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In Photoshop CS4, we’ve changed the way that you close Panels - right mouse click (Ctrl-click on Mac with a single-button mouse) on the tab and select Close or Close Tab Group. If you pull a panel out of it’s tabbed group and float it freely, then a close button (x) appear - simply click to close.
If you tap the Tab key (to hide the panels), they will be automatically revealed when positioning the cursor at the edge of the monitor (similar to a roll-over effect). To toggle off this feature, choose Preferences / Interface / Auto-Show Hidden Panels.
To free up more screen real estate in Photoshop CS3, we introduced collapsible “iconic” panels. However, they remained open after clicking on them. Now, in Photoshop CS4, you can choose to collapse the panels automatically by right clicking on the panel tab, or by selecting the Preferences > Interface > Auto-Collapse Iconic Panels. Basically, you show the panel (by clicking on the icon), pick you options, and when you click anywhere outside of the panel, it will automatically collapse.
And one last tip: the Tool bar can be relocated and even “docked” to the panels on the right side of the screen. Click-drag the grabber handle at the top of the the tools, and when you see the solid blue line next to your panels on the right, release the cursor to “dock” the panel. Or, if you prefer, you can move any of the panels to the left side and dock then with the tool box. You can also relocate the Options bar for example you may want it at the bottom of the monitor or on a secondary monitor.
If you’re upgrading for PS CS3, you will notice that we are now back to only 3 screen modes. Toggle between them using the Application Bar or by taping the F key. Add the Shift key to reverse direction. In PSCS4, when you enter full screen mode, your panels are automatically hidden so that you don’t have to remember to tap the tab key if you want to present your image on a black screen.
To change the background color in any of the Standard and Full screen modes (the area displayed around your image) and/or to turn off any drop shadow or stroked borders around you image, select Preferences / Interface and customize Color, Line and Drop Shadow. FYI - the old “secret shortcut” to change the color in the Full Screen modes still works - select your desired color as the foreground swatch and Shift-click in the background area with the Paint Bucket.
The Arrange Documents feature (in the Application Bar) is a fast and flexible way to display multiple documents at once. The first row of icons will “Consolidate All” open documents in Tabs and “Tile all Images in Grid” or “Tile All Images Horizontally or Vertically”. The second set of icons become available as multiple images are opened to provide a variety of layouts (from 1-6 images). In addition, instead of having to go to the Window / Arrange menu to search for display options, you can use the Arrange Document icon to choose to Float all Windows, Create a New Window (not a new file, but a secondary view of a single file), zoom to Actual Pixels and Fit on Screen and choose to Match Zoom, Mach Location and Match Zoom and Location. Note: when working with multiple images, use the Zoom All Windows or Scroll All Windows (in the Options bar) to zoom and pan all images in tandem (holding the Shift key temporarily toggles these options).
So great, we have all of these options for navigating multiple documents. However as I started working, I found that I primarily needed to toggle between seeing one image and seeing all images (tiled in my workspace). To eliminate wasting valuable time looking through menus or trying to find icons, I made my own Keyboard shortcuts! I choose Window / Workspace / Keyboard Shortcut & Menus. Under the “Shortcuts for Application Menus” I selected Window and found “Tile” and “Consolidate to Tabs” I added my own shortcuts that made sense to me (Shift + Command + T for Tabs and Shift + Command + R for Consolidate to Tabs - or, in my mind, “Return to primary image”).
In PSCS4, we added an Application bar- designed to help you quickly display images in a variety of ways. For example, you can choose to view “Extras” such as Guides, Grids and Rules with the click of a button (no more going through the menus) as well as change Zoom levels by entering a value or by selecting a percentage from the list. The Hand, Zoom and new Rotate View tools are also available as are the Arrange Documents and Screen Views icons (more on those features in a later post). Toggle the Application Bar by choosing Window / Application Bar. Note: the Application Frame must be off to toggle off the Application bar.
If you decide to turn off the Application Frame, the Application Bar can be repositioned by dragging the grabber handle (on the left of the Application Bar) to the bottom of the monitor, a secondary monitor. To save screen real estate, the Application Bar will automatically reduce in size if moved.
For those of you on Windows, this feature is not new concept, but for our Mac customers, in Photoshop CS4, we added the Application frame. This is an excellent feature for those of you that need Photoshop to only take up a part of the screen - perhaps you have treated yourself to one of those 30 inch monitors and also want to see Bridge or Lightroom at the same time. Or, perhaps you want to move the entire Photoshop application onto a secondary monitor.
To invoke the Application Frame, select Window / Application Frame. Then, either resize Photoshop by dragging the grabber bar in the lower right corner (most likely the lower right corner will be the Layer’s panel) and/or reposition by dragging the Application Bar (at the top) to your secondary monitor.