{"id":55514,"date":"2025-01-07T14:55:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T22:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=55514"},"modified":"2025-01-07T14:56:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T22:56:17","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-243","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2025\/01\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-243\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greatest Hits: Elements Preferences and Settings<\/strong><\/p>\n

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[Link to PDF version will go here when Ginger<\/strong><\/span> has time to convert.]<\/p>\n

Well, now. Trying to Work Smart<\/strong> Not Hard<\/strong> ended up in chaos. Again. In an effort to make the transition to my new laptop as streamlined as possible, I went through all my Brushes<\/strong> and Styles<\/strong> to make sure I didn’t have a bunch of duplicates, and that they all followed the same naming convention before Copyin<\/strong>g them to the new machine. Great idea, right? It would have been if I’d realized I closed Elements<\/strong> last time with the Styles menu<\/strong> active, and the specific Style<\/strong> last selected was one I’d renamed. Elements<\/strong> didn’t know what to do! “I can’t find that Style<\/strong>!! Danger, Will Robinson!” I couldn’t clear the error message, change the active Tool<\/strong> or even shut down the software. I used the 3-finger salute (CTRL\/ALT\/DELETE<\/strong>) to end the task, then tried again. And again. I even restarted my laptop, hoping that would reset the software. Nope. In the end, I had to uninstall Elements<\/strong> and reinstall a clean copy. [Thank heaven for being a hoarder… I still had all the email stuff from when I last upgraded.] But that solution meant all my Preferences<\/strong> and Settings<\/strong> were gone. Hence today’s Greatest Hits<\/strong> revue. It might come in handy for some of our newer digi-scrapping cohort.<\/p>\n

First, you can\u2019t set Preferences<\/strong>\u00a0if you don\u2019t even know why you\u2019d want to or if it\u2019s possible. Customizing the way your software behaves is a big part of streamlining and improving workflow, making it easier to do the things you want. Under the\u00a0Edit tab<\/strong>,\u00a0Preferences<\/strong>\u00a0is found at the bottom of the dropdown menu. Clicking on it opens another dropdown menu with a list of what can be changed. I\u2019m going to go through each item on the list and expand on what they do.<\/p>\n

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There are lots of options in the\u00a0General<\/strong>\u00a0menu. You can choose what\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0uses for the\u00a0Color Picker<\/strong>, between\u00a0Adobe<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Windows<\/strong>. I let\u00a0Adobe\u2019s Color Picker<\/strong>\u00a0do it for me; selecting\u00a0Windows<\/strong>\u00a0for this setting doesn\u2019t provide the palette you\u2019ll see in my tutorials where it\u2019s possible to make tiny adjustments to the colour chosen and the only options presented are\u00a0Windows<\/strong>\u2018 basic colour sets.<\/p>\n

\"\"Just below the\u00a0Color Picker<\/strong>\u00a0setting is\u00a0Step\u00a0Back\/Fwd<\/strong>. This allows you to decide the keyboard shortcuts used to\u00a0Undo<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0Redo<\/strong>. I like the most basic,\u00a0CTRL>Z<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0CTRL>Y<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 fewer movements and fewer keys to remember!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The other preferences I use are shown above and below. The ones I choose are largely self-explanatory but I\u2019m going to talk about some of them in greater depth.\u00a0Show Tool Tips<\/strong>\u00a0means there\u2019s a visible icon for the tool on the workspace so you can see where you\u2019re putting your cursor. I don\u2019t know about you but I NEED that visual!\u00a0Select Move Tool after committing text<\/strong>\u00a0also speaks for itself. As soon as the checkmark is hit, the\u00a0Move Tool<\/strong>\u00a0activates and you can shift your text in all directions, as well as resize it.\u00a0Disable Smart Objects<\/strong>\u00a0is a bit more complicated and needs a bit more discussion. Essentially,\u00a0Smart Objects<\/strong>\u00a0are \u201clocked\u201d and can\u2019t be edited without first being\u00a0Simplified<\/strong>. Also, with Version 14 <\/strong>and later,\u00a0everything was considered a\u00a0Smart Object<\/strong>\u00a0and when an item was dragged onto the workspace from the\u00a0Photo Bin<\/strong>, it was automatically made to fill the canvas. Think about a 12\u00d712 button\u2026 Nope! I\u2019m going to show you what unticking this box does.<\/p>\n

