5 Hidden Photoshop Features You Probably Don’t Know About
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Your choices stick across every tutorial on this device.
These five hidden Photoshop features unlock reusable PSD templates, cross-app color sampling, sharper font matches, legacy brushes and shapes, and built-in step-by-step tutorials most users never find.
Adobe Photoshop is packed with powerful tools, but some of its best features are tucked away in places most users don’t think to look. In this guide, we’ll explore five lesser-known yet highly useful features that can level up your workflow. Whether you’re a designer, photographer, or digital artist, these tips are worth adding to your arsenal.
Key Takeaways
- Renaming a .PSD file with a .PSDT extension turns it into a template. Photoshop always opens it as a new, untitled document, so you can never overwrite the original by accident.
- The Eyedropper Tool can sample color from anywhere on your screen, not just your Photoshop canvas, once you minimize the application frame and drag out.
- The Type menu’s built-in Match Font tool has small, blurry previews. The Extract from Image option in the Libraries panel gives larger previews and lets you test your own text.
- Photoshop hides most of its classic brushes, shapes, and styles by default. The Legacy option in each panel’s flyout or gear menu brings them all back.
- The Discover panel’s Hands-on Tutorials place coach marks directly on your Photoshop interface, so you follow real steps instead of just watching a video.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- 1. Turn Any PSD into a Template
- 2. Sample Colors from Outside Photoshop
- 3. A Better Way to Match Fonts from Images
- 4. Unlock Legacy and Hidden Brushes, Shapes, and Styles
- 5. Use Photoshop’s Built-In Step-by-Step Tutorials
- Bonus: Recommended Hardware – MSI Creator A16 AI+
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Try These Hidden Photoshop Features Today
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to turn any PSD into a reusable template with the .PSDT extension
- How to sample colors from any app or website with the Eyedropper Tool
- How to get sharper font matches using the Libraries panel’s Extract from Image tool
- How to unlock Photoshop’s legacy brushes, shapes, and styles
- How to follow the built-in, step-by-step tutorials in the Discover panel
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop 2025 (version 26.6 or later) or the current version.
1. Turn Any PSD into a Template
Since Photoshop 2015, you can convert any .PSD file into a reusable template by renaming the file with a “.PSDT” extension.
When you open a PSDT file, Photoshop automatically creates a new untitled document, ensuring that you don’t accidentally overwrite your original work. It’s a simple yet game-changing productivity trick.
2. Sample Colors from Outside Photoshop
Photoshop’s Eyedropper Tool isn’t limited to just your canvas.
To sample a color from any application: Minimize the Photoshop application frame. Click and drag from within your canvas to any area on your screen (including web browsers or other apps).
The Eyedropper will sample the color underneath your cursor in real time.
Perfect for pulling hex codes from websites or matching UI colors.
3. A Better Way to Match Fonts from Images
Photoshop’s Match Font feature (found under the Type menu) is great but it’s limited. Previews are small, blurry, and you can’t test custom text.
Here’s a better method using Libraries:
Go to Window > Libraries. Click the + icon > choose Extract from Image.
Under Type, select the text area in the image. Click Find Similar Fonts.
This tool provides larger, clearer previews and lets you enter your own sample text. You can save the result as a Character or Paragraph Style in your CC Libraries. From there, apply it to any text layer with a single click.
4. Unlock Legacy and Hidden Brushes, Shapes, and Styles
Photoshop hides a ton of assets by default. Here’s how to get them back:
Legacy Brushes: Go to the Brush Preset Picker > Gear Icon > Legacy Brushes.
More Brushes: From the same Gear menu, choose Get More Brushes to download official Adobe brush packs (.ABR files).
Legacy Shapes & Styles: Go to Window > Shapes or Window > Styles. Use the flyout menu to load legacy presets.
You’ll gain access to hundreds of classic brushes, shapes, and styles used throughout Photoshop’s history.
5. Use Photoshop’s Built-In Step-by-Step Tutorials
Hidden within Photoshop is a hands-on learning tool powered by the Discover panel.
To access: Click the Discover icon (magnifying glass) on the right sidebar.
Scroll down to Hands-on Tutorials under the Home section.
Choose a tutorial like “Add a Colorful Dual Lighting Effect to a Portrait”.
What makes this feature amazing is that it uses coach marks to guide you step by step over your actual Photoshop interface. It automatically performs certain actions, highlights relevant tools, and offers real-time feedback as you follow along.
By the end, you’ll have completed a fully stylized project, learning techniques like masking, gradient maps, and blend modes along the way.
Bonus: Recommended Hardware – MSI Creator A16 AI+
To get the most out of Photoshop, having the right hardware matters. Jesús uses the MSI Creator A16 AI+, which features:
- AMD Ryzen 9 processor
- 16” 4K mini-LED display (1,000 nits brightness, 120Hz refresh)
- Up to 64GB RAM
- NVIDIA RTX 4070 graphics
It’s built for demanding creative tasks, from photo retouching to motion design.
Whether you’re refining your workflow or just love discovering new tools, these hidden features can supercharge your Photoshop experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
This tutorial covers five hidden Photoshop features. You can turn a PSD into a template, sample color from outside Photoshop, and get better font matches from the Libraries panel. It also covers unlocking legacy brushes and shapes, plus the Discover panel’s built-in tutorials.
PSDT is a Photoshop template file. Add a T to the end of any .PSD file’s extension, and Photoshop opens it as a new, untitled document instead of the original. This has worked since Photoshop 2015 and prevents you from accidentally overwriting your source file.
Yes. Minimize the Photoshop application frame, then click inside the canvas with the Eyedropper Tool and drag onto any other window on your screen. Photoshop updates the foreground color in real time as you drag, so you can pull a color from a website or another app.
Match Font, under the Type menu, shows small, blurry font previews and will not let you test your own text. Extract from Image, found in the Libraries panel, gives larger previews, lets you type custom sample text, and save it as a Character or Paragraph Style.
Open the Brush Preset Picker, Shapes panel, or Styles panel and click its gear or flyout menu. Choose Legacy Brushes, Legacy Shapes and More, or Legacy Styles and More to load the classic presets Photoshop hides by default.
Open the Brush Preset Picker’s gear menu and choose Get More Brushes. This opens Adobe’s brush packs in your browser, where you can download official .ABR files and load them into Photoshop.
The Discover panel is Photoshop’s built-in learning tool. Click its magnifying glass icon, scroll to Hands-on Tutorials, and pick a project to follow coach marks across your own Photoshop interface.
Photoshop 2025 (version 26.6) or the current version. The video was recorded in Photoshop 2025 (version 26.6), and all five features still work the same way in the current version of Photoshop.
Try These Hidden Photoshop Features Today
These five features are easy to miss because Photoshop tucks most of them behind a gear icon, a flyout menu, or a file extension you would not expect.
Once you know where to look, turning a PSD into a template, matching a font, or restoring a legacy brush takes seconds.
Watch the video above for the full walkthrough, and comment on the video if you have a question.
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Keep going
Next, try another hidden Photoshop trick: how to find missing patterns, shapes, and gradients.
