Stuck in Photoshop?

Don't press Control+Y

Are your pictures looking washed out?
Do they look like they are in CMYK colours even though Image >> Mode has RGB colour ticked?
Look at the title of your picture.

Press Control + Y until it looks like this:

How do I enlarge my picture?

                ===>        Believe it or not, you use the Crop tool.
                                   It can be used to expand as well as shrink
                                   Press Shift while resizing to change its proportions

How do I make my picture an exact square?

               ===>        Select the Crop tool
               ===>        Make the ratio 1 x 1
               ===>        Click once
               ===>        Move picture around until satisfied
               ===>        Press Enter

My whole picture is gone. I've lost everything!

You might have no layers selected

===> click on one of the
layer eyes

Ding!

You keep getting the **ding** because you have a message window open which is hidden under other windows

This can happen when you start something then click away before confirming an action.

===> minimise all your windows until you find the message window and click OK on it

( you can no longer just press Enter, you have to click on the window first)

Marching ants won't go away

You can’t get rid of the marching ants because you are in the wrong layer

===> Go to the layer you made the selection in, then press Control + D to de-select

Everything has gone grey!

You may have accidentally pressed
     Cntl + 3
     or
     Cntl + 4
     or
     Cntl + 5
so you are only seeing one channel of colour.

            ===>        Press Cntl + 2 to see all colours

Screenshot of channel window showing only one channel active

Screenshot of colour selection boxes grayed out

OR

Your image is in Grayscale

               ===> change

             Image / Mode / Grayscale
             to
             Image / Mode / RGB Color

You may then need Control + D to de-select

Edges have gone transparent

You have resized your picture and now you have 1 pixel wide transparent edges all around.

Solution:
Select the new layer with the bad edges.
Duplicate this layer.
In the new layer, Layer >> Layer Mask >> From Transparency.
Delete the layer mask.

Layers stuck together

You have copied a layer but when you go to move it, the old layer moves too.

===> Turn off auto-select

Eraser won't work

You have made a selection and you are trying to erase outside it

===> Control + D to get rid of selection

You are working in the wrong layer

===> check you have the correct layer highlighted

Another layer is masking your work

===> turn off the eye of the other layer

The eraser is making the edges fade

===> Go to the top and change Mode from Paintbrush to Pencil
===> Ensure Hardness is 100%

Brush won't work

You have made a selection and you are trying to paint outside it

===> Control + D to get rid of selection

You are working in the wrong layer

===> Check you have the correct layer highlighted

Another layer is masking your work

===> move your layer higher than the other or turn off its eye

Gradient tool won't work

Can't find the Gradient Tool!

===> It is in the group which usually shows the Paint Bucket tool on top

You have made a selection and you are trying to paint outside it

===> Control + D to get rid of selection

You are working in the wrong layer

===> Check you have the correct layer highlighted

Another layer is masking your work

===> move your layer higher than the other or turn off its eye

You were using the Magnetic Lasso Tool and you missed

===>        Press Backspace to delete the last point

                         .....and the picture is over the edge.

               ===>        Press Spacebar to click and drag the picture, then let go

                 ..... and you want to stop

               ===>        Double click to make a join back to the start

                         .....and you accidentally stopped

               ===>        Press Shift to add more

Rasterize message

You are trying to act on a Type layer

===> Cancel and go to work on a layer with a picture on it

===> Rasterise the type so it is now just a picture and you can't change the letters with the Type tool anymore

Wrong tool!

You have clicked while in the wrong action, and you don’t want it.

===> press Escape

Delete not working

This message pops up when you try to delete

You are trying to work on a locked layer

                ===> right click on Background layer, Duplicate it, then work on that layer

                ===>        press Enter

                              o   or find message window and click OK

                ===>        go to original Background layer, close the eye

                ===>        go back to Background copy

                                NOTE        you will not lose any selection you have made

Delete still doesn't work!

It did work but you still have the original Background layer open

===> go to Background layer, close the eye

===> return to Background copy layer

Strange icon in Photoshop

The picture changed colour and there is a strange shape

You have dragged the Cropping Tool onto the picture.

===> press Escape

Undo not working in Photoshop

You haven’t finished the action yet.
===> Press Enter

===> Control + Z

You can only undo the last step

                ===>        You are using an older version of Photoshop, for example 2016
                ===>        Use Edit / Step Backward to delete earlier actions
                ===>        Professional users undo using History

Typing not working

Screenshot of typing underscore but invisible typing

You may be typing white on white

===>Go to the colour fonts and click on the arrow to swap the fonts

o or press D to change the fonts to black and white

Selecting

You selected outside, not inside

===> Select / Inverse

Index instead of Background Layer

You have a vector image

===> Duplicate and go Image / Mode / RGB