How to Open Multiple Images as Layers in Photoshop CC 2024

Learn how to open multiple images as layers in Photoshop and save yourself a lot of time by being able to edit all the images in one singular document.

Watch the Video Tutorial

Would you rather watch along while I demonstrate the technique? If so, feel free to watch the quick and easy video tutorial below.


Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1 – Open Photoshop and go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.

Step 2 – Set either ‘files’ or ‘folder’ (if you already have all the desired images saved into a specific folder and will use them all’ and click ‘browse.’

Step 3 – Locate either the folder itself or select the images you would like to use (hold cmd/ctrl and click for individual images, or select a range by using shift + cmd/ctrl) and click ‘open.’

Step 4 – From there, you’ll return to the ‘load layers’ box, where you can see your selected images ready to be loaded into a stack.

Use ‘browse’ to add more, select an image, and press ‘remove’ to remove it from the stack. And if your images are not already ordered, you can use the ‘sort by name’ option to load them alphabetically.

Checking ‘attempt to automatically align source images’ will make Photoshop try to align your images together if they are different sizes. Checking ‘create smart object after loading layers’ will load all layers within a smart object. Once you’re happy with your settings, click ‘ok.’

Step 5 – A new psd file will open, and your images will load, one by one, as layers, which you can see in the layers profile. From there, you are free to edit them as you please.


This neat little technique will save you so much time, especially if you are planning to edit 10s or even 100s of images at the same time. Rather than manually having to drop each image into a new Photoshop document, ‘load files into stack’ will do it for you in one swift go.

I hope you find this Photoshop tutorial helpful, and hopefully, it will save you a lot of time when it comes to editing large numbers of images in one go.

Featured Images: Licensed by Shutterstock