Making the most of your screen real estate is important no matter what type of image editing you’re doing in Photoshop. Even with a large monitor, or even dual monitors, there just never seems to be enough room to work. In this section, you’ll take a look at how you can maximize your screen space through good palette management, and then save your favorite workspace environments.
Managing Palettes
To conserve screen space, you can regroup palettes by docking them together. You can also stack palette windows together into a vertical column. Palettes and palette groups can also be collapsed vertically to create more room for you to work. In addition, Photoshop now allows you to dock palettes into resizable side wells on either side of your screen, and even reduce them to icon size.
Regrouping Palettes
One really efficient way to save screen space is to regroup your most frequently used palettes together. By doing so, you can essentially combine three or four palettes into one. To group individual palettes together, simply click the tab of one palette and drag it into another. Hold the mouse button down until a blue outline appears around the palette window that you are dragging into; then release. The palettes become grouped together inside the same window. Clicking a grouped palette’s tab brings that palette to the front of the group. To ungroup a palette, click the tab, hold the mouse button down, and drag it out of the window. Release the mouse button to place the free-floating palette somewhere else on your screen, or group it into another window or side well.
Collapsing Palettes
Another great way to save screen space is to collapse palette windows. Collapsing palettes hides everything except for the palette tabs. This is the best way to clear your screen. Photoshop offers three ways to collapse free-floating palette windows (that is, palettes not placed in the side wells): click the title bar, double-click the palette tab, or click the Collapse Window button in the upper right of the palette (next to the Close button).
Stacking Palettes
One other way that you can save screen space is to stack your palette groups together. Doing so allows you to reposition or collapse all of your palettes at once. To stack palette windows together, click the tab of one palette, hold the mouse button down, and drag the palette over the bottom edge of another. Release the mouse button when a thick blue line appears at the bottom edge of the window you’re docking to. The palette windows become docked together in a vertical column.
Using the Side Palette Well
The palette well that was previously available in the Options palette in CS2 has now been replaced with new resizable side wells located on the right- and left-hand sides of your screen. You can use these wells to store individual palettes, docked palette groups, or stacked palette windows. To add a palette window to either side well, click the title bar and drag it to either side of your screen. Hold the mouse button down until a vertical line appears in the well, and then release for the palette window to snap into place. Certain palettes docked in the window, such as Layers or Swatches, automatically resize vertically to fill the column. You can also add multiple columns of docked palette windows at a time.
When you click the gray bar above a docked palette column, the palettes are minimized to display small palette icons and palette names. You can minimize these even further and display just the icons by clicking the gray area at the top or side of the palette and dragging it in toward the screen.
Click once on a palette icon to expand the window. The expanded window snaps into position next to the well and can be resized by clicking and dragging the bottom of the palette up or down.
Here are some more helpful tips when working with the side palette wells:
- You can reposition a docked palette vertically in the well, whether expanded or minimized to an icon, by clicking and dragging up or down. When you see a thick blue horizontal line appear, release the mouse button to drop the palette into place.
- When repositioning an expanded palette into a docked icon group, the palette minimizes to an icon and snaps into place.
- You can add more palettes to a docked palette group by dragging them over the icons or the expanded palettes in the well.
- At any time, docked palettes—expanded or minimized—can be undocked and repositioned anywhere on the screen by simply clicking and dragging the icon or palette tab out of the well.
Saving a Workspace
Photoshop allows you to save your workspace environment so that you don’t have to spend time repositioning palettes on the screen every time you launch the application. You can create and save a custom workspace for every type of image-editing work you do. For instance, a productionoriented job might require a totally different set of palettes than a design-oriented one. No problem! Photoshop lets you save a workspace for each.
To save your preferred work environment, choose Window --> Workspace --> Save Workspace. When the Save Workspace dialog box appears, enter a name for your workspace and click OK. You can now restore your workspace whenever you like by selecting it under the Window --> Workspace submenu or from the Workspace drop-down list in the Options palette.
To save changes made to your custom environment, choose Window --> Workspace --> Save Workspace, and enter the name of the workspace you want to update. Click OK when the dialog box asks whether you want to replace the workspace.
Deleting a Workspace
Custom workspaces are such a cool feature, and so easy to use, that you may find yourself saving dozens of them in no time at all. But after a while, you may realize that you really use only a handful of them. No problem. You can always delete a saved workspace by choosing Window --> Workspace --> Delete Workspace. When the Delete Workspace dialog box appears, select the workspace you want to delete from the list (sorry, you can delete only one at a time). Click Delete, and it’s gone forever.
Restoring the Default Workspace
Maybe the default workspace is perfect for your design needs and you just want to return to the application’s original palette arrangement. Well, pat yourself on the back for being exceptionally “lowmaintenance” and then choose Window --> Workspace --> [Default]. You can also restore the Default Workspace from the Workspace drop-down list in the Options palette.
