1. If you only want to display a certain layer, just press the Alt key and click the layer visibility icon indicating the layer visibility to hide other layers. Press it again to display all layers.
2. Press the Alt key and click the brush icon in front of the current layer to unlink all layers from it.
3. To change the opacity of the currently active tool or layer, use the numeric keys on the small keyboard. Press "1" for 10% opacity and "5" for 50%. And "0" represents 100% opacity. Pressing a number continuously, such as "45", will result in an opacity of 45%.
Note: The above method will also affect the currently active Brush Tool, so if you want to change the opacity of the active layer, please switch to the Move Tool or other selection tool before making changes.
4. Press the Alt key and click the "Delete Layer" icon at the bottom of the "Layer" palette to delete the layer without popping up any confirmation prompt. This operation also applies to channels and paths.
Tip: This trick can also be used with layer masks and clipping paths. Now click on the appropriate thumbnail, then hold down the Alt key and click the "Delete" icon, so that nothing appears. Delete the mask or path when prompted.
5. Press Ctrl and click the "Delete Layer" icon at the bottom of the "Layer" palette to delete all related layers at the same time.
Note: This technique does not work if all the layers are related, because you cannot delete every layer in an image because there needs to be at least one layer in the image.
6. When you are currently using the "Move" tool, or pressing the Ctrl key, right-click anywhere on the canvas to get a list of layers under the mouse pointer, from the top layer to the next. The bottom layers are arranged in this order, and selecting a layer name in the list makes that layer active.
Tip for naming layers and groups: If you're used to naming layers in lowercase and groups in uppercase (or vice versa), you can select the layer or setting from the right-click context menu. It is easy to distinguish between the two.
Tip: Hold down the Alt key and right-click to make the mouse pointer select the top layer. Likewise, you can enable the Auto-select layers option in the Options palette when the Move tool is selected. If you press Alt+Shift and then right-click, you can associate/unassociate the top layer with the current layer.
7. When the "Move" tool is selected, press the Ctrl key and click or drag to automatically select or move the top layer under the mouse pointer. Press Ctrl+Shift and then click or drag to associate the top layer with the currently active layer.
8. Press the Ctrl key and then click the "Create New Layer" or "Create New Group" button at the bottom of the "Layer" palette to insert the new layer or group below the current layer or group. Press Ctrl+Alt and click to display the dialog box related to the new layer or group.
9. Press the Alt key and double-click a layer name in the "Layer" palette to display the "Layer Properties" dialog box, where you can rename the layer.
Tip: Press the Alt key and double-click on a background layer to convert it into a normal layer named "Layer 0" without any confirmation prompt.
10. If you want to reduce the opacity of a certain part of a layer, first create a selection, then press Shift+Backspace to access the "Fill" dialog box, set the blending mode to "Clear", and then set the opacity for the selection Make settings.
Another method is to choose "Edit > Clear" the selected area, create a history state, then use the "Fill" command and the content settings to store the contents of the selected area, and set the desired opacity for the history.
11. By default, the shape will be set according to the color fill layer. To change such a setting, select a new fill/adjustment layer in the submenu of Layer > Change Layer Contents.
12. Use the following keyboard shortcuts to move and navigate between layers:
Alt+[ / ] Activate the previous/next visible layer Alt+Shift+ [ / ] Activate the bottom/top visible layer Ctrl+ [ / ] Move the layer down/up Ctrl+Shift+[ / ] Move the layer to the bottom/top
13. To drag multiple layers between documents, link them first and then use the Move tool to drag them from one document window to another.
Note: You cannot drag multiple layers from the Layers palette into another document—even if they are linked to each other. This action only works on the selected layer.
14. You can create a copy of a layer by dragging it to the "Create New Layer" ("Create New Snapshot") button at the bottom of the "Layers" palette; or you can also use the "Layer" palette. Click "Copy Layer" in the board menu to operate.
15. Use Ctrl+J (Layer>New>Layer via copy) to create a copy of the current layer without an active selection.
16. Press the Alt key and drag a layer to the "Create New Layer" icon at the bottom of the "Layers" palette to copy this layer to a new document.
layer group
17. Changing the blending mode or opacity of a layer group will affect all layers in the group, so that all layers in the group can be operated as one layer.
18. To put multiple layers into a layer group at the same time, you can link these layers and then select "New Group from Layers" in the layer palette menu; or you can also select "Layer > New > Create Group from Layers".
Tip: Hold down the Alt key when you select "New Group from Layers" so you can ignore the dialog box and use the default name and properties for the layer group.
19. To lock the transparency, pixels, position, etc. of all layers in a group, you can select "Layer > Lock All Layers in Group".
Tips: Press the / key to turn the current lock setting on or off.
20. To release all the layers in a group, such as deleting the group without deleting the layers in it, you can activate the layer group and press Ctrl+Alt and then click the "Delete" button, or press Ctrl and delete the image. Drag the layer group above the Delete icon. Similarly, you can also choose to delete only the group in the result confirmation dialog box after clicking the delete icon.