\"\"In the screenshot below, I want to\u00a0Erase<\/strong>\u00a0part of the bow. But when I try to do it, I get a pop-up as shown. And if you look at the layers in the\u00a0Layers Panel<\/strong>, each of the embellishments I\u2019ve got on my canvas has a little box in the lower right corner of the thumbnail. That tells me the layer CANNOT be modified other than to resize and rotate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What does\u00a0Allow Floating Documents in Expert Mode<\/strong>\u00a0do? Well, instead of only having the images open up on the\u00a0Photo Bin<\/strong>, they\u2019re also opened in their own full-sized windows right on top of the workspace. These floating documents can be resized and moved around on the workspace by holding down the left mouse button and grabbing the document by the dark bar at the top. Lots of people like to work that way, because it allows you to drag things between these floating documents and it can be useful when photo editing. But for scrapbooking, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s all that practical. (\u201cPreference\u201d!) Here, I\u2019ve resized some of the images I\u2019ve opened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Busy, isn\u2019t it? Now let\u2019s look at\u00a0Enable Floating Document Window Docking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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This is another preference that lots of people love, but for me it only adds to the overstimulation! What it does is give each of the documents its own tab. You can see multiple\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0icons in the toolbar as shown. Moving the mouse over the toolbar will show each of these documents and let you move between them. For me, this isn\u2019t workable, so I went back and unticked both\u00a0Floating Document<\/strong>\u00a0boxes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Next on the menu is\u00a0Saving Files<\/strong>. These options can be really helpful. I like to be asked before\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0does anything that might be hard to undo. Other people are okay with only being asked if the file is an original, and yet others are okay with\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0just writing over the file every time.<\/p>\n

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So you might wonder why I\u2019ve selected\u00a0Always Save<\/strong>\u00a0when it comes to\u00a0Image Previews<\/strong>. I\u2019ve found it really doesn\u2019t affect anything I do.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

File Extension<\/strong>\u00a0lets you decide how the saved file will be named when you save it. I prefer lower case. By ticking the\u00a0Save As to Original Folder<\/strong>, I know anything I\u00a0Save As<\/strong>\u00a0(CTRL\/CMD>SHIFT>S<\/strong>) will go into the folder where I opened it from originally. You may recall that I use folders to organize the things I plan to use for my layouts so this just makes sure the final versions of my layout will be easy to find later.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve left the\u00a0Ignore Camera Data (EXIF) profiles<\/strong>\u00a0box unticked because although I use\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0for photo editing, that\u2019s not my primary use and it makes no difference to my scrapbooking.\u00a0Maximize PSD File Compatibility<\/strong>\u00a0will allow me to use those PSD<\/strong> files in earlier and later versions of\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0without a lot of extra steps.\u00a0Recent file list contains\u00a0x<\/em>\u00a0files<\/strong>\u00a0lets you choose how many files you\u2019ve recently opened will show on the list when you select\u00a0Open>Recently Edited<\/strong>\u00a0from the\u00a0File menu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Performance<\/strong>\u00a0menu relates to how much of your operating system resources\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0uses when it\u2019s running. The software will make a recommendation about how much RAM you have and how much you should allocate to\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0to keep things running smoothly. Just realize that when you allocate a lot of resources to\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0in this setting, while it\u2019s running it will slow down other things you might use your computer for. There\u2019s a good explanation of the other settings down at the bottom of the menu.<\/p>\n

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I like to have my\u00a0Cache Level<\/strong>\u00a0setting at the max to speed things up when I\u2019m\u00a0Undoing<\/strong>. With\u00a0100 History States<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a08 Cache Levels<\/strong>, I can take a layout right back to almost any point from the start and make changes. Ticking\u00a0Use Graphics Processor for Adjusting Facial Features<\/strong>\u00a0lets the graphics processor in my computer be involved in any facial feature editing.<\/p>\n