Managing Palettes
To conserve screen space, you can regroup palettes by docking them together. You can also stack palette windows together into a vertical column. Palettes and palette groups can also be collapsed vertically to create more room for you to work. In addition, Photoshop now allows you to dock palettes into resizable side wells on either side of your screen, and even reduce them to icon size.
Regrouping Palettes
One really efficient way to save screen space is to regroup your most frequently used palettes together. By doing so, you can essentially combine three or four palettes into one. To group individual palettes together, simply click the tab of one palette and drag it into another. Hold the mouse button down until a blue outline appears around the palette window that you are dragging into; then release. The palettes become grouped together inside the same window. Clicking a grouped palette’s tab brings that palette to the front of the group. To ungroup a palette, click the tab, hold the mouse button down, and drag it out of the window. Release the mouse button to place the free-floating palette somewhere else on your screen, or group it into another window or side well.
Collapsing Palettes
Another great way to save screen space is to collapse palette windows. Collapsing palettes hides everything except for the palette tabs. This is the best way to clear your screen. Photoshop offers three ways to collapse free-floating palette windows (that is, palettes not placed in the side wells): click the title bar, double-click the palette tab, or click the Collapse Window button in the upper right of the palette (next to the Close button).
Stacking Palettes
One other way that you can save screen space is to stack your palette groups together. Doing so allows you to reposition or collapse all of your palettes at once. To stack palette windows together, click the tab of one palette, hold the mouse button down, and drag the palette over the bottom edge of another. Release the mouse button when a thick blue line appears at the bottom edge of the window you’re docking to. The palette windows become docked together in a vertical column.
Using the Side Palette Well
The palette well that was previously available in the Options palette in CS2 has now been replaced with new resizable side wells located on the right- and left-hand sides of your screen. You can use these wells to store individual palettes, docked palette groups, or stacked palette windows. To add a palette window to either side well, click the title bar and drag it to either side of your screen. Hold the mouse button down until a vertical line appears in the well, and then release for the palette window to snap into place. Certain palettes docked in the window, such as Layers or Swatches, automatically resize vertically to fill the column. You can also add multiple columns of docked palette windows at a time.
When you click the gray bar above a docked palette column, the palettes are minimized to display small palette icons and palette names. You can minimize these even further and display just the icons by clicking the gray area at the top or side of the palette and dragging it in toward the screen.
Click once on a palette icon to expand the window. The expanded window snaps into position next to the well and can be resized by clicking and dragging the bottom of the palette up or down.
Here are some more helpful tips when working with the side palette wells:
- You can reposition a docked palette vertically in the well, whether expanded or minimized to an icon, by clicking and dragging up or down. When you see a thick blue horizontal line appear, release the mouse button to drop the palette into place.
- When repositioning an expanded palette into a docked icon group, the palette minimizes to an icon and snaps into place.
- You can add more palettes to a docked palette group by dragging them over the icons or the expanded palettes in the well.
- At any time, docked palettes—expanded or minimized—can be undocked and repositioned anywhere on the screen by simply clicking and dragging the icon or palette tab out of the well.
Saving a Workspace
Photoshop allows you to save your workspace environment so that you don’t have to spend time repositioning palettes on the screen every time you launch the application. You can create and save a custom workspace for every type of image-editing work you do. For instance, a productionoriented job might require a totally different set of palettes than a design-oriented one. No problem! Photoshop lets you save a workspace for each.
To save your preferred work environment, choose Window --> Workspace --> Save Workspace. When the Save Workspace dialog box appears, enter a name for your workspace and click OK. You can now restore your workspace whenever you like by selecting it under the Window --> Workspace submenu or from the Workspace drop-down list in the Options palette.
To save changes made to your custom environment, choose Window --> Workspace --> Save Workspace, and enter the name of the workspace you want to update. Click OK when the dialog box asks whether you want to replace the workspace.
Deleting a Workspace
Custom workspaces are such a cool feature, and so easy to use, that you may find yourself saving dozens of them in no time at all. But after a while, you may realize that you really use only a handful of them. No problem. You can always delete a saved workspace by choosing Window --> Workspace --> Delete Workspace. When the Delete Workspace dialog box appears, select the workspace you want to delete from the list (sorry, you can delete only one at a time). Click Delete, and it’s gone forever.
Restoring the Default Workspace
Maybe the default workspace is perfect for your design needs and you just want to return to the application’s original palette arrangement. Well, pat yourself on the back for being exceptionally “lowmaintenance” and then choose Window --> Workspace --> [Default]. You can also restore the Default Workspace from the Workspace drop-down list in the Options palette.
Setting Up a Workspace for Print Design or Production
![Setting Up a Workspace for Print Design or Production]()
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