21. Copy a layer group that includes all the layers in it. You can drag it to the "Create New Group" button at the bottom of the "Layers" palette; or you can also create a new group in the menu of the Layers palette. Select Copy Group.
22. To create a new document on a layer group, you can press the Alt key and drag the group above the "Create New Group" icon at the bottom of the "Layers" palette; then, in the dialog box that appears , select New from the Document drop-down menu.
23. To remove the bottom layer in a layer group, drag the thumbnail of the layer in the layers palette to the left.
24. To copy multiple groups, link these groups first. Next, copy the document and use the drag tool to drag the groups into the original document. At this point you can discard the copied document.
25. You can add clipping paths (vector masks) or traditional layer masks to a layer group. Group masks affect all layers within the group. It allows a given layer to have up to four masks: a layer mask and a clipping path that can be applied by layer or group.
26. If you want to merge several visible layers downward, you can first link them and then select the "Down" merge command. If the current layer is linked to other layers at this time, then This command becomes a command to merge linked layers.
27. You can Alt-click between layers to group them. This is a convenient method when some layers are linked together, because you only want to group certain layers into the same group.
28. Here is a method that can help you reorder several layers at the same time: first group several layers that need to be sorted into a group, then position the group to a new position, and then dissolve the group.
Masks and channels
29. Click "Add Layer Mask" at the bottom of the "Layer" palette to add a mask that displays the current selection. Press the Alt key and click the "Add Layer Mask" button to add a mask that hides the current selection.
30. To create a mask depicting the contents of the current layer for the current layer, you can drag and drop this layer above the "Add Layer Mask". Hold down the Alt key and drag and drop to add a mask that hides the contents of the current layer.
31. To copy a layer mask from one layer to another, first select the layer you want to apply the mask to, make sure it does not have a layer mask, and then mask the layer. Drag the plate's thumbnail from another layer to the bottom of the Layers palette, above Add Layer Mask.
Tip: The above method also works when copying a clipping path from one layer to another.
32. The following hotkeys can help you when using layer masks:
Press the Alt key and click on the mask thumbnail to edit/display the layer mask.
Hold down the Shift key and drag the layer mask thumbnail to turn on/off the layer mask.
Press Ctrl and click on the mask or press Ctrl+Alt+ to load the layer mask as a selection.
Press Ctrl + Shift and click the layer mask thumbnail to add it to the current selection.
Press Ctrl+Alt and click on the layer mask thumbnail to subtract from the current selection.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift and click the thumbnail to intersect the current selection.
Press Alt+Shift and click or press to view the layer mask in ruby mode
Ctrl+ switches focus between layers and layer masks
Ctrl+~ switches focus to layer
33. By default, channels have hotkeys associated with them. You can use these hotkeys to load a channel's selection. Here are some hotkeys for general color modes:
RGB mode CYMK mode Index mode
Ctrl＋~＝RGB Ctrl＋~＝CYMK Ctrl＋1＝Index
Ctrl＋1＝Red Ctrl＋1＝Green Ctrl＋2＝Other channels
Ctrl+2=Green Ctrl+2=Yellow...(and so on Ctrl+3=Blue Ctrl+3=Magenta Ctrl+4=Other channels Ctrl+4=Black
…
(And so on) Ctrl+5=Other channels
34. When you are in "Quick Mask" mode, use (~) to switch between ruby and channel modes.
35. Press Alt+Ctrl and click the "Create New Channel" button at the bottom of the "Channels" palette to add a new spot color channel based on the current selection.
36. To save a copy of the Quick Mask as an alpha channel, drag the Quick Mask over the Create New Channel button.
path
37. You can easily close all paths by clicking on an empty area in the Paths palette.
Tips: You can display/undisplay the target path by pressing Ctrl+Shift+H. (View>Show>Destination Path)
38. Press the Alt key and click the "Fill path with foreground color", "Stroke path with brush", "Load path as selection" and "Generate working path from selection" icons. You will be able to see a column with available Menu of tools and options.
39. To convert the active path into a layer clipping path, press the Ctrl key and click the "Add Layer Mask" icon. Press Ctrl+Alt and click the "Add Layer Mask" icon to add a layer clipping path that hides the contents of the active path.
Note: If the current layer already contains a layer mask, Ctrl does not need to be used when adding a layer clipping path.
40. Here are some shortcuts related to layer clipping paths:
Shortcut key function
Click on the clipping path thumbnail to edit/show layer clipping paths
Hold down Shift and click the clipping path thumbnail to turn on/off the layer clipping path.
Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the clipping path to load the layer clipping path as a selection.
Press Ctrl+Shift and click the thumbnail of the clipping path to add it to the current selection.
Hold down the Alt key and click on the thumbnail of the clipping path to subtract it from the current selection.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift and click the thumbnail of the clipping path to intersect the current selection.
41. To add a shape as a clipping path to the current layer, you can press Ctrl and click the "Add Layer Mask" icon, and then use the shape tool to draw the desired shape.
42. Move the mouse over a layer clipping path in the Layers palette to temporarily display the associated path in the document window. When you move your mouse away from the thumbnail, the path will disappear.