Configuring the Workspace

When you first install Photoshop, some features that you’ll need frequently are out of sight, and some that you’ll need only infrequently are taking up lots of space. Let’s fix this!

In the figure above, you can see Photoshop’s basic geography. If you’re using Microsoft Windows, you’ll notice that it’s extremely similar to the view on the Mac from which this image was made. The area where we work is called the document window. It is surrounded by panels. On the left is the Tools panel. You will soon learn that we switch tools very frequently. On the right are other panels—initially, some are expanded and at least one is collapsed to nothing more than an icon. Later you will find the right side populated by a great number of panels. Just above the document window is the Options Bar. Luckily, here you can find many options that each tool offers.

At the top of the stack of panels is small button with << or >> in it. When clicked, it collapses or expands the panels below it. Clicking it again reverses the process.

You can adjust each panel’s height by grabbing the “bar” separating them—watch for the two-headed arrow, then press and drag to resize the panels above and below the bar.

Incidentally, while your attention is on the upper-right part of Photoshop’s interface, note the several icons above the panels. The magnifier opens a search window that you use to search the help system, stock images, Photoshop’s features, and your own images (if you use Lightroom). The share button allows you to share images via various apps on your computer.

Most useful to us at the moment is the button between those two: the Workspace menu. It lists various kinds of task that require different panels and tools. Choosing a task like Painting will change both the panels on the right to allow elaborate brush control and the Tools panel to include all Photoshop tools that use a painting metaphor. Returning to Essentials workspace shows us where we started. We will create our own workspace.

Docking and Arranging Panels

We’ll alter the Essentials workspace slightly to give us more room to move and to reveal the panels we need most often.

The panels we see on the right are currently “docked.” That is, they form columns and can be docked next to other docks. Any panel can be docked by dragging it by its name to where you’d like to dock it. A blue highlight will reveal where it’ll go.

• Choose Essentials from the Workspace menu.
• Move the Libraries panel and the Properties panel to the collapsed dock just to the left of the Color panel. (See the figure below.)

Create a New Workspace

This new arrangement is pleasant! One click on the icons in the collapsed dock reveals them, and another click conceals them again.

• Since the panels appear to be just as we’d like them (for now), capture that arrangement by returning to the Workspace menu and choosing New Workspace…. Give it a name: I’m going with “A better start.” Check the box for Toolbar too. If any of those panels go missing, or the expected tools aren’t available in the Tools panel, or if the panels are simply messy, you can choose Reset A better start from that menu anytime.

My friend John Cornicello, a wise Photoshop user, likes to keep the Tools panel on the right as well. He moves it by the texture at its top to the very right edge of the screen so that all his tools and panels are in the same place. For now, however, I will keep the tools in their original position.

It’s very cool how much we can customize the interface! We can edit which tools are shown, the keyboard shortcuts, and even which menu items are visible. Consider the pranking possibilities!

Working Color Spaces

Last, a recommendation that will prove helpful when working with color output:

• Choose Edit > Color Settings…. At the top, in the Settings menu, choose North America Prepress 2. Learn more about this in “Setting Working Space Profiles” (page 215).