Panels and bins

Panels are available in both Photoshop Elements and Elements Organizer; however, they behave a little differently in each. Panels help you manage, monitor, and modify images. Some panels have menus that provide additional commands and options. You can organize panels in the basic and custom workspaces in Expert mode. You can store panels in the Panel Bin to keep them out of your way, but easily accessible.

Panel menus

Some commands appear in both the panel menu and the menu bar. Other commands are exclusive to panel menus. Click panel menu to view the different commands in each panel.

Pop‑up sliders within panels

Some panels and dialog boxes contain settings that use pop‑up sliders (for example, the Opacity option in the Layers panel). If there is a triangle next to the text box, you can activate the pop‑up slider by clicking the triangle. Position the pointer over the triangle next to the setting, hold down the mouse button, and drag the slider or angle radius to the desired value. Click outside the slider box or press Enter to close the slider box. To cancel changes, press Esc.

Work with panels

Panels contain features, information, or functionality, in logical groups, for fast and easy access. The Panel Bin is on the right side of Photoshop Elements. It displays tabs and panels, depending on the mode you are in, or the kind of elements you want to work with. The Panel Bin displays:

• Quick mode: lists the quick-mode effects that can be applied to a photo
• Guided mode: lists all the guided-mode edits that you can apply to a photo
• Expert mode: lists the options for a selected panel (Layers, Effects, Graphics, or Favorites)
  

Panels in the Expert mode

In the Expert mode, panels can be displayed in two ways - Basic Workspace, and Custom Workspace.

By default, the available workspace displayed is the Basic Workspace. In this view, buttons for the most frequently used panels are placed in the taskbar. The buttons in this workspace are Layers, Effects, Graphics, and Favorites. For example, clicking the Layers button displays all the layers-related options. To view all the other available tabs, or close open tabs, click More.

To view panels in a tabbed layout in the Panel Bin, click the arrow next to More, and select Custom Workspace. Click More to view a list of all the available tabs, and select one from the pop-up list. The selected tab is displayed. You can keep the frequently used panels open in the custom workspace. Group panels together or dock one panel at the bottom of another panel. You can drag title bar of the tab and drop it in the tabbed layout, or drag-and-drop the tabs dialog into the tabbed layout.

Use the taskbar

At the bottom of the Photoshop Elements, the taskbar displays buttons for the most frequently used panels and operations performed while editing and modifying images. You can use the Photo Bin and Tool Options buttons to toggle between displaying thumbnails and tool options. You can quickly undo and redo operations, rotate images, or change the layout. You can also click the Organizer button to start Photoshop Elements Organizer. The Home Screen button give you access to the home screen. In the Expert mode, click the arrow beside the More button, to see the option to toggle between Basic and Custom workspaces.

Use the Photo Bin

Located toward the bottom of the Photoshop Elements window, above the taskbar, the Photo Bin displays thumbnails of open photos. It’s useful for switching between multiple open photos in your workspace. The Photo Bin has controls that let you open or close images, hide images, navigate through open images, make a specific image the frontmost image, duplicate an image, rotate an image, or view file information. You can easily bring open images into Quick mode for editing. Multipage projects created using the Create tab open in the Create panel.