Using pop-up palettes

Pop-up palettes appear in the options bar and provide access to libraries of brushes, swatches, gradients, patterns, layer styles, and custom shapes. When closed, pop-up palettes display a thumbnail image of the currently selected preset.

When you click the triangle to the right of the thumbnail image, the pop-up palette opens to show you the currently loaded preset libraries. You can change the display of a pop-up palette to view presets by their names, as thumbnail icons, or with both names and icons.


The Brush pop-up palette in the options bar. A. Click to open the pop-up palette. B. Click to view the pop-up palette menu.

To select a preset in a pop-up palette:

1. Click the triangle in the upper right area of a pop-up palette.
2. Choose a preset.

To rename a brush, gradient, or pattern in a pop-up palette:

1. Select an item, click the triangle in the upper right corner of the pop-up palette, and choose the Rename command from the palette menu.
2. Enter a new name in the dialog box provided, and click OK.

To delete a brush, gradient, or pattern from a pop-up palette:

Do one of the following:

• Select an item, click the triangle in the upper right corner of the pop-up palette, and choose the Delete command from the palette menu.
• Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click a brush or gradient.

To save a library of brushes, gradients, or patterns for later use:

Choose the Save command from the pop-up palette menu. Then enter a name for the library file, and click Save.

To load a library of brushes, gradients, or patterns:

Choose the Load command from the pop-up palette menu. Then select the library file you want to add to the pop-up palette, and click Load.

Note: Using the Load command will add the brush library to the brushes you have available. If you choose a preset library of brushes, the preset library will replace your current set of brushes.

To replace the current set of brushes, gradients, or patterns in a pop-up palette:

Do one of the following:

• Choose the Replace command from the pop-up palette menu. Then select the library file you want to use, and click Load.
• Choose a library file from the bottom section of the palette menu. Then click OK to replace the current list (gradients or patterns only).

To load to the default library of brushes, gradients, or patterns:

Choose the Reset command from the pop-up palette menu.

To change the display of items in a pop-up palette:

1. Click the triangle in the upper right corner of the pop-up palette to view the palette menu.
2. Select a view option:
• Text Only to display the name of each item.
• Small Thumbnail or Large Thumbnail to display a thumbnail of each item.
• Small List or Large List to display the name and thumbnail of each item.
• Stroke Thumbnail to display a sample brush stroke and brush thumbnail. (This option is available for brushes only.)

Note: Not all of the above options are available for all pop-up palettes.