Accessing Menus

Commands on the menus apply various filters, effects, or operations to an image, directly or through dialog boxes. Some of the menus, such as the View menu or the Window menu, are used to display additional tools or palettes and to change how the image appears on-screen.

When applying an operation such as an image adjustment, you will see a dialog box that displays the items for that particular operation. You usually cannot perform any other operations until you implement or cancel the dialog. There are some exceptions: although the menus are accessible most of the items are grayed except for some items in the Edit, View, and Window menus which are still operational. You can access the Zoom tool while a dialog box is open (see Navigation Shortcuts later in this chapter), and you can hide the edges of the selection marquee by pressing -H/Ctrl-H (see Chapter 6, Making Selections ).

The dialog boxes are similar to each other in the way that they perform. To access options that are in a dialog box, follow these general steps:

1. Choose the desired operation from the menu. The dialog box appears.

2. Choose from the displayed options or enter values in the dialog box.

3. If there is a preview box, make sure it s checked to preview the result of the operation before closing the dialog box.

4. Make your changes, or abandon them, using these methods :

   • To undo the last operation inside a dialog box, press -Z/Ctrl-Z.

   • If you ve entered values and wish to cancel the operation but keep the dialog box open, press the Option/Alt key, and the word Cancel changes to Reset . Click the Reset button.

   • Click Cancel to abort the operation and close the dialog without making any changes.

   • Click OK to implement the command.

Viewing Documents

The Window menu displays a list of the current images that are open on the desktop; this menu can be used to quickly navigate to a specific document.

At the top of the Window menu is the Arrange submenu. The Window ’ Arrange ’ New Window For file name command displays multiple windows of the same document. Multiple windows give you the ability to observe two or more views of your image simultaneously so that you can see both the close-up detail in which you are working and the global effect on the entire image. When you edit the image, you will see the changes on both views.

Choose Window ’ Arrange ’ Cascade to display multiple open documents on the desktop stacked and slightly offset. Use Window ’ Arrange ’ Tile to organize them in rows and columns .