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Scratch Disks<\/strong>\u00a0relates to where\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0stores the\u00a0History States<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Cache Levels<\/strong>. If you have multiple drives, or work from an external drive, you can choose that storage area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Display and Cursors<\/strong>\u00a0is a really valuable menu. Here is where you can set things up to make working with\u00a0Brushes<\/strong>, either as\u00a0Brushes<\/strong>\u00a0or within the\u00a0Pen\/cil<\/strong>,\u00a0Dodge<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0Burn Tools<\/strong>, more streamlined and accurate. This shot shows my settings. I\u2019ll show you what the rest of them look like in subsequent images.<\/p>\n

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The thing to look for in these screenshots is how the cursor looks, then decide which will work better for you.\u00a0Show Crosshair in Brush Tip<\/strong>\u00a0gives a higher degree of accuracy when you\u2019re doing delicate work.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Crop Tool Shield<\/strong>\u00a0lets you see exactly what part of your photo or image will be included when you crop it. I find that\u00a0Black<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a075%<\/strong>\u00a0lets me see enough of the image to know if I\u2019m keeping the parts I want. You do you!<\/p>\n

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The last setting on this menu is for\u00a0High Density Displays<\/strong>.\u00a0Automatic<\/strong>\u00a0seems like a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

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Another really important menu is the\u00a0Transparency menu<\/strong>. Here\u2019s where you decide what you want to see when you\u2019ve got something with a transparent background. I\u2019ll show you some of the options for reference.<\/p>\n

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\"\"This combo might be useful for some activities but I really can\u2019t think of one.\u00a0😉<\/p>\n

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Units and Rulers<\/strong>\u00a0is where you tell\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0how you think. I still think in inches rather than centimeters, but when I set the country at the tail end of the Preferences<\/strong> menu, Elements<\/strong> wants to default to metric. I have to get tough with it! When thinking about\u00a0Type<\/strong>,\u00a0Points<\/strong>\u00a0is the most commonly used measure and makes it a lot easier to have a clue about what will happen when you type in your text.\u00a0Print Resolution<\/strong>\u00a0is a vital setting if you\u2019re planning to print out your layouts.\u00a0300 pixels per inch<\/strong>\u00a0is the optimum setting for that, but when you\u2019re just looking at it on the screen,\u00a072 pixels per inch<\/strong>\u00a0is good enough. (That\u2019s why my screenshots aren\u2019t as crystal clear as my layouts are.)<\/p>\n

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\"\"Guides<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Grids<\/strong>\u00a0are helpful tools.\u00a0Guides<\/strong>\u00a0are single straight lines that can be pulled from the top or the left of the workspace and allow for precise placement of objects and type on your layout.\u00a0Grids<\/strong>\u00a0give you graph paper, essentially. I use both regularly for my layouts. For them to be most useful, you need to be able to see them without them obscuring your work. These tools can be solid lines or dashed lines for\u00a0Guides<\/strong>, solid, dashed or dotted lines for\u00a0Grids<\/strong>. I have old eyes so my settings are what will work best for me. By all means, experiment until you get what you need.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Here\u2019s an image with two perpendicular Guide lines<\/strong>\u00a0on it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How do you get them to be visible? Along the top of the workspace there\u2019s a\u00a0View tab<\/strong>. Click it and a new menu opens. Click on the tool you want to make visible. I leave the\u00a0Rulers<\/strong>\u00a0on all the time. I like having them there as reference points.\u00a0Guide<\/strong>\u00a0lines don\u2019t require this step. Just put your cursor barely off the workspace, hold down the left mouse button and pull the mouse either down or to the right. You can add multiple\u00a0Guides<\/strong>\u00a0in either horizontal or vertical plane. Making them go away again, click\u00a0View<\/strong>\u00a0and click\u00a0Guide<\/strong>\u00a0again.<\/p>\n

