Marching Ants: How to Copy and Paste...

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
February 1, 2019
2 replies
2752 views

I want to take a selection and paste it into another document of the same pixel dimensions.

I want ONLY the marching ants - not any image data.

Thank you!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Myra Ferguson

For a little more detail on Mylenium's suggestion--while the selection is active, go to Select > Save Selection and in the dialog that opens select the document where you want to transfer it, whether that's another document that's open or a new document. You can name the selection there if you want. When you go to the other document, you'll find the selection saved as a channel. Go to the Channels panel and at the bottom of the panel, click the left icon to load the selection. You can also Ctrl + click (Command + click on Mac) on the thumbnail in the Channels panel to load the selection. Then go to the Layers panel and select the layer where you want to apply the selection.

There are other ways to transfer the selection, too. You could make a layer mask which is basically a channel applied to a layer. While the selection is active in the original document, at the bottom of the Layers panel click the 3rd icon from the left. That will add a layer mask to the selected layer. Then you can copy and paste that layer into another document. Layer masks can be a handy way to access your selection while keeping you in the Layers panel.

Semaphoric

Community Expert

You don't need to save the selection - just put it in Quick Mask mode. Then, in the other document, Select > Load Selection, and choose the Quick Mas from the first doc:

Mylenium

Legend

Save the selection as a channel and transfer it to the new document.

Mylenium

Myra Ferguson

Correct answer

Community Expert

For a little more detail on Mylenium's suggestion--while the selection is active, go to Select > Save Selection and in the dialog that opens select the document where you want to transfer it, whether that's another document that's open or a new document. You can name the selection there if you want. When you go to the other document, you'll find the selection saved as a channel. Go to the Channels panel and at the bottom of the panel, click the left icon to load the selection. You can also Ctrl + click (Command + click on Mac) on the thumbnail in the Channels panel to load the selection. Then go to the Layers panel and select the layer where you want to apply the selection.

There are other ways to transfer the selection, too. You could make a layer mask which is basically a channel applied to a layer. While the selection is active in the original document, at the bottom of the Layers panel click the 3rd icon from the left. That will add a layer mask to the selected layer. Then you can copy and paste that layer into another document. Layer masks can be a handy way to access your selection while keeping you in the Layers panel.

J

james7660Author

Known Participant

I appreciate your help, Myra...

while the selection is active, go to Select > Save Selection and in the dialog that opens select the document where you want to transfer it, whether that's another document that's open or a new document. When you go to the other document, you'll find the selection saved as a channel. Go to the Channels panel and at the bottom of the panel, click the left icon to load the selection. Then go to the Layers panel and select the layer where you want to apply the selection.

This worked for me the first time. Today I went to do it again and the target document was not listed in the Save Selection > Destination > Document drop-down. The target document was open and the selection in the source document was active. Both are PSD files.

What could I be doing wrong?

Also:

There are other ways to transfer the selection, too. You could make a layer mask which is basically a channel applied to a layer. While the selection is active in the original document, at the bottom of the Layers panel click the 3rd icon from the left. That will add a layer mask to the selected layer. Then you can copy and paste that layer into another document.

Unless I'm misunderstanding something, this transfers the selected image and not just the marching ants.

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