Select a Layer

Selecting a layer is one of the easiest, but one of the most important skills in Photoshop. If you do not have the correct layer selected, when you edit or move it, you get unexpected results.
So as a golden rule, give the layer an appropriate name.

To select a layer, click in the “Layers” pane, I already told you.
When a layer is selected, it is equipped with a blue background (1) and the name of the selected layer is in the title bar of the image (2).

To select several superimposed layers, hold the Shift key on your keyboard pressed. To select several non-superimposed layers, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard pressed. Why would you want to select multiple layers?
For example if you want to move them together or if you want to scale them all, or to change all text layers when you change the font. You see plenty of reasons.

If you have selected multiple layers that you want to deselect, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard while you click.

To quickly switch between a selected tool in the tool bar and the “Move” tool, temporarily hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard pressed.
To move the layer more precisely, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
A click on an arrow key moves the layer one pixel. If you click arrow with the Shift key pressed, it will be moved by 10 pixels.

Another way to select a layer is, by means of the “Auto-Select”.
For this, first select the “Move” tool in the tool bar.
When this tool is selected, we find “Auto Select” in the options bar.
When you select this (1) and select “Layer” in the drop-down menu (2), then you can select the layer containing an object by clicking on that object in the image.

Attention!

You must back off from this “Auto Select” option when you no longer want to use it.
To align layers with each other, we use the alignment buttons (3) in the options bar.
To view the contents of different layers tranformed, check the box “Show Transform Controls” (4). This way you can adjust the size of all objects in all selected layers, in a fairly quick way.

Going back to “Auto Select”.
A quicker way to use “Auto Select”, is to click the Ctrl key on your keyboard. The only requirement is that the “move” tool is selected.
The disadvantage is that you must always disable the option, when you no longer wish to use.

Another way to select layers is to select by using the “Similar layers” option. This option can be found under the “Select” button in the menu bar.
What this does is, it selects all layers of the same type in the “Layers” section.
For example. If there is a text layer selected, click this option, it will select all text layers in your image.

TIP
When you work with dozens of layers, it can sometimes be difficult to select the appropriate layer.
Here is a solution.
Right-click in the image and Photoshop will show you a list of all the layers that are under your mouse pointer.
Select the layer in the list.

Remove

To remove a layer, you can drag it to the trash can icon in the menu bar at the bottom of the “Layers” pane.
Another way is to first hide the layer, you know, by clicking the eye icon.
Then click on “Layer” in the menu bar, you choose “Delete” from the drop-down menu and click on “hidden layers”. This will delete all layers that are hidden.
Another way is to select the layer and click the Delete key on your keyboard.
Attention, this way you will not get any warning. The only way to return it to its place is by the “Edit” button in the menu bar and choosing “Undo …” in the drop-down menu or by the “History”panel.

Stacking Order Change

To change the stacking order of a layer, click and drag it in the “Layers” panel to the desired position.
When the edge of the dragged layer darkens, release the mouse button.
The only layer you can not move is the background layer. If you want to do this you must first make a normal layer of the background layer.
How to do that, I already told you in a previous lesson.

Another way is to select the layer, click in the menu bar on the “Layer”, then select “Arrange” in the drop-down menu and clicking on the option you want to perform.
“Bring Forward” brings this layer up by one layer.
The options “Bring to Front” and “Send to Back” seem obvious to me.
And with the option “Reverse”, the stacking order of selected layers is reversed. For this purpose, of course, at least two layers have to be selected.
The keyboard shortcuts for these actions, you can see in the image below.

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