Why Won’t Photoshop Elements Do What I Tell It To Do?
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In some situations, the changes you try to apply to an image may not seem to work. You may hear a beep, indicating that you’re trying to do something that’s not allowed. The following list offers explanations and solutions for common issues that might be blocking your progress.
Commit is required
Several tools, including the Type tool require you to click the Commit button before you can move on to another task. The same is true when you crop with the Crop tool or resize a layer or selection with the Move tool.
Cancel is required
The Undo command isn’t available while you have uncommitted changes made with some tools—for example, the Type tool, Move tool, and Crop tool. If you want to undo these edits, click the Cancel button instead of using the Undo command or shortcut.
Edits are restricted by an active selection
When you create a selection (using a marquee tool, the Quick Selection tool, or the Selection Brush tool, for example), you limit the active area of the image. Any edits you make will apply only within the selected area. If you try to make changes to an area outside the selection, nothing happens. Edits are restricted by an active selection. If you want to deactivate a selection, choose Select > Deselect, and then you can work on any area of the image.
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Move tool is required
If you drag a selection, the selection marquee moves, not the image within the selection marquee. If you want to move a selected part of the image or an entire layer, use the Move tool.
Background layer is selected
Many changes cannot be applied to the Background layer. For example, you can’t erase, delete, change the opacity, or drag the Background layer to a higher level in the layer stack. If you need to apply changes to the Background layer, double-click it and rename it (or accept the default name, Layer 0).
Active layer is hidden
In most cases, the edits you make apply to only the currently selected layer—the one highlighted in the Layers palette. If an eye icon does not appear beside that layer in the Layers palette, then the layer is hidden and you cannot edit it. Or, if the image on the selected layer is not visible because it is blocked by an opaque upper layer, you will actually be changing that layer, but you won’t see the changes in the image window.
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The active layer is hidden, the view is blocked by an opaque upper layer, or the active layer is locked.
Active layer is locked
If you lock a layer by selecting the layer and then selecting the Lock in the Layers palette, the lock prevents the layer from changing. To unlock a layer, select the layer, and then select the Lock at the top of the Layers palette to remove the Lock.
Active layer is locked.
Wrong layer is selected (for editing text)
If you want to make changes to a text layer, be sure that layer is selected in the Layers palette before you start. If a non-text layer is selected when you click the Type tool in the image window, Photoshop Elements creates a new text layer instead of placing the cursor in the existing text layer.