembers Layers" will also work on layer IDs. Not in other cases where you copy/paste from one document to another where the layers with the right names are there and you ungroup. IDs cannot travel from one document to another. Every document will inherit its own IDs.

The script by Gerald Singelmann will work in such situations, because it is based purely on layer name attributes, that stick with the objects, but not on layer IDs. Using layer IDs could be ok, I think, if the IDs would be unique over different documents, but they are not and new layers are never created, if a group is ungrouped.

I'll stick with Gerald's script, because for me it's more predictable where the objects will be positioned after ungrouping…

Regards,
Uwe