Using palettes

Palettes help you monitor and modify images. There are many ways to organize palettes in the work area. You can store palettes in the palette well to keep them out of your way but easily accessible; or, you can keep frequently used palettes open in the work area. Another option is to group palettes together in the work area, or to dock one palette at the bottom of another palette.

Note: Drag a palette out of the palette well if you want to keep it open.

To display a palette:

Do one of the following:

• Click its tab.
• Choose the palette's name in the Window menu. Choosing the palette a second time hides the palette.

To change the size of a palette:

Drag any corner of the palette (Windows) or drag the size box at its lower right corner (Mac OS).

Note: Not all palettes can be resized.

To close a palette:

Do one of the following:

• If the palette is in the palette well, click outside the palette in the work area or click the palette's tab. (See Using the palette well.)
• Click the close icon on the palette title bar.
• If the palette is in a palette group, click the close icon on the title bar for the group.
• Choose the palette name in the Window menu.

To show or hide multiple palettes:

Do one of the following:

• To show or hide all open palettes, the options bar, the shortcuts bar, and the toolbox, press Tab.
• To show or hide all palettes in the work area (not in the palette well) press Shift+Tab.

To group palettes together:

1. Display the palettes you want to group together. If the palettes are in the palette well, drag at least one of them into the work area.
2. Drag a palette's tab onto the body of the target palette. A thick line appears around the body of the target palette when the pointer is over the correct area.

Grouping two palettes together A. Dragging a palette onto another open palette B. Palettes grouped together

To move a palette to another group, drag the palette's tab to that group. To separate a palette from a group, drag the palette's tab outside the group.

To dock palettes together:

Drag a palette's tab to the bottom of another palette. A double line appears at the bottom of the target palette when the pointer is over the correct area.

Note: Entire palette groups cannot be docked together at once, but you can dock the palettes from one group to another, one at a time.

To move a palette group:

Drag its title bar.

To collapse a palette group:

Double-click a palette's tab or title bar.

To reset palettes to their default positions:

Choose Window > Reset Palette Locations.

To always start with the default palette and dialog box positions:

1. In Windows or Mac OS 9.x, choose Edit > Preferences > General.
2. In Mac OS X, choose Photoshop Elements > Preferences > General.
3. Deselect Save Palette Locations. The change takes effect the next time you start the application.