Do one of the following:
- Photoshop User Guide
- Introduction to Photoshop
- Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
- Photoshop on the iPad (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
- Get to know the workspace
- System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
- Create, open, and export documents
- Add photos
- Work with layers
- Draw and paint with brushes
- Make selections and add masks
- Retouch your composites
- Work with adjustment layers
- Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
- Apply transform operations
- Crop and rotate your composites
- Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
- Work with Type layers
- Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
- Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
- Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
- Manage app settings
- Touch shortcuts and gestures
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Edit your image size
- Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
- Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
- Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
- Work with Camera Raw files
- Create and work with Smart Objects
- Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
- Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
- Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
- Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
- Content aware fill for iPad
- Photoshop on the web (not available in mainland China)
- Common questions
- System requirements
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Supported file types
- Introduction to the workspace
- Open and work with cloud documents
- Generative AI features
- Basic concepts of editing
- Quick Actions
- Work with layers
- Retouch images and remove imperfections
- Make quick selections
- Image improvements with Adjustment Layers
- Add a fill layer
- Move, transform, and crop images
- Draw and paint
- Draw and edit Shapes
- Work with Type layers
- Work with anyone on the web
- Manage app settings
- Generate Image
- Generate Background
- Reference Image
- Photoshop (beta) (not available in mainland China)
- Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
- Common questions on generative AI in Photoshop
- Generative Fill in Photoshop on the desktop
- Generate Image with descriptive text prompts
- Generative Expand in Photoshop on the desktop
- Replace background with Generate background
- Get new variations with Generate Similar
- Generative Fill in Photoshop on the iPad
- Generative Expand in Photoshop on the iPad
- Generative AI features in Photoshop on the web
- Content authenticity (not available in mainland China)
- Cloud documents (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
- Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
- Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
- Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
- Unable to create or save a cloud document
- Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
- Collect cloud document sync logs
- Invite others to edit your cloud documents
- Share files and comment in-app
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Preferences
- Learn faster with the Photoshop Discover Panel
- Create documents
- Place files
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Customize keyboard shortcuts
- Tool galleries
- Performance preferences
- Use tools
- Presets
- Grid and guides
- Touch gestures
- Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
- Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
- Technology previews
- Metadata and notes
- Place Photoshop images in other applications
- Rulers
- Show or hide non-printing Extras
- Specify columns for an image
- Undo and history
- Panels and menus
- Position elements with snapping
- Position with the Ruler tool
- Web, screen, and app design
- Image and color basics
- How to resize images
- Work with raster and vector images
- Image size and resolution
- Acquire images from cameras and scanners
- Create, open, and import images
- View images
- Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
- Viewing multiple images
- Customize color pickers and swatches
- High dynamic range images
- Match colors in your image
- Convert between color modes
- Color modes
- Erase parts of an image
- Blending modes
- Choose colors
- Customize indexed color tables
- Image information
- Distort filters are unavailable
- About color
- Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
- Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
- Sample
- Color mode or Image mode
- Color cast
- Add a conditional mode change to an action
- Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
- Bit depth and preferences
- Layers
- Layer basics
- Nondestructive editing
- Create and manage layers and groups
- Select, group, and link layers
- Place images into frames
- Layer opacity and blending
- Mask layers
- Apply Smart Filters
- Layer comps
- Move, stack, and lock layers
- Mask layers with vector masks
- Manage layers and groups
- Layer effects and styles
- Edit layer masks
- Extract assets
- Reveal layers with clipping masks
- Generate image assets from layers
- Work with Smart Objects
- Blending modes
- Combine multiple images into a group portrait
- Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
- Align and distribute layers
- Copy CSS from layers
- Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
- Knockout to reveal content from other layers
- Selections
- Get started with selections
- Make selections in your composite
- Select and Mask workspace
- Select with the marquee tools
- Select with the lasso tools
- Adjust pixel selections
- Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
- Create a temporary quick mask
- Select a color range in an image
- Convert between paths and selection borders
