Delete layer mask without applying it

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
September 10, 2021
3 replies
6692 views

I have a layer mask, I select it then click the garbage can to delete it. The mask deletes, but is applied first without asking me. How can I make it delete without applying the thing? Seems that would be a primary motivation behind deleting, is not wanting it to be there right? Instead, it's helpfully applied first.

Photoshop 22.5.0, MacBook Pro 2019 Catalina.

macOS

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Sk38570953zeal

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Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

Further to the reply from Bojan, you can hold down the opt/alt modifier key while you click the trash or drag to the trash to force the mask to be removed without being applied.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

Yes! Alt has been nicknamed the "make better" key by Michael Ninness, IIRC.

It usually gets you an alternate and sometimes the opposite behavior of many operations in the Adobe applications:

Painting with a Brush lays down color, adding Alt, it samples color.

Using the Eyedropper tool samples the foreground color, with Alt, it samples the background color...

Many menus have periods at the end, it means you would get a prompt, like "New Layer..." if you add Alt as you click it, you bypass the prompt.

OTOH, clicking on the new layer icon in the Layers Panel does not give you a prompt to name it... Guess what happens if you hold Alt?

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

Did you tried with context menu - right click on layer mask > Delete Layer Mask. I am on Windows by the way.

Perhaps you checked that Do Not Show Again in the dialogue? From Preferences > General you can Restore All Warning Dialogues.

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