"Paste into Selection" not avaialble in photoshop ele. 13

[DrSicks]

Hi....

     Is anyone else having this issue?  Im not able to paste into a selected layer. The option is greyed out and the shortcut does nothing.

[hatstead]

Windows or Mac?\

Are you on Expert tab?

[DrSicks]

Elements 13
Windows 10
I am on expert tab, yes

[Glenn 8675309]

Silly question time:

You do have something copied first? 

[DrSicks]

Yes. I've copied, jpegs, png' etc. I'm only given the option to paste, not
paste to selection.

[hatstead]

Let's assume that you have a picture of a star and you wish to paste it to a locus in the sky on another picture.

Are you creating a selection of the target area in the sky with one of the selection tools? If you do this, can you paste into the selection? It works for me.

[MichelBParis]

"Paste into selection" will not work if the target layer is not a normal layer, such as a smart layer, text or shape layer.

[DrSicks]

Well that makes sense.  Im attempting to paste into a smart layer. I double click the smart layer, and nothing happens.  How would I paste to a special layer in Elements 13? Is it not possible?

[MichelBParis]

I don't use the 'paste into selection' because I think it's a false good idea. Mainly it's a destructive workflow. I prefer to keep all my assets available in my layers palette for further editing. When you have pasted into selection, you have merged your input into the destination layer, probably without saving the selection for further use.

There are other ways to select something and paste it as a new layer. You can use clipping layer masks for instance. It depends on your project. If you give a detailed example, I am sure you'll get useful suggestions in this forum.

Anyway, a smart layer is a reference to an external file which is not directly accessible for editing in the file your are editing. You can create a copy of that smart layer, simplify it and hide the original smart layer.