Standard Edit Screen for
Photoshop Elements

Screen Resolution

Screen resolution is really important with Photoshop Elements.  If you have a low resolution objects like the palette bin, the photo bin, and the menu bars will appear larger and thus will be easy to read.  However, because these objects take up more of the screen there will be less room for the image you are editing.  Photoshop Elements will not work well at all at 800x600 monitor resolution.  A reasonable setting would be 1024x768 which still low enough to be able to read the text that will be on the screen and large enough to give you a good image size.

To change the resolution

  1. right click your mouse on a blank portion of the screen (you may have to minimize an application to make a portion of the screen blank.
  2. Click on “properties”
  3. In the Display Properties dialog box click on the “Settings” tab.
  4. Move the “Screen resolution” slider left or right until you get the resolution you wish.
  5. Click OK
  6. If asked, click yes or ok to accept the new resolution.

Maximized and Normal Images

The active image in Elements 3 can be in two modes.  In the maximized mode the upper right hand corner of the screen will look like the image on the left.  In this mode only the current active image will be visible on the screen.  This is not desirable if you are working on more than one image at a time.  However, all open images will be visible in the photo bin.  To change from the maximized mode to the normal mode click on the third symbol to the right of the “Type a question for help” box.  (The double screen symbol.)  To close an image while it is in the maximized mode simply click on the X on the second line down.  (Clicking on the X on the top line will close Elements 3.

In the normal mode the open image will appear on the screen in its own window.  This will allow several images to be open and at least partially visible at once.  The active image will always be on top.  To change the active image to the maximized mode simply maximize its window.  Now, instead of being in a window, the image will be centered in the image area surrounded by a grey area.

Photo Bin

Along the bottom of the Standard Edit screen is the Photo Bin.  The photo bin contains thumbnails of all open images.  By clicking on one of the thumbnails you will make that image active in the main screen.  To allow for more room for the active image you can change the size or even eliminate the photo bin.

  1. To make the photo bin disappear move your mouse pointer over the top edge until the mouse pointer changes.  Then click.  The photo bin will disappear except for the narrow edge strip at the top.  This will allow for a larger image to be displayed, especially vertically oriented photos.
  2. To make the photo bin reappear move the mouse to the edge strip that is now on the bottom edge of the screen.  Click.  The photo bin will now appear full size.
  3. To change the size of the photo bin move your mouse over the top edge strip, click and hold, then drag the edge up or down until you get the size you wish.  If you make the photo bin smaller you will not be able to see the entire thumbnail image but it still will allow you to select the active image.

Windows and Palette Bin

There are a number of windows that one might like to have open to aid in the editing of images.  To open one of these windows click on “Window” in the main menu.  The windows you have available are

If in the “Window” dropdown menu if the window is checked then it is active (being displayed).  You can toggle this action by clicking on the window.  An active window can be either independent or it can be a part of the Palette Bin.  The palette bin is located on the right hand side of the Standard Edit screen.  The palette bin is ideal for windows that you would like to always have available.

The default (out of the box) palette bin contains the How To, Styles and Effects, and Layers windows.  This writer’s preference is to have in the palette bin the Layers window and the Undo History window.  To do this two windows will have to be removed from the palette bin and one will have to be added to the palette bin.

Remove the “How To” window from the palette bin.

  1. Click on the words “How To” and drag the window away from the palette bin.
  2. Click on “More” at the top of the “How To” window.
  3. Uncheck “Place in Palette Bin” by clicking on that choice.
  4. Close the “How To” window.
  5. The “How To” window is no longer active and no longer in the palette bin.

Add the “Undo History” to the palette bin.

  1. Make the “Undo History” window active
  2. Click on “More” at the top of the “Undo History” window
  3. Check “Place in Palette Bin” by clicking on that choice.
  4. Close the “Undo History” window.
  5. The “Undo History” window will now move to the palette bin.  It is still active.

With the “Window” command you can check and uncheck “Palette Bin” making everything in the Palette Bin either active or inactive.

Changing the size of the palette bin.

Along the left edge of the palette bin is a very narrow strip.  This can be used to either toggle the palette bin or the change its size.

  1. To make the palette bin disappear move your mouse pointer over the left edge until mouse pointer changes.  Then click.  The palette bin will disappear except for the narrow edge strip.  This will allow for a larger image to be displayed.
  2. To make the palette bin reappear move you mouse to the edge strip that is now on the right edge of the screen.  Click.  The palette bin will now appear full size.
  3. To change the size of the palette bin move your mouse over the edge strip, click and hold, then drag the edge left or right until you get the size you wish.  A narrow palette bin will let you see the items in the window of the palette bin but sometimes will reduce the functionality of the windows.

Opening Files

Photoshop Elements 3.0 has a browser that allows for easy opening of files that are on any folder on your computer. However Photoshop Elements 4.0 does not have a browser. In Elements 4 there are two ways to bring a file into the editor (and both are also available in Elements 3).

  1. If you use the Organizer portion of Photoshop Elements you can edit an image by clicking on that image in the Photo Browser in Organizer and clicking "Edit" then choosing Quick Fix or Standard Edit. Your image will then be opened by the Elements Editor. Note: You must close the images in the editor before you can work with them again in the Organizer.
  2. You may also open a file with the command "file - open" then browsing to the correct folder. You may view thumbnails of the images by clicking on the "View Menu" button and selecting "Thumbnails".