To use palettes

To use palettes

Palettes help you monitor and modify your work. You can customize the default palette arrangement in the following ways:

To hide or show all palettes, including the toolbox and options bar, press Tab. To hide or show all palettes except for the toolbox, press Shift+Tab.

To display a palette menu, position the pointer on the triangle in the upper right corner of the palette, and press the mouse button.

To change the size of a palette, drag any corner of the palette (Windows) or drag the size box at its lower right corner (Mac OS). Some palettes, such as the Color palette, cannot be resized by dragging.

To collapse a group of palettes to their titles only, double-click the palette’s tab, or click the Minimize button (Windows) or the Zoom box (Mac OS). You can open the palette menu even when the palette is collapsed.

Using palettes

A. Click to collapse or expand a Mac OS palette B. Click to collapse or expand a Windows palette C. Click to display the palette menu

To make a palette appear at the front of its group, click the palette’s tab.

To move an entire palette group, drag its title bar.

To rearrange or separate a palette group, drag a palette’s tab. Dragging a palette outside an existing group creates a new palette window.

To move a palette to another group, drag the palette’s tab to that group.

To dock palettes so that they move together, drag a palette’s tab to the bottom of another palette.

To move an entire docked palette group, drag its title bar.

Docking a palette in the palette well

To return palettes to their default sizes and positions, choose Window > Workspace > Reset Palette Locations (Photoshop) or Window > Workspace > Default Palette Locations (ImageReady).

(ImageReady) To show or hide options for palettes that include hidden options (the Optimize, Layer Options, and Slice palettes), click the double triangle icon in a palette tab to cycle through palette displays, or choose Show Options or Hide Options from the palette menu.

ImageReady palette

A. Click to show options for the palette B. Click to show options for the option set

About the work area

About the work area

The Photoshop and ImageReady work area is arranged to help you focus on creating and editing images.

Photoshop work area

A. Menu bar B. Options bar C. Toolbox D. Go to Bridge E. Palette well F. Palettes G. Status bar H. Active image area

The work area has these components:

Menu bar Contains menus organized by tasks. For example, the Layers menu contains commands for working with layers. In Photoshop, you can customize the menu bar by showing, hiding, or adding color to menu items.

Options bar Provides options for using a tool.

Toolbox Contains tools for creating and editing images.

Active image area Displays the active open file. The window containing an open file is also called the document window.

Palette well Helps you organize the palettes in your work area.

Palettes Help you monitor and modify images. You can customize the palette locations in the workspace. In Photoshop, you can also show, hide, or add color to items in palette menus.

In Photoshop, you can change the font size of the text in the options bar, palettes, and tool tips.

About the Welcome window

About the Welcome window

When you launch Photoshop or ImageReady, the Welcome window automatically appears. Select the options in this window to learn about Photoshop or ImageReady by reading tutorials or by viewing a movie about new features. In Photoshop, you can also learn how to set up a color management system.

Choose Help > Welcome Screen to display the window if it’s not already open.