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Adobe Photoshop 7.0
Top 7 Tips & Tricks

Much has already been written about Adobe Photoshop 7.0's ability to empower
photographers to work more efficiently, explore new creative options, and produce the
highest quality images for print, Web, and other media.
Now, SP&D presents "Top 7 Tips & Tricks of Photoshop 7.0," by Photoshop wiz Julieanne Kost.

TEXT BY JULIEANNE KOST

Well, the reality is that, as with any new version of Photoshop, there are far more features than you'll find on the box. But how can you possibly learn them all before your next major deadline? I've put together my top 7 tips to make the transition from Photoshop 6.0 to Photoshop 7.0 as easy as possible.
Let's take a look at the enhancements that didn't make the front page, but will make a dramatic difference in your workflow.

1.BATCH RANKING
After looking at the File Browser for a while, I knew there must be a way to quickly rank or "tag" more than one image at a time. Certainly you can't tab through each file when you have hundreds of them!!! But when I checked the menus, there didn't seem to be any way to accomplish this.
The secret? This option is only available using the context-sensitive menus. To batch rank, select the files you want (by clicking on one, then shift-clicking to add others that are contiguous, or use Command (Mac)/Control (Win) for adding discontiguous images). Then, Control (Mac)/right mouse (Win) click in one of the image thumbnails. From the context-sensitive list, choose one of the rankings (A, B, C, D, or E). It seems like a limited list, but remember, the batch rank sorts files alphabetically, so keep that in mind when ranking files.

2.CREATING NEW FILE PRESETS
In addition to being able to choose from a selection of predefined new Document sizes, Photoshop 7.0 lets you create your own. Just navigate to the Presets folder in Photoshop 7.0, open the New Doc Sizes.txt file, and follow the instructions to add custom sizes.
After making your edits, save the New Doc Sizes.txt back as a text file. Your new presets will appear at the bottom of the pre-defined (built in) list. In addition, you can net a New Document Preset Resolution in the Units and Rulers preferences for either Print or Screen work. Check out the instructions for building your own custom Picture Packages, as well. Photoshop 7.0 > Presets > Layouts > found in the ReadMe.txt file.

3.AUTOMATION
When running an action (a series of prerecorded commands) on multiple files, File Browser can now be chosen as a "source" in the Batch dialog box. If you have rotated files in the File Browser, when the batch command opens the files to run the action, it will automatically rotate them, eliminating the need to include recording the rotation step in an action.

4.THE LAYERS PALETTE
The Fill opacity command in the advanced blending area of the Layer Styles dialog box was so popular in Photoshop 6.0, we decided to make it more accessible by including it on the Layers palette in Photoshop 7.0. The Fill opacity command differs from the Layer opacity in that it only affects the inner contents of the layer. For example, if you assign a layer effect to a layer, and decrease the opacity of the layer, both the layer and the effect are changed. If, on the other hand, you decrease the Fill opacity of the layer, only the contents of the layer is affected, while the layer style applied remains at full opacity.

5.THE PRESET MANAGER
Re-order any of the items in a palette by simply dragging them to a new location in the presets manager. This is huge!

6.MULTI-USER ENVIRONMENTS
If you Control (Mac)/right mouse (Win) click on the tool presets icon in the Options bar, you can choose to reset the current tool or all of the tools to their default settings. You can also choose to reset your preferences and scratch disks on launch by doing the following:
(a) On MacOS systems, press Command-Option-Shift and then start Adobe Photoshop. A prompt appears, asking if you want to delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings File. Click Yes to restore Photoshop 7.0 to its default settings.
(b) On Windows systems, launch Adobe Photoshop 7.0; then hold down Ctrl-Alt-Shift. A prompt asks if you want to delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings File. Click Yes to restore Photoshop 7.0 to its default settings.

7.COPY & PASTE PATHS FROM ILLUSTRATOR TO PHOTOSHOP
I love the option to paste either as paths, a shape layer, or pixels when moving back and forth between Photoshop and Illustrator. However, when I tried this in Photoshop 7.0, it appeared as if I had used the place command. What happened? Well, it's a change that was made to Illustrator 10 and I just hadn't noticed it before I upgraded to Photoshop 7.0. By default, Illustrator 10 copies and pastes using the Adobe PDF format. To force Illustrator to retain the paths, modify Illustrator's Preferences by going to the "Files and Clipboard" preferences and, in the clipboard area, select copy as "AICB." Voila!