Setting Preferences in Photoshop Part 2

In the Options section of the General Preferences dialog box, you find nearly a dozen check boxes that you can select or deselect, as described in the following list:

-->Export Clipboard: When this feature is active, Photoshop transfers its private clipboard (used only within Photoshop) to the general Windows or Macintosh Clipboard so that you can paste information into other applications. If you activate this option, switching from Photoshop to other applications takes a little longer, and Photoshop’s clipboard contents replace whatever was in your system Clipboard when you switched.

The clipboard is generally a poor vehicle for moving image data between applications because the transferred information may not be of the best quality. Instead, save your file and open it in the other application. If you do this, you can turn off the Export Clipboard option, saving you some time when switching between applications.

-->Show Tool Tips: Photoshop can display little pop-up reminders about tools and other objects on your screen. If you find these reminders distracting, deselect this check box to turn off Tool Tips.
-->Zoom Resizes Windows: Select this check box if you want your document windows to grow and shrink to fit your document as you zoom in and out. Deselect this check box if you want the document’s window to always remain the same size; you might want to deselect the check box if you frequently work with several documents side by side and don’t want them to change relative size as you zoom in and out.
-->Auto-update Open Documents: When you’re working on an image and move to another application (such as ImageReady) to work on the same image, you’ll probably want the changes made in the other application to be reflected in the document still open in Photoshop. Select this check box so that Photoshop will monitor the document and update its version whenever the document is changed in the other application.
-->Show Asian Text Options: Although Photoshop supports Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text, this option is off by default. You can activate it here so that Asian text options become available as you work.
-->Beep When Done: I remember the bad old days when Photoshop would take a minute or two to apply the Gaussian Blur filter or perform calculations when merging even moderate-sized image layers. Photoshop wasn’t inefficient; computers a decade ago were really slow compared to those available today. The Beep When Done signal was my cue to stop watching television and resume working with Photoshop. Although most operations are a lot faster today, if you’re working with very large images or simply like to be notified when a step is finished, the beep option can be useful (or incredibly annoying to your coworkers).
-->Dynamic Color Sliders: The sliders in the Color palette change colors to match the settings you make. If your computer is on the slow side, you can turn off this feature to improve performance.
-->Save Palette Locations: Select this check box if you want Photoshop to restore your most recent palette locations the next time you start up. Deselect this check box if you always want your palettes in the same location each time you begin working.
-->Show Font Names in English: If you’ve selected the Show Asian Text Options check box, Photoshop can display font names in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean by turning this option off. Activate this option if you want font names displayed only in English, regardless of the other Asian text options you’re using.
-->Use Shift Key for Tool Switch: When this feature is active, you can change from one tool in the Tools palette to another in the same group (say, to change from the Gradient tool to the Paint Bucket tool) by pressing the Shift key and the keyboard shortcut for that tool.
-->Use Smart Quotes: Love ’em or hate ’em, you can instruct Photoshop whether to use smart (curly) quotes or plain (straight) quotes with this option.
-->History Log: You can have Photoshop record all your editing commands.

This feature is handy if you want to present a finished, fully edited image to a client or manager, but need to be able to show the steps of how you got there. Or maybe you want a record of the steps, so you can repeat them on other images and don’t want to rely on your memory.

You have a few formats in which you can save your edit history log:
-Metadata: Saving the log to metadata (information embedded in your image file) allows you to view the log in the File Browser window.
-Text File: You can save the log to a text file. Click the Choose button to provide a name and location for the file.
-Both: This option saves the log as both metadata and a text file.
-Edit Log Items: You choose Sessions Only, Concise, or Detailed. The Sessions Only option records your editing until you close the file or quit Photoshop. The Concise option keeps a comprehensive log (multiple sessions), but in short and sweet steps. The Detailed option provides a comprehensive, detailed log. For example, a concise log entry may be just Crop, whereas a detailed log entry may be Crop. To rectangle and then also provide the original and cropped dimensions, the angle and the resolution values.

-->Reset All Warning Dialogs: If you’ve turned off the display of certain warnings by selecting the Don’t Show Me This Dialog Box Again check box, you can reactivate all the warnings by clicking this button.