[GIS] How to import editable layers from other QGIS projects

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I have a QGIS project that I have spend a lot of time styling over a 80 layers and it seems to have somehow become unstable. I believe that I renamed a folder containing some layer source files which caused QGIS to crash when I reopened the project. After renaming the folder back, the project opens but now will not let me add new layers (says QGIS can't run the Projection Coordinate Selection tool, and nearly every time I use the "Browse" function (in any context), the app crashes. Sometimes I get the Handle Bad layers dialog for two layers, and I can't Browse to find them because it crashes, but then when I reopen it, they are good anyway. Also, I cannot save any Symbol styling as templates without crashing.

Anyway, none of this occurs in a blank project, so I would like to import layers one at a time from my old project into a new project keeping the styling, etc. I see the Embed Layers feature, but it does not allow me to make modifications to the layers afterward. I read about a plugin called ImportLayersfromProject, but I cannot seem to find it on the web anywhere.

I am using QGIS 1.8 on Mac 10.7.5. I would prefer to not upgrade to the latest QGIS until after I complete this big project I am working on. Is there any way of getting the layers imported and being able to edit them too?

Best Answer

This is maybe not the smartest solution:

Open your (the big) project and a new (blank) project. You can have many QGIS projects open at one time.
Import all your project layer into the new (blank) project and copy-paste the layer styles.

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