How to view more than one file at a time in CS4?

[mariann...@adobeforums.com]

With OS 10.5, and a brand new CS4 Photoshop, I can open many Photoshop files at a time, but can only view one at a time. Must choose one at a time from the "tab". I need to have more than one picture open and showing at a time to work on them. How can I do that? What have I missed? Who can help? Thanks!

[pfigen]

You can either tear off the tabbed files into the general workspace, where you can float multiple images, or preferably, just turn off the tabbed interface altogether in your preferences and never have to worry about this again.

[Wade_Zi...@adobeforums.com]

Peter is all wet tile the documents as always you can drag and drop between the tiles as well.

Tiles work great and you switch between tabbed and tiled the other way if you have more than tow files open is a night mare you spend so much time trying to find the document you want even with the apple doc. When you are concentrating on a project it is hard to focus on several different files there is no work around for it, it is the human limitation. Yu will never find a perfect solution.

Don't go backward like Peter. Stick with the Frame and benefit by getting use to working with it because as it develops and they add new capabilities to it seem second nature to you and Peter will be left in the dust by the advances.

[mariann...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, Peter and Wade. Actually I found Peter's suggestion to be the one that works for me. It's the one that works most like the old Photoshop, and right now don't have time for a learning curve. ONE CLARIFYING QUESTION, PETER - I figured out how to "tear off the tabbed file", and thought I "turned off the tabbed interface" in Preferences, but each time I open the program, I still have to tear the files away. Is there a way to set it up so that each file just opens in a free-floating separate window?

thanks again!
Marianne

[Buko]

Marianne, in the preferences > interface uncheck "Open documents as tabs".

now close photoshop.

Most prefs don't take affect until you close and restart Photoshop.

Now after restarting opening files as tabs should be turned off.

But I must say working with tabs is very efficient as you can jump between images very quickly. What I do when I want to copy a layer and put it in another file is:

1. Select the Layer or Layers.

2. (in the Layers panel flyout) Select Duplicate Layer or Layers.

3. When the pop up shows target the file you want the duplicates in from the drop down menue. Now the duped layers wil be in the same position in the targeted file.

No dragging and dropping and the layer is in the exact position as the other file (If the files are the same size and dimensions)

[pfigen]

Unfortunately, this "new" way of working is so much less efficient than that wretched dragging and dropping. When you drag and drop as many images pin registered on top of one another a day as I do, those extra mouse clicks would be hell.

Shift-drag and you're done. It's not a matter of being an old fogey or not wanting to learn something new, it's a matter or working in the most efficient manner, and the tabbed interface just doesn't come close to cutting it.

However. Everyone has different ways of working and different needs. What works for me might not work for you. If you don't have the volume I have to plow through, tabs might be fine and I won't be telling you what to do, or how you're somehow missing out on some perceived nirvana.

[Buko]

Unfortunately, this "new" way of working is so much less efficient than
that wretched dragging and dropping.

then tear the tab off and drag the layers. I was informing Marianne there is another way, somehow she does not like tear and drag. I did tell her how to not use tabs. but my comment about the Tabs stems from using them while I color comics I can jump quickly from image to image as everything is lined up.

I realize every job has a different workflow but if you don't know your options then how can you chose what is best?

[mariann...@adobeforums.com]

thanks again, all. My issue was not the ability to jump from one to another quickly, but the need to have more than one file viewable at one time in order to make comparisons.

just for the record, Indeed, I am a few decades short of being an old fogey, and eagerness to learn new ways is a key to my success. My choice of turning off the tabs only means that for now, I can continue as before and get work done that has a very short deadline.

Thanks much for the assistance, all who responded

[Wade_Zi...@adobeforums.com]

View>Tile

They way you are trying to use it is the hard way.

[Mark_R...@adobeforums.com]

Here's the smart way for all of you on macs. Set up Exposé and a keystroke for 'Application windows'. Then with the press of a single key you can visualize, and swap between documents very easily. By I single keystroke I mean something like Right Control.

Tabbed documents have hardly any genuine advantages for mac users, yet another example of interface decisions in the stupid direction.

[Wade_Zi...@adobeforums.com]

Not true Mark that is not the case and in the future you can tell everyone how you always thought how ingenious the tabbed windows were even from day one.

[pfigen]

Give it a rest Wade. The tabbed interface is SO much less efficient when you're working with many different versions of the same file open at once. I've tried it, and if I were to continue, I'd go freaking crazy with the amount of time wasted.

I CAN see how, in Buko's case of coloring cartoon cells, it might work, but for the way I work, and the way many professional retouchers work, tabbed will never be an option. It's a complete joke, and a bad one at that.

[John Joslin]

It smells like Macromedia Dreamweaver.

[prog...@adobeforums.com]

Why do i imagine Buko, tongue out the corner of his mouth, trying to stay inside the lines now?

[Buko]

Hey! You been looking over my shoulder? B)

Yeah tabs are good for comics but I still like everything floating around the Mac Way.

[Wade_Zi...@adobeforums.com]

We'll see!

I do not come around here to much and probably will by even less in the future but will definitely stop back and remind you that you hated the tabbed approach back when.

You are not the only one that does retouching and so you are talking about yourself not about professional retouches just about yourself.

[mariann...@adobeforums.com]

Hey, you guys - disappointed that this deteriorated into a flame session from a simple question and some helpful answers! None of this needed to have semi-insults and thin-skinned reactions!

Thank you all for the helpful answers, particularly Peter and Buko, who had the answers that help me now. I will be trying out the other suggestions later when I have time.

Let's be kind to one another - we're all seekers, aren't we?

Marianne

[pfigen]

Marianne,

Unfortunately Wade has been like this for as long as he's been around here. I'd like to apologize for him but that would be pointless.

There a lot of different ways to work and Buko pointed out one legitimate use of tabs. If I ever work on comic strips, I'll keep it in mind, but until then I'll do what works best for me.

[v6v...@adobeforums.com]

Hey Marianne, just FYI that even if you turn off the "Open Documents as Tabs" preference, you can always choose to drag the window onto another one to tab them (just for future reference once you have enough time to try out different workflows).

Having said that, I feel there needs to be an option to either completely turn off the tabs or Adobe needs to make the hotspot smaller. I find myself taking extra time dragging-and-dropping a window to move it outside the hotspot that I've mistakenly hovered over.

Not to go too off-topic, I also wish the time to drag-and-drop layers into another tab was shorter. For example, moving layers between free floating windows is quick--just drop it onto the window and the copy is immediate. But with tabs you have to wait until the window activates before you can drop the layer.

[Mark_R...@adobeforums.com]

" I feel there needs to be an option to either completely turn off the tabs or Adobe needs to make the hotspot smaller. " - there is … Again - smartest way to work, turn off application frame, and 'Open docs as Tabs' preference. If you still want tabbed documents, they are still available - holding down the control key and dragging into the title area of a frame.

[v6v...@adobeforums.com]

Again - smartest way to