\"\"If you want to make it so your\u00a0Guides<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Grids<\/strong>\u00a0don\u2019t move when you accidentally mouse over them, you want to\u00a0Snap To<\/strong>. To have them remain on your workspace regardless of what image you\u2019re working on,\u00a0Lock Guides<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Grid<\/strong>, or graph paper tool is customizable in several ways. You get to choose the colour of the\u00a0Grid<\/strong>, the measurements you want for your\u00a0Grid<\/strong>\u00a0lines and how that\u00a0Grid<\/strong>\u00a0is subdivided. Again you can choose between solid, dashed or dotted lines. I used this a ton when I was doing floor plans of the new house and trying out various furniture dimensions.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s an image using a\u00a0Grid<\/strong>. (This tool is so useful for speed-scrapping, when the facilitator says, \u201cPlace a large flower 2 inches from the left side and 1 1\/2 inches up from the bottom.\u201d Or, \u201cCut a rectangle from your paper measuring 4 inches long by 3 1\/4 inches high.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Plug-ins<\/strong> aren\u2019t something I have, so I\u2019ve never had occasion to do anything with this setting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Adobe Partner Services<\/strong>\u00a0are for developers and people who are smarter than me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here you have the option to make\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0tell you when there\u2019s an update to the software, or to give it permission to just update whenever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Type<\/strong>\u2026 these settings are important for title work and journaling.\u00a0Smart Quotes<\/strong>\u00a0means all the quotation marks, apostrophes and commas in your text will be curvy, which is a high-quality typography feature.\u00a0Show Asian Text Options<\/strong>\u00a0allows the use of Asian fonts and dingbat style fonts.\u00a0Missing Glyph Protection<\/strong>\u00a0is a setting that gives\u00a0Elements<\/strong>\u00a0permission to substitute another character for one not present in a font family.\u00a0Font Preview<\/strong>\u00a0is something I insist on having as large as possible for my old eyes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Country\/Region Selection<\/strong>\u00a0is self-explanatory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"When you look at the Layers Panel<\/strong>, in the upper right corner of the screen there is an icon that looks like 4 horizontal lines with a tiny blue triangle just to the left of it. When you click on that, the dropdown menu has an item at the very bottom called Panel Options<\/strong>. Click on that and you can set the size of your\u00a0Layer Thumbnails<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ll notice I\u2019ve selected\u00a0Layer Bounds<\/strong>\u00a0in the\u00a0Thumbnail Contents<\/strong>\u00a0section. That means that ONLY what\u2019s on THAT layer is shown in the thumbnail. If\u00a0Entire Document<\/strong>\u00a0is selected\u2026 well\u2026 the thumbnail will basically be a microscopic version of your entire layout. By selecting Use\u00a0Default Masks on Fill Layers<\/strong>, I can see what part of the contents of the layer has been filled.<\/p>\n

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The last thing I want to talk about is\u00a0Move tool options<\/strong>. You\u2019ll notice I\u2019ve ticked\u00a0Show Bounding Box<\/strong>\u00a0but haven\u2019t ticked the box for\u00a0Auto Select Layer<\/strong>. I want to show you why.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Auto Select Layer<\/strong>\u00a0is ticked,\u00a0Show Highlight on Rollover<\/strong>\u00a0is automatically selected too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When there are just a bunch of random items sitting on a transparent background, this option isn\u2019t a big problem. When the mouse rolls over any of the flowers or the bow on my workspace, a blue box appears around the outside of the object.<\/p>\n

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But when there are things positioned on top of other things, it\u2019s very possible to move things you didn\u2019t intend to move just because you had too much pressure on the mouse when it rolled over them. You might not even realize it\u2019s happening until all of a sudden that flower is hanging off the page, or the paper you thought you put under your photo is now halfway across the page. And when you look at the\u00a0Layers Panel<\/strong>\u00a0the object\u2019s layer isn\u2019t even active! So I turn that off and just have the\u00a0Bounding Box<\/strong>\u00a0on so I can see the outer limits of the object as I move it around.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ve learned some useful things today. I did, even though all I did was show you how I\u2019ve selected my preferences. (I had to be able to explain them, right?)<\/p>\n

See you next Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greatest Hits: Elements Preferences and Settings [Link to PDF version will go here when Ginger has time to convert.] Well, now. Trying to Work Smart Not Hard ended up in chaos. Again. In an effort to make the transition to my new laptop as streamlined as possible, I went through all my Brushes and Styles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,102,92,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 17:59:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"private","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55514"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55541,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55514\/revisions\/55541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}