How to extend the toolbar in photoshop?

[SSL-ADT]

My toolbar only take half the height of my screen, even though I have more tools added than what is visible.  Is there a way to extend the size of the visible toolbar towards the bottom of the screen?

[Bojan Živković]

You can extend the toolbar by collapsing it into a single column by clicking on the arrows indicated in the screenshot below. Is that what you are looking for?

[SSL-ADT]

No, I want more visible tools in the toolbar. Using a single column is not going to achieve that. 

[Bojan Živković]

Perhaps the GIF below can assist you in some way.

[SSL-ADT]

I've done that, but the added tools remain invisible unless I right click on the 3 dots at the bottom.

[Bojan Živković]

My suggestion is to learn keyboard shortcuts and how to cycle through grouped tools; this will save you time.

[D Fosse]

Yeah, but I suspect the OP still doesn't understand how customizing the toolbar works. All they need to do is drag from the right column over to the left column. That's all. Problem solved.

And then of course it can be dragged into a group with other tools, or it can stand alone having its own place in the toolbar.

[SSL-ADT]

Okay, now I understand.

But, what I would like to see happen to make things easier for me to quickly choose a tool in the toolbar. Upon hovering over a tool, I'd like to see a popup with all the tools available in that group. And once I choose one of the tools in that group, only then should I be offered a video clip.

Does that make sense?

[D Fosse]

You do see a list of the tools in the group when you click and hold.

The tools you need quick access to can also be dragged out of the group they're in. Then it has its own place in the toolbar, and you choose it directly without having to scroll through other tools in the group. I've done that with a lot of tools.

If you end up with separate tools having the same shortcut, you can easily change those, or disable the shortcut from one of them.

The point is, this can be customized almost without limits.

[D Fosse]

even though I have more tools added than what is visible

By @SSL-ADT

What do you mean by that?

If you drag a tool out of its group in Edit > Toolbar, it will appear on its own in the toolbar immediately.

[D Fosse]

[Olaf Giermann]

My toolbar only take half the height of my screen, even though I have more tools added than what is visible.  Is there a way to extend the size of the visible toolbar towards the bottom of the screen?

The double-column view of Photoshop's toolbar is restricted to the height you see in your screenshot.

If you want to see more tools at once, the only way currently is to switch to the single row view as shown in @bojan's screenshot.

Edit: When I tried this the other day, the toolbar did not update its height. After a reboot of my Mac it is extending as expected, when tools are moved out of their groups.

I would also like a more modern solution like a freely scalable toolbar, with more columns and rows, with tear-off toolgroups and stuff. But it is as it is, and I doubt that Adobe will improve this soon.

[SSL-ADT]

It is so sad. My only way to access more tools at this point is to add some in the Extra Tool List on the right hand side?

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

You just drag any tool to anywhere you want it.

Those on the right are hidden. Drag over to the left, and they show in the toolbar. Drag in and out of groups as you wish.

[Barb Binder]

Is this the goal, @SSL-ADT? If yes, use the 3dot button (or Edit > Toolbar) to drag each Toolbar icon into its own group. (Groups have spacing between them.) 

     

Realistically, you are unlikely to ever need access to all of Photoshop tool's set. You might try this as an exercise, and then either re-group the ones you may rarely use or drag them to the Extra Tools column.

Now, I'm actually here because you inadvertently asked a Photoshop question on the FrameMaker forum. I came over here to see if you recieved an answer to that question and then got distracted by this question. The X appears when the character you want isn't available in the font you have assigned, which doesn't necessarily get copied over with the character. However, let's not further muddy this thread—if that question is still outstanding, please ask it again as a new post on this forum. One of us can provide the details in that new post.

~Barb