Marching Ants: How to Copy and Paste...

[james7660]

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!

[Mylenium]

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

Mylenium

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

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.

[james7660]

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.

[Myra Ferguson]

The marching ants show a live selection. A layer mask, a channel, and a quick mask are all grayscale representations of an alpha channel that can be used to make a selection. It'll help once you understand how they are related, so you can make or transfer them more easily. Here's more info Save selections and alpha channel masks in Adobe Photoshop

I'm not sure why your target document isn't showing up in the drop down for Save Selection. I'd recommend using the layer mask method. It transfers the selected layer that includes an image and a mask. Then use the mask to make your selection. You can delete the image if you don't want it from the layer with the layer mask and keep the layer mask. To make a selection from a layer mask or a channel from the Layers panel, Ctrl + click (Command + click on a Mac) on the thumbnail of the layer mask or channel. If you go to the Channels panel, you can also load the selection by selecting the channel or layer mask and using the Load Channel as Selection button at the bottom of the panel on the left.

[Semaphoric]

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: