Moving, Copying, And Pasting Selections And Layers - Adobe PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS Manual

CHAPTER 5
110
Selecting
Moving, copying, and pasting
selections and layers
You can move or copy selections and layers within
or between images—and also between images in
other applications.
Moving selections and layers within
an image
The move tool lets you drag a selection or layer to
a new location in the image. With the Info palette
open, you can track the exact distance of the move.
To specify move tool options:
1 Select the move tool ( ).
Select any of the following in the options bar:
2
Auto Select Layer to select the topmost layer that
•
has pixels under the move tool, rather than the
selected layer.
Show Bounding Box to display the bounding box
•
around the selected item.
If multiple items are selected, you can choose
•
one of the alignment options.
To move a selection or layer:
Select the move tool ( ).
1
To activate the move tool when another tool is
selected, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command
(Mac OS). (This technique does not work with the
hand tool ( ).)
2 Do one of the following:
Move the pointer inside the selection border, and
•
drag the selection to a new position. If you have
selected multiple areas, all move as you drag.
• Select the layer you want to move. Then drag the
layer to a new position in the Layers palette.
Copying selections or layers
You can use the move tool to copy selections as you
drag them within or between images, or you can
copy and move selections using the Copy,
Copy Merged, Cut, and Paste commands.
Dragging with the move tool saves memory
because the Clipboard is not used as it is with the
Copy, Copy Merged, Cut, and Paste commands.
The Copy command copies the selected area on
•
the active layer.
The Copy Merged command makes a merged
•
copy of all the layers in the selected area.
The Paste command pastes a cut or copied
•
selection into the center of the image or into
another image as a new layer.
The Paste Into command pastes a cut or
•
copied selection as a floating selection in the
existing layer.
Keep in mind that when a selection or layer is
pasted between images with different resolutions,
the pasted data retains its original pixel dimen-
sions. This 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.