- Channel basics
- Save selections and alpha channel masks
- Select the image areas in focus
- Duplicate, split, and merge channels
- Channel calculations
- Get started with selections
- Image adjustments
- Replace object colors
- Perspective warp
- Reduce camera shake blurring
- Healing brush examples
- Export color lookup tables
- Adjust image sharpness and blur
- Understand color adjustments
- Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
- Adjust shadow and highlight detail
- Levels adjustment
- Adjust hue and saturation
- Adjust vibrance
- Adjust color saturation in image areas
- Make quick tonal adjustments
- Apply special color effects to images
- Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
- High dynamic range images
- View histograms and pixel values
- Match colors in your image
- Crop and straighten photos
- Convert a color image to black and white
- Adjustment and fill layers
- Curves adjustment
- Blending modes
- Target images for press
- Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
- Adjust HDR exposure and toning
- Dodge or burn image areas
- Make selective color adjustments
- Adobe Camera Raw
- Camera Raw system requirements
- What's new in Camera Raw
- Introduction to Camera Raw
- Create panoramas
- Supported lenses
- Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
- Radial Filter in Camera Raw
- Manage Camera Raw settings
- Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
- Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
- Rotate, crop, and adjust images
- Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
- Process versions in Camera Raw
- Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
- Image repair and restoration
- Image enhancement and transformation
- Drawing and painting
- Paint symmetrical patterns
- Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
- About drawing
- Draw and edit shapes
- Painting tools
- Create and modify brushes
- Blending modes
- Add color to paths
- Edit paths
- Paint with the Mixer Brush
- Brush presets
- Gradients
- Gradient interpolation
- Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
- Draw with the Pen tools
- Create patterns
- Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
- Manage paths
- Manage pattern libraries and presets
- Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
- Create textured brushes
- Add dynamic elements to brushes
- Gradient
- Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
- Paint with a pattern
- Sync presets on multiple devices
- Migrate presets, actions, and settings
- Text
- Filters and effects
- Saving and exporting
- Color Management
- Web, screen, and app design
- Video and animation
- Printing
- Automation
- Troubleshooting
Learn how to create a new layer and a layer group in your Photoshop composite
Create layers and groups
A new layer appears either above the selected layer or within the selected group in the Layers panel.
Create a new layer or group
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To create a new layer or group using default options, click the Create A New Layer button or New Group button in the Layers panel.
Choose Layer > New > Layer or choose Layer > New > Group.
Choose New Layer or New Group from the Layers panel menu.
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the Create A New Layer button or New Group button in the Layers panel to display the New Layer dialog box and set layer options.
Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the Create A New Layer button or New Group button in the Layers panel to add a layer below the currently selected layer.
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Set layer options, and click OK:
Name
Specifies a name for the layer or group.
Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask
This option is not available for groups. (See Mask layers with clipping masks.)
Color
Assigns a color to the layer or group in the Layers panel.
Mode
Specifies a blending mode for the layer or group. (See Blending modes.)
Opacity
Specifies an opacity level for the layer or group.
Fill With Mode-Neutral Color
Fills the layer with a preset, neutral color.
Note:To add currently selected layers to a new group, choose Layer > Group Layers, or Shift-click the New Group button at the bottom of the Layers panel.
Create a layer from an existing file
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Drag the file icon from Windows or Mac OS onto an open image in Photoshop.
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Move, scale, or rotate the imported image. (See Place a file in Photoshop.)
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Press Enter or Return.
By default, Photoshop creates a Smart Object layer. To create standard layers from dragged files, deselect Place Or Drag Raster Images As Smart Objects in the General preferences.
Note:If the placed file is a multilayer image, a flattened version appears on the new layer. To instead copy separate layers, duplicate them in another image. (See Duplicate layers.)
Create a layer with effects from another layer
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Select the existing layer in the Layers panel.
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Drag the layer to the Create A New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers panel. The newly created layer contains all the effects of the existing one.
Convert a selection into a new layer
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Make a selection.
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Do one of the following:
Choose Layer > New > Layer Via Copy to copy the selection into a new layer.
Choose Layer > New > Layer Via Cut to cut the selection and paste it into a new layer.
Note:You must rasterize Smart Objects or shape layers to enable these commands.
