Elements Tips and Shortcuts

1. To change the size of a brush quickly, use the Bracket keys on the keyboard: the Left Bracket ([) makes your brush smaller; the Right (]) larger. This works with any brush and the Rubber Stamp.
2. To change the hardness of a brush, add the Shift key in combination with the Bracket keys.
3. To quickly tell the size of an image, Right-click the Title Bar on any image and select Image Size. You can select other items there also.
4. To use the Hand for panning an image at any time, press the Spacebar.
5. To check the histogram of any image or selected layer press Ctrl+L.
6. To duplicate a layer, select it and type Ctrl+J.
7. To copy a selection to its own layer type Ctrl+J.
8. To select all of the pixels in any layer (except a background layer), Ctrl-click the layer icon.
9. You can quickly switch between Burn and Dodge tool by holding down the Alt key.
10. Type the letter D on the keyboard to select the default background/foreground colors (Black and White).
11. Use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out of an image.
12. Type the letter X on the keyboard to switch the foreground and background colors.
13. Type Ctrl+H to temporarily hide a selection marquee. Don’t forget to set it back again.
14. To temporarily hide the Crop shield while cropping, press the slash (/) key.
15. To move a Crop marquee or selection marquee while creating it, hold the Spacebar.
16. To constrain a selection to a square or circle, press the Shift key any time before releasing the mouse.
17. To create a selection that is centered where you first click, press the Alt key any time before releasing the mouse.
18. To create a selection that is a square or circle and centered where you first click, press the Shift and Alt keys any time before releasing the mouse.
19. If you accidentally lose a selection, try Select ->Reselect to restore it or select a previous Undo History state.
20. To move a selection, click inside it while any selection tool (except the Selection brush) is active and drag it to a new location. You can also use the Arrow keys to constrain the movement to vertical or horizontal directions.
21. To add to a selection, press the Shift key before clicking, to subtract, use the Alt key. This eliminates the need to use the buttons on the Option Bar which are often left in a forgotten state.
22. To temporarily change the Magnetic Lasso tool to a normal Lasso tool, press the Alt key.
23. To temporarily change the Lasso tool to the Polygon Lasso tool press the Alt key and release the mouse. Click the mouse, and then release the Alt key to return to the Lasso.
24. To Zoom regardless of what tool or dialog is active, type Ctrl + (Plus) to zoom in or Ctrl - (minus) to zoom out. This even works in the middle of a crop. Try this: begin a selection with the Magnetic Lasso, put down your mouse, press Ctrl + (Plus) to zoom in, grab your mouse and continue your selection. You can pan by pressing the Spacebar also.
25. You can achieve the same results as above by pressing the Ctrl+Spacebar and clicking with the mouse to zoom in. Add the Alt key to zoom out.
26. Have you zoomed out to far? Type Ctrl + 0 (zero) to fit your image on the screen.
27. To close all open images in the Editor, hold your Shift key while closing any image.
28. In the Editor, double-click a blank space to bring up the File Open dialog.
29. To fill a selection with the background color use Alt+Backspace. Use Ctrl+Backspace for foreground.
30. To move text without leaving the Type tool, just move your cursor away from the text and the cursor changes to the Move tool. To resume editing , click in the text.
31. For more control over your crop marquee, especially near image edges, click View and uncheck Snap to Grid. You can do this in the middle of cropping.
32. Having trouble finding your cursor, especially when it’s over a gray area, just press the Spacebar and the Hand becomes visible at the cursor location.
33. Does your brush cursor not respond when you try changing its size, maybe your Caps Lock on is.
34. Default location for Organizer Catalogs are stored at c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Catalogs. By clicking File ->Catalog and then selecting Open, you can reveal this location.
35. The Editor preferences file is located at C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\4.0\Editor
36. The Organizer preferences file is located at C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\4.0\Organizer
37. The Raw image Database is stored at c:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\CameraRaw. Its name is Database without any file extension.
38. The Adobe Photo Downloader does not pop up when the Organizer is running, you must use the Get Photos function (File ->Get Photos ->From Camera or Card Reader).
39. The file named apdproxy.exe, which is loaded at system startup by default, starts the Adobe Photo Downloader. This can be disabled by any one of a number of startup control programs including Startup Control Panel which is available for free at www.mlin.net. Startup Run is also a free program for controlling startup programs and is available at www.nirsoft.net. Look for it under utilities.
40. If you can’t tell whether your cursor is inside or outside of a selection, select any marquee tool and if your cursor changes to a white arrow accompanied by a small dashed rectangle, you’re inside the selection.
41. When making a selection using a combination of tools, make sure the feather setting in the Option bar is the same for all tools.
42. When you change the Sample Size of the Color Picker using the Options bar, it changes the sample size of the Magic Wand also.
43. Press the Caps Lock key while using the Magnetic Lasso to change the cursor to a circle reflecting the Width settings. This circle indicates where the tool is looking to find an edge. Don’t forget to press the Caps Lock key again when finished. To increase or decrease this circle by 1 pixel, press the right or left bracket key ([]).
44. After a considerable amount of cutting and pasting, you should clear the Clipboard by selecting Edit ->Clear ->Clipboard Contents from the Editor menu.
45. Need to take a quick picture of your Windows desktop. Just arrange you desktop the way you like it and press the Prt Scr (Print Screen) button on your keyboard. Next, click File ->New ->Image from Clipboard. To limit the image to an active window from your desktop, hold the Alt key while pressing the Print Screen button.
46. Need some more custom shapes, point your browser to the Adobe Studio Exchange (http://share.studio.adobe.com/) and use the links on the right. Instructions for installing are provided. You may have to create an Adobe ID which is free.
47. If a lot of menu options are unavailable or “Grayed out”, you may be in the middle of an operation that you forgot to complete. You can usually overcome this by pressing the Esc key or Enter key.
48. If you are trying to make an adjustment or apply a filter and get a message stating “Could not complete the [command name] because no pixels are selected”, you may have an empty layer selected in the Layers palette.
49. To quickly edit any text you have added to an image, double-click the T in its layer and make the changes using the Options bar. Select any other tool or layer to see your changes.
50. In the Organizer, type Ctrl+L to toggle the Timeline on and off.
51. When viewing images in Full Screen or Side-by-Side view, type Ctrl+F to toggle the Filmstrip on and off.
52. In the Organizer, to send the selected image or images to the Editor, or RAW plug-in, type Ctrl+I. Don’t worry if you have a combination selected, Elements will sort it out for you.
53. In the Organizer, Type F11 for the Full Screen View or F12 for the Side-by-Side View.
54. To set a date range in the Organizer use Ctrl+Alt+F.
55. When you want to transform an entire layer by using Edit - >Transform ->Free Transform, the handles in the corners may be hard to get to. Use Control+0 (zero) to make them visible after applying the transform command.