Palettes Menus

Palettes & Menus
Q1:

How do I get to a palette that's under the menu bar? Somehow one of my palettes is "stuck" under the menu bar, and I can't click on it to move it. How can I move it?

A1:

The easiest way is to reset all palettes to their default location; just choose Window>Workspace>Reset Palette Locations.

Q2:

Where did the dialog go? I chose a filter that I had recently used and I couldn't see it anywhere , but apparently it was open since I couldn't do anything. What gives?

A2:

First, look in the far corners of your monitor to see if the dialog is partially visible. If it is, drag it into position. If you cannot see the dialog, it could be that you have recently changed your monitor resolution to a smaller size , and the dialog is "remembering" its previous location. Try changing to a higher monitor resolution and see if the dialog appears onscreen. If that doesn't work, you'll have to reset the Preferences file (see Chapter 1).

Q3:

How do I find the History (or any) palette? I can no longer see my History palette. How do I get it back?

A3:

All palettes can be found under the Window menu. If there is not a checkmark to the left of the palette's name, drag down and click on the name of the palette to show it. If there is a dash beside the palette's name, that means the palette is open but is probably covered up by another palette. Again, drag down and click on the name of the palette in the Window menu to bring up the palette onscreen.

Q4:

Is it possible to save the position of the palettes? I have all my palettes nicely organized. Is there a way to save their locations in case someone moves the palettes?

A4:

After you have positioned all the palettes, go to the Window menu and choose Workspace>Save Workspace. You'll be asked to name this workspace, so give it a name and be sure that the Palette Locations option is selected. Now this workspace will appear under the Window>Workspace menu; simply select the workspace you saved to set the palettes to that view.

Q5:

Why can't I use some of the menus? Some, but not all, of my menus are grayed out. What's going on?

A5:

That usually happens when you have used a command like Free Transform or Transform Selection, and you haven't "finished" yet. If you see a bounding box with handles on it, that means Photoshop is still in the middle of an operation, and it won't let you use certain menus until you finish. Press Return (PC: Enter) to finalize your transformation or press Escape to cancel. Note: Some menus are available because you can still do some operations while transforming, such as zooming in or out.

Q6:

How come some options aren't available under a menu? Sometimes when I look under a menu (like Filter), some choices are not always available. Why not?

A6:

This happens when the mode you are working in does not support that filter. Some filters only work in the RGB color mode, so they will be unavailable in other color modes, while other filters work in all color modes. If you need to run a filter and it is grayed out, you may have to change to RGB mode, apply the filter, then change the mode back to your original color mode. Another possibility is that the document is in 16-bit mode, since here again some filters do not work in that mode. You'd have to change to 8-bit mode to access the filter. You can find all of these modes under the Image>Mode menu.

Q7:

Why are some menu items gone? I tried to use a filter but it's not therehow come?

A7:

If a menu option is no longer there, it means the menus have been customized or a workspace has been chosen that includes customized menus. To reset all menus back to the default, from the Window menu choose Workspace>Default Workspace. This will change the workspace and menus back to the default. If you want to change only the menus and not the workspace, go to Edit>Menus and change the Set pop-up menu to Photoshop Defaults.

Q8:

How do I customize my menus?

A8:

From the Edit menu, choose Menus. In the resulting dialog, click on the down- facing arrow to the left of each menu to dig through the menus, and then click on the Eye icon to remove an item from a menu. Click OK and the item will no longer appear under that menu. If you want to return to the standard menus, go to Edit>Menus and choose Photoshop Defaults from the Set pop-up menu. Note: You can also include your custom menu set when you save a workspace.

Q9:

Is it possible to change the unit of measurement in a dialog? In some dialogs (and the Options Bar), there are measurements that default to a certain unit, like pixels. Is there a way to change that without changing the overall preferences?

A9:

Yes, you can temporarily change units of measurement by typing in the unit after the number: "px" for pixels, "in" for inches, "cm" for centimeters, "pt" for points, "%" for percent.

Q10:

Is there a quick way to realign all the palettes automatically? I'm looking for a quick shortcut to automatically realign all the palettes onscreen.

A10:

Choose Reset Palette Locations from the Window>Workspace submenu.

Q11:

Is it possible to hide floating palettes? Sometimes all those palettes get in the way. Do I have to collapse them all to make more room, or can I hide them somehow?

A11:

Press Tab to hide all floating palettes. (Press Shift-Tab to keep the Toolbox and hide the other palettes.) Press the same key(s) to show the palettes. If this doesn't work, one of the fields in a palette is active. Press Return (PC: Enter), and then the shortcut will work.

Q12:

Is it possible to move several palettes at the same time? I'd like to move several floating palettes at once, rather than moving each separately. Is that possible?

A12:

You can dock a number of palettes together so they will act as one big palette. Click on the tab of a palette and drag it to the bottom of another palette until you see a double black line at the bottom only ( otherwise , if you see a black outline around the whole palette, you will add the palette into the palette set). Then you should be able to click-and-drag the top palette and the bottom palette will move with it.

Q13:

Why can't I see the Palette Well?

A13:

The Palette Well appears on the far-right end of the Options Bar, but only if your monitor size and/or monitor resolution is big enough. Theoretically, the Palette Well will show at monitor resolutions greater than 800 pixels, but on some monitors it still doesn't show at 832x624, only at 1024x768.



Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book
The Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book
ISBN: 0321337042
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 225
Authors: Dave Cross

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