Setting Up Photoshop Elements

When you get to the Photoshop Elements splash screen, choose Photo Editor. Choose Expert mode at the top of your screen.

When first opening Photoshop Elements, you’ll see a blank screen. This is where you’ll work with your documents.

On the left side of the screen you’ll find the toolbar. The tools allow you to interact with your document.

One of the tools you'll work with the most is the Move Tool, which is located in the toolbar.

With the Move Tool selected, choose Tool Options at the bottom of the screen. With the Move tool selected, make sure the “Auto Select Layer” and “Show Bounding Box” have been checked. This will allow you to directly select any layered items on a document. Uncheck “Show Highlight on Rollover.” Note: Tool Options change depending on which tool you’ve selected.

 In the top menu, go to Photoshop (Mac) or Edit (PC) >Preferences >General. Check the “Zoom with Scroll Wheel” box. Click OK.

The Layers palette is the palette you'll work with most when doing scrapbook layouts. To make sure this palette is showing, click the Layers button at the bottom of the screen.

On the right side of the screen, you’ll see a list of palettes. The Layers palette is the palette you'll work most when doing scrapbook layouts. To open this palette, go to Window >Layers. If it comes in as a floating window, click on the word Layers and drag it to the far right edge of your screen until you see a vertical blue bar. This will allow you to dock your Layers palette in the right-hand docking space.

More instruction on setting up your workspace can be found in my Digital 1: We've Just Begun! course.