View layers and groups within a group
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Do one of the following to open the group:
Click the triangle to the left of the folder icon .
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the triangle to the left of the folder icon and choose Open This Group.
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the triangle to open or close a group and the groups nested within it.
Show or hide a layer, group, or style
Showing or hiding layers, groups, or styles lets you isolate or view only certain portions of your image for easy editing.
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Do one of the following in the Layers panel:
Click the eye icon next to a layer, group, or layer effect to hide its content in the document window. Click in the column again to redisplay the content. To view the eye icon for styles and effects, click the Reveal Effects In panel icon .
Choose Show Layers or Hide Layers from the Layers menu.
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) an eye icon to display only the contents of that layer or group. Photoshop remembers the visibility states of all layers before hiding them. If you don’t change the visibility of any other layer, Alt-clicking (Windows) or Option-clicking (Mac OS) the same eye icon restores the original visibility settings.
Drag through the eye column to change the visibility of multiple items in the Layers panel.
Note:Only visible layers are printed.
Copy/paste layers
You can now copy and paste layers in Photoshop—inside a document and between documents. Depending on your color management settings and the color profile associated with the file (or imported data), Photoshop may prompt you for directions to handle color information in the imported data.
Any edit you make to a copy-pasted Smart Object layer does not update the original Smart Object layer and vice versa. This is a known limitation. As a workaround, create Linked Smart Objects.
Copy-paste commands
Copy
(Edit > Copy or Cmd/Ctrl+C) Copies the selected layers
Paste
(Edit > Paste or Cmd/Ctrl+V) Pastes the copied layers into the chosen document in the center of that document. Pasting creates a duplicate layer, including all bitmap and vector masks, and layer effects.
Paste In Place
(Edit > Paste Special > Paste In Place or Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+V) Pastes the copied layers into the targeted document in a position relative to its position in the original document. For example, a layer containing content from the bottom-right corner of a large document pastes into the new document in the bottom-right corner. In all cases, Photoshop tries to keep at least some piece of the pasted layers visible in the destination document, so that you can reposition it as desired.
Note:
If you copy a layer and then create a new document, you can make use of the Clipboard option in the New Document dialog. Choosing this option creates a new document the size of the layers you’ve copied. You can then easily paste your copied layers into the new document
Cut is grayed out when you have a layer or layers selected. Delete layers directly in the Layers panel.
Considerations for copy/pasting layers containing paths
Copy behaviors
- If you copy a layer that contains paths—i.e. a Shape layer—but no paths are selected, then the layer is copied to the clipboard. Pasting creates a duplicate shape layer, including all bitmap and vector masks, and layer effects.
- If you copy a layer that contains paths—i.e. a Shape layer—and the paths are selected on canvas, then the path is copied to the clipboard.
- If you copy a layer with a vector mask, but the vector mask is not selected, then all layer data is copied to the clipboard. Pasting creates a duplicate layer, including all bitmap and vector masks, and layer effects.
- If you copy a layer with a vector mask, and the vector mask is selected, then the path data is copied to the clipboard. Pasting depends on the context.
Paste behaviors
- If you paste a layer between documents with different resolutions, the pasted layer retains its pixel dimensions. This behavior can make the pasted portion appear out of proportion to the new image. Use the Image Size command to make the source and destination images the same resolution before copying and pasting, or use the Free Transform command to resize the pasted content.
- If you select a layer that contains no paths—for example, a bitmap layer, pasting the path data creates a new vector mask.
- If you select a layer that contains paths—for example, a Shape layer—but no paths are selected, then pasting replaces the current Shape in the layer.
- If you select a Shape layer and select the path, then pasting pastes the path data into the existing Shape layer, combining it with the existing path.
- If you select a layer with a vector mask, but the vector mask is not selected, then pasting path data replaces the Vector Mask path.
- If you select a layer with a vector mask, and the vector mask is selected, then pasting pastes the path data into the vector mask, combining it with the existing path.
Copy Merged
This command makes a merged copy of all the visible layers in the selected area.