Set The Preferences for the way you work
The Preferences menu option includes ten options for Photoshop and one for Camera Raw. All the Photoshop-specific preferences are accessed through different panes in the main Preferences dialog box. Although you can work with the default settings, changing some of these can make your computer run more efficiently or make working with your projects easier. For example, by default, Photoshop is set to use more than half of the available RAM. You can lower this setting to fit the amount of RAM installed in the computer and the number of applications you run at the same time. You can change the default colors for the guides and grid when they are similar to those in your image. Designating an additional plug-ins folder keeps third-party items separate from those included with Photoshop. You can set a separate scratch disk to speed up your work on large files and set Photoshop to automatically launch Bridge.
Read through each Preferences pane and select the settings to make Photoshop work for you.
1 Click Photoshop (Edit).
2 Click Preferences.
3 Click General.
The General Preferences dialog box appears.
4 Click any arrows to change your settings.
5 Click to select the options you want or to deselect those you do not want.
6 Click Next to continue customizing Preferences.
The dialog box changes to the Interface Preferences.
7 Click to select the interface options you want or deselect those you do not want.
8 Click Next.
9 Make any other changes that you prefer in the other Preferences panes.
10 Click OK when you have cycled through all the Preferences panes.
11 Click Photoshop (File).
12 Click Quit Photoshop (Exit).
The next time you start the application, your own settings take effect.
Did You Know?
You can use keyboard shortcuts to set the Preferences. Press Ô+K (Ctrl+K). Set your options for the General Preferences. Press Ô+2 (Ctrl+2), and so on, for each of the Preferences panes.
Try This!
You can change the default Preferences so that just pressing the appropriate letter toggles each tool. In the General Preferences pane, deselect the Use Shift Key for Tool Switch check box.
Did You Know?
You can restore the Preferences any time by holding the Ô+Option+Shift (Ctrl+Alt+Shift) keys as you launch the application. Click Yes in the dialog box that appears, and the Preferences are
reset to the defaults.
