Workspaces

Workspaces

Here you will learn how to set up a custom workspace from scratch.

When to use

This lesson demonstrates how I set up my own Workspace for a typical design project. 

Instructions

• To get started, we will reset our Workspace to the Essentials Workspace.
• To do this, go to the Window Menu and choose Workspace > Essentials (Default).
• If for some reason your Essentials (Default) is still showing your custom Workspace, you may need to click on the 'Reset Essentials' from the menu.
• We will now delete the previous custom preset we made by going to the Window Menu and choosing Workspace > Delete Workspace and choosing your custom preset before clicking 'Delete'.
• To add our first panel we will go to the Window Menu and choose 'Brushes'.
• After adding the Brushes Panel, we will undock it by clicking and dragging it away from the side of the screen.
• Nest the Brushes and Brush Settings together by clicking one of the tabs, and then dragging and placing it next to the other.
• To add our Character and Paragraph Panels, we can click on the uppercase 'A' found on the right side of our Essentials Workspace, and then drag the tab towards the center of the screen to undock it. If you're having trouble doing it this way, you can still open the panel directly from the Window Menu.
• Let's place the Character and Paragraph Panels just above the Brushes and Brush Settings by dragging them to the top of the group and waiting for the blue line to appear before releasing the cursor. 
• Next, we will add the Properties Panel to our stack of panels.
• The next panel we want to include here is the Adjustments Panel, and this one can be nested with our Brushes and Brush Settings.
• We will also keep our Colors, Gradients, and Swatches Panels and place them in our stack, above the other panels.
• The last panel that we want to make sure we have is the Layers Panel.
• For any of the remaining panels that are still open, we can close them by clicking on the small white 'X' in the upper left corner of the panel, or by clicking on the hamburger menu in the upper right and choosing 'Close' from the menu.
• Another way we can customize our panels is by selecting a panel (here I will use the Layers Panel) and pull it out from the other panels so that it's undocked and floating freely.
• I can now click on the dark gray bar along the top of the Layers Panel and drag it to the side of my other panels until the edge of those panels turns blue.
• Once the edge turns blue, release your cursor and you should now see your Layers Panel connected to the side of your other panels.
• From here, you can click on the two small arrows in the upper right of the panel, and it will collapse the panel into a small icon.
• We can now do the same with our Character Panel by clicking and dragging it below the Layers Panel icon on the side.
• Repeat this once again with the Paragraph Panel.
• If you want to re-arrange the order of these smaller icons you can do so by clicking and dragging to place one above the other.
• You can also drag them out of the group and then click on the two small arrows in the upper right of the panel to expand it, and now you can move the panel around freely.
• After modifying the appearance of our panels we can change the height and width of the overall stack by moving the cursor over any of the edges and once it turns into an arrow icon, clicking and dragging to change its size.
• Once you're happy with how the panels are looking, go to the Window Menu and choose Workspace > New Workspace and save your new custom Workspace preset.

Hints & tips

• Try to customize your panels and workspace in a way that will allow you easy access to the tools you will need while minimizing the amount of space they take up on the screen.
• As you develop your Photoshop skills you may find that you are using certain panels more than others, so you can always update your presets later depending on which tools you use most often.