How To Fit An Image To Canvas Automatically In PS Elements?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
May 10, 2021
1 reply
1726 views

I have seen a video how to fit a new image automatically to the canvas in Photoshop, and was wondering if this can be done in PS Elements as well. In the full Photoshop under general preferences there is an option to, "resize image during place". I know that it can be done manually in Elements, but it would save time if it could be done automatically.

Example. I am working on an image in PS Elements. I wish to bring in another image on a separate layer that has different pixel dimensions. When i import the new image it could be larger or smaller than the existing canvas and I have to manually resize. Is there a way to have it automatically resize to the canvas size?

Kind regards

Chris

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Correct answer MichelBParis

Hi Chris,

When you drag an image from the 'photo bin' to the image being edited, a preview is displayed, fitting in the canvas, waiting for you to resize, tilt or move the preview. The dragged image is displayed in the layer palette as a 'smart layer', that is a reference to the original image. You can upsize, resize at will, you won't lose quality in the process. That's the big advantage of 'smart layers'. So long as you don't 'simplify' the smart layer, which transforms it in a normal pixel layer, you are able to resize or move the preview and to add adjustement layers. You may have to simplify to apply direct changes to the layer. It's good to remember that smart layers include the whole source file which can result in huge pdf or tiff files. Simplifying may be in order when saving the resulting layered file.

MichelBParisCorrect answer

Legend

Hi Chris,

When you drag an image from the 'photo bin' to the image being edited, a preview is displayed, fitting in the canvas, waiting for you to resize, tilt or move the preview. The dragged image is displayed in the layer palette as a 'smart layer', that is a reference to the original image. You can upsize, resize at will, you won't lose quality in the process. That's the big advantage of 'smart layers'. So long as you don't 'simplify' the smart layer, which transforms it in a normal pixel layer, you are able to resize or move the preview and to add adjustement layers. You may have to simplify to apply direct changes to the layer. It's good to remember that smart layers include the whole source file which can result in huge pdf or tiff files. Simplifying may be in order when saving the resulting layered file.

Chrisn NAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you very much Michel. I just tried dragging an image from the photo bin into another open psd file and it worked correctly as you have described.

I am wondering, is there also a way to do this when copying just a layer from one psd file to another psd file? If I right click a layer/duplicate/ and send it to another psd document it does not automatically adjust to the new canvas size.

Kind regards

Chris

MichelBParis

Legend

I am wondering, is there also a way to do this when copying just a layer from one psd file to another psd file? If I right click a layer/duplicate/ and send it to another psd document it does not automatically adjust to the new canvas size.

Chris

By @Chrisn N

I don't know a direct way to 'place' a layer so that it automatically fits the canvas in Elements.

Another idea would be to use the 'File >> duplicate' command to create an in memory copy of the file containing the source layer.

- You show only that layer (Alt click on the layer icon)

- You run the command with the option to create only a merged image. A duplicate is created in memory (not yet saved on disk) and it shows in the photo bin. You are back to the previous problem and solution: dragging from the photo bin. The duplicate does not need to be saved after dragging.

Note that dragging from the photo bin only resizes the preview to fit in the canvas if the dragged file is bigger than the canvas. Otherwise it shows it centered and smaller at the same original resolution as the canvas.

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