Looking at the Work Area > Getting familiar with the work area > Using palettes
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Using palettes


Palettes help you monitor and modify images. There are many ways to organize palettes in the work area. You can store palettes in the palette well to keep them out of your way but easily accessible; or, you can keep frequently used palettes open in the work area. Another option is to group palettes together in the work area, or to dock one palette at the bottom of another palette.

Note: Drag a palette out of the palette well if you want to keep it open.

To display a palette:

Do one of the following:
  • Click its tab.
  • Choose the appropriate Show command in the Window menu. All palettes are listed in the Window menu.

    • To change the size of a palette:

    Drag any corner of the palette (Windows) or drag the size box at its lower right corner (Mac OS).

    Note: Not all palettes can be resized.

    To close a palette:

    Do one of the following:
  • If the palette is in the palette well, click outside the palette in the work area or click the palette's tab. (See Using the palette well.)
  • Click the close icon on the palette title bar.
  • If the palette is in a palette group, click the close icon on the title bar for the group.
  • Choose the appropriate Hide command in the Window menu. If the palette is grouped with other palettes, the entire group is concealed.

    • To show or hide multiple palettes:

    Do one of the following:
  • To show or hide all open palettes, the options bar, the shortcuts bar, and the toolbox, press Tab.
  • To show or hide all palettes, press Shift+Tab.

    • To group palettes together:

    1 Display the palettes you want to group together. If the palettes are in the palette well, drag at least one of them into the work area.

    2 Drag a palette's tab onto the body of the target palette. A thick line appears around the body of the target palette when the pointer is over the correct area.
    Click palette tab, and drag the palette to group.
    Palettes are grouped.

    To move a palette to another group, drag the palette's tab to that group. To separate a palette from a group, drag the palette's tab outside the group.

    To dock palettes together:

    Drag a palette's tab to the bottom of another palette. A double line appears at the bottom of the target palette when the pointer is over the correct area.

    Note: Entire palette groups cannot be docked together at once, but you can dock the palettes from one group to another, one at a time.

    To move a palette group:

    Drag its title bar.

    To collapse a palette group:

    Click the Minimize/Maximize box (Windows) or the Zoom box (Mac OS), or double-click a palette's tab.

    To reset palettes to their default positions:

    Choose Window > Reset Palette Locations.

    To always start with the default palette and dialog box positions:

    1 Choose Edit > Preferences > General.

    2 Deselect Save Palette Locations. The change takes effect the next time you start the application.

    Looking at the Work Area > Getting familiar with the work area > Using palettes