Six Move Tool Tips For Photoshop

By Jennifer Farley | Jul 29 2008 |

move tool tips
So naturally enough, the main function of the Move Tool in Photoshop is to move objects around the document window. It’s basically your index finger for pushing stuff around, but by combining it with some modifier keys you can add to it’s functionality. Here’s six MoveTool tips to speed up your workflow.

With the Move tool selected, hold down the Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key to temporarily turn on the “Auto Select Layer” feature. Once Auto Select Layer is turned on, just click in the image area over the desired layer to select it, without having to go to the Layers palette. To select additional layers, add the Shift key while clicking.
To quickly select the Move tool while another tool is selected, hold down the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) key while another tool is selected. Releasing the key returns you to the previous tool.
This shortcut does NOT work for the Pen, Path and Direct Selection, Shape and Hand tools and the Slice and Slice select tools.

Selecting multiple layers (or selecting linked layers) in the Layers panel using the Move Tool allows them be aligned and distributed by clicking the icons in the Options bar at the top of the screen.

Holding down Alt (Win) /Option (Mac) makes a copy of a layer while moving it in the image area with the Move tool. The cursor will change to a double-arrow when you hold down the modifier keys.

On an image with multiple layers, right mouse-click (Win) / Control (Mac) in the image area to select a layer from the context sensitive list.

To easily find the centre of any layer (except the background layer), select the Move tool and click on the “Show Transform Controls” option in the Options bar.