Many image-oriented programs use the panels of a sort, and Photoshop has had panels since version 1.0.
Since Photoshop 3.0, the program has used a novel way of working with panels. Rather than standalone windows, Photoshop uses grouped, tabbed panels, which overlap each other in groups of two of three.
To access a panel that falls behind the one displayed on top, click the panel’s tab. By default, some panels, such as Tool Presets, appear alone.
Panels may contain sliders, buttons, drop-down lists, pop-up menus and other controls. We also find icons at the bottom of many panels. Observe the following figures which have the screenshot of the panels which contained icons to maintain your image.
Whatever name we call them, palettes or panels, they still hold the same information. They’re streamlined and easily tucked away and expanded, as needed. By default, the panels are anchored in the top-right by a multitier dock.
Here’s how to open, close, and otherwise manipulate a panel group, which can be accessed easily from the Window menu:
® To expand a panel: Panels are represented by icons when collapsed. To expand a panel, simply click its icon. We can also select a panel by choosing it in the Window menu.
® To bring a panel to the front of its group: When the panel group is expanded, the visible panel is the panel that has a check mark next to it on the Window menu. In this mode, we can select only one panel in any group because only one tab in a group can be on top at one time. When we select a panel from the Window menu, we have no way of knowing which panels are grouped together because Adobe lists panels alphabetically, rather than by groups. To bring a specific panel to the front, click its tab (when expanded) or icon (when collapsed).
® To move a panel out of its group: Grab the panel’s tab with our mouse and drag it to its new location, such as another group, the panel dock, or the Photoshop desktop. If we move the panels out of their groups or drag them onto the desktop so they stand alone, any of them can be selected in the Window menu.
® To collapse a panel: Click the gray area next to the tab.
® To close a panel: Select a check-marked panel in the Window menu. The whole panel group closes. We can also select Close or Close Tab Group from the panel’s pop-up menu. Here are some more panel-manipulation tips:
® Expand or collapse the dock: To do so, click on the double triangles at the top of the dock.
® Reduce a panel to its icon: Drag the panel by its tab and position it below the existing column of icons. Release mouse button to make the panel collapse to its corresponding icon.
® Save space by keeping panels in groups: We can move all the panels in a group by dragging the gray area to the right of the group’s tab. Access an individual panel by clicking its tab to bring it to the front. As a result, several panels occupy the screen space required by only one.
® Use the Window menu if we can’t find a panel: On the Window menu, select the panel’s name to make it visible or to bring it to the top of its group.
® Customize, customize, customize: After we use Photoshop for a while, creating our own custom panel groups based on the panels we most often use can be a real timesaver. For example, if we don’t use the Paths panel very often but can’t live without the Actions panel, we can drag the Paths panel to another group or to the panel dock area, and put the Actions panel in the same group as the mission-critical Layers and Channels panels.
® Restore default panel locations, when desired: If we decide we don’t like the way we’ve arranged our panels, we can choose Window➪Workspace➪Essentials
(Default) to return them to the default.
Many panels allow us to reset the settings back to their default. Too do, select Result from the panels pop-up menu located in the top-right connect
