photoshop elements help!

[farrijc]

I just downloaded the trial for elements 2020... I've only used CS5 in the past. Needless to say, it's frustrating trying to figure things out! I have put paper, elements, etc. in the photo bin and am then dragging them onto my layout. But, they don't always go where I want! I'm using one of Cindy's templates - let's say I want to replace a flower on the template. I highlight that layer and then drag the flower from my kit in. But instead of going right above the flower on the template, it goes elsewhere! What should I be doing instead??

[ChristyHC]

With the newer versions of elements I believe that when you drag and drop it matters where your mouse ends up on the drag. Drag the element and let go of the mouse when your mouse pointer is on top of the flower and it will insert it right above that layer. (You can then skip the step of selecting the layer before dragging it.)

[farrijc]

Originally Posted by ChristyHC

With the newer versions of elements I believe that when you drag and drop it matters where your mouse ends up on the drag. Drag the element and let go of the mouse when your mouse pointer is on top of the flower and it will insert it right above that layer. (You can then skip the step of selecting the layer before dragging it.)

Thank you!!

[ChristyHC]

Originally Posted by farrijc

Thank you!!

You're welcome! That same thing was driving me batty in PSE a couple of years back. Finally some shared the trick with me. I have no idea why they switched the way the drag feature works, but you eventually get use to it.

[LynnZant]

I went from PSE5 to PSE2020 earlier this year. Same thing left me in tears until someone shared that tip with me. One other thing that I had to get used to was moving the element around once it was in my layout. If you don't hold down <Crtl> when you drag, it picks up whatever layer your mouse is hovering over.

[mmbstaley]

Originally Posted by LynnZant

I went from PSE5 to PSE2020 earlier this year. Same thing left me in tears until someone shared that tip with me. One other thing that I had to get used to was moving the element around once it was in my layout. If you don't hold down <Crtl> when you drag, it picks up whatever layer your mouse is hovering over.

I've never had that issue in all of the years I've used PSE. I hold down the ctrl button while I am clicking on an element on the page to tell it to select what I'm clicking on so I don't have to go over to the layer palette, but I don't have to hold it down once it is selected to move it. Check the move tool options and see if the 'Auto Select Layer' box is checked or not. If it is checked there will be a blue bounding box that moves around with the pointer highlighting whatever layer it wants to pick up for you. I loathe the auto select layer option because who wants it picking up random layers - I don't have time for that

And yes that is the issue on the drag and drop. I thought I was going crazy for a while after they changed that and nothing dropped above the currently selected layer anymore except at what seemed to be random times. That was a huge change in how the program functioned and there was no warning from any of the reviews I saw about it.