120 Things You Never Knew About Photoshop

Interface Tips

1. You probably knew that pressing the Tab key hides the toolbar and palettes, but you can also press Shift+Tab to hide only the palettes (thereby leaving the toolbar visible).

2. Snap your palettes to the nearest screen edge by Shift-clicking on their titlebars.

3. Minimize palettes by double-clicking on their (names in the) palette tabs. Use the minimize button on the palette titlebars to cycle between: compact mode (minimum number of options / contents visible) and contents mode (view all palette options / contents).

Note: (Photoshop 6) You can also double-click the toolbar’s titlebar to minimize it.

4. Press Enter (or double-click on a tool icon in the toolbar) to reveal the Options palette for the currently active tool; alternatively, you may choose Window » Show Options from the menus to reveal the Options palette.

5. Use the Zoom field (in the bottom-left of the Photoshop window or Navigator palette) to quickly enter an exact zoom level; press Shift+Enter after entering a value to have the field remain active.

6. To clear (remove) all layer effects from a particular layer, hold the Alt key and double-click on the layer's effect icon ( f ); or from the menus, choose Layer » Effects » Clear Effects.

Tip: To disable an individual effect, hold down the Alt key and select it by name from the Layer » Effects submenu. Alternatively, you may uncheck its Apply flag in the effects dialog box.

7. Alt-click between layers (in the Layers palette) to group them together. This is handy when several layers are linked together, and you only want to group specific layers together (since Group [Ctrl+G] (Layer » Group with Previous) changes into Group Linked [Ctrl+G] (Layer » Group Linked) when the current layer is linked to other layers).

8. Here is a real time-saver for adding adjustment layers (Layer » New » Adjustment Layer...): simply Ctrl-click on the New Layer icon (at the bottom of the Layers palette) and select the type of adjustment layer you wish to add!

9. Alt-click on the Trash icon (at the bottom of the Layers palette) to quickly delete layers (without confirmation); also works with channels and paths.

10. Instead of going to the Channels palette (Window » Show Channels) to edit a layer mask, simply Alt-click on the mask's thumbnail in the Layers palette [F7] (Window » Show Layers) to reveal it; Shift-click layer mask thumbnails to disable / enable them (a red X indicates a disabled mask). Alt+Shift-click a layer mask to view it in rubylith color (or press backslash [ \ ] ). Ctrl-click on a mask's thumbnail to load its Transparency Selection (or press Ctrl+Alt+ \ ).

Tip: Press Ctrl+ \ to switch the focus from the current layer (image) to its mask.

11. Click the Add Layer Mask button (at the bottom of the Layers palette [F7]) to add a mask which reveals the current selection (Layer » Add Layer Mask » Reveal All). Alt-click on the Add Layer Mask button to add a mask which hides the current selection (Layer » Add Layer Mask » Hide All).

12. Turn off all paths easily by clicking on the empty area of the Paths palette (under the path layers).

Tip: Toggle paths on / off by pressing Ctrl+Shift+H (View » Show/Hide Path).

13. Alt-click on the Fill Path, Stroke Path, and Load Path as Selection icons (bottom of the Paths palette) to see a list of available tools and / or options.

14. With the Move tool [V] as the current tool (or while holding down the Ctrl key), right-click anywhere on the canvas for a list of the layers under the mouse pointer (ordered from top-most to bottom-most): select a layer-name from the list to make it the active layer.

Tip: Add the Alt key (Alt-right-click) to automatically choose the top-most layer under the pointer. Alternatively, you may turn on the Auto Select Layer option in the Move tool [V] Options palette.

Tip: Add the Shift key (Alt+Shift-right-click) to link / unlink the top-most layer that intersects with the current layer.