In this video, I’m going to show you three secret Photoshop shortcuts to bring up truly hidden menus.
I know that the title sounds like click-bait but that sort of the reason why I did it.
I’ve seen a lot of videos recently with these kinds of titles and the examples never really show anything secret or hidden.
It’s usually a shortcut that brings up a dialog box that you could have brought up by using at least one or more menus.
So, I gave myself the challenge to come up with truly hidden menus that you could only bring up with a secret keyboard shortcut.
In other words, you cannot simply stumble upon these menus, someone needs to show you the secret handshake before you can get in.
Bring Back Refine Edge Dialog Box
To refine a mask or selection you can use the Select and Mask Workspace.
If you prefer to use the old Refine Edge dialog box instead, you can hold Shift, then go to Select > Select and Mask while you have a mask or selection active to bring it back.
Precise Flare Center
When creating a Lens Flare (Filter > Render > Lens Flare) press-and-hold the Alt (Mac: Option) key and click on the image preview box to bring up the Precise Flare Center dialog. From the Precise Flare you can input the X and Y coordinates for your flare.
You can use the I
Read Composite Data
To open a flattened version of a layered PSD file, go to File > Open and find the PSD file that you would like to open. Then click on it once to select it. Hold down Shift Alt (Mac: Shift Option) and click “Open“.
Photoshop will then ask you if you want to “Read the composite data instead.” Press “OK” and a flattened version of that file will open up.
This technique is an excellent way to open a large file that usually takes a long time to open. In case you only want to show it to someone or share it in an email or social media.
NOTE:
Always do a “Save As.” Saving the document will override the original file, and you will lose all your layers.
