Unlocking a "partially locked" layer

[_kirrwed_]

I have a little "lock" icon in the right side of the layer, next to the fx. Rolling over it tells me the layer is "partially locked". How do I unlock this?

[Welles Goodrich · Accepted solution]

Look in the Layers palette for the word Lock just below the blending mode menu. One of the lock options represented by the 4 icons next to Lock is activated. Click on the darkened one.

[KC29]

On the layers palette, at the top of the list of layers is a heading called "Lock" with various symbols after it. One of them will be highlighted. Click on it to un-highlight it. Then the layer will be unlocked.

See also the Photoshop - Help section under "Locking layers"

[monkeygraphics]

You could check  your document setup (bit size)

and if it is set at 32 or 64 bit, make it 8 bit and this will unlock the doc.

[Sverk]

Hi,

None of the proposed ways works for me.

The little lock icons do not repond and the word Lock: is grayed.

Could it be because it is a .pdf document?

Doesn't work after I Save As .jpg either.

Nor if I first save it as .psd.

[mybrotherbob]

if it's the backgrond layer that is always locked. double click on the layer and rename it that should unlock it

[Sverk]

Yes, thanks, that unlocks it.

But then comes the next problem:

On top of that layer I have an adjustment layer (Curves), looks fine, but when I merge it down or flatten the image
the effect of the adjustment layer disappears.

I've been merging adjustment layers down like this for many years, all ok.

So why not now?

[Acarna]

Man, Why don't you just duplicate it and then delete the lock you don't want? And leave the mystery behind.
Hope it solves your problem

[Photos Man]

excellent 

[Keshav_Kumar]

I had the same issue & this solved it.

Top Menu >>  Image >> Mode >> Change to sRGB

[Hamisi22259695vm89]

THIS ONE IS THE BEST

[Sogo24561644fvb5]

Excellent!

[Lorraine25463597p5j7]

Mine was already sRGB.  I can't use certain tools but can use others.  Lock is faint and can't be changed.  I tried naming the only layer as suggested, and it unlocked but the sames tools wouldn't work.  I saved it and opened it again and the layer name was gone and it was original.and locked again.  Same tools won't work (blur and smudge tools).  This has been happening randomly to jpg photos I want to fix flaws on.  Some I can use all tools and others I save I can't use the two tools mentioned.  I can't find a reason why.  They aren't on read only and the spot healing brush works fine in the set but not the two mentioned.

[jane-e]

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@Lorraine25463597p5j7 wrote:

 I saved it and opened it again and the layer name was gone and it was original.and locked again.  ... This has been happening randomly to jpg photos

---

That's expected behavior for JPEGs, as JPEGs do not support layers. When you resave a jpeg, you:

• flatten the layers, leaving only the Background layer
• lose information every time you work on the jpeg and resave

JPEGs are lossy and are not meant to be worked on and re-saved. Save to .tiff or .psd as your working file, then use Save a Copy to create a JPEG one time only if you need the JPEG format. New edits are made in the non-lossy file formats, then saved to a new JPEG.

Jane

[Lorraine25463597p5j7]

Thank you for your response Jane-e.  I couldn't use those tools on the psd version either, whether I made the photo originally psd or save it from the jpg into a psd.  They were also partial locked.  I just hate not being able to solve a dilemma.

[Usamah26319199vrpv]

Thanks allot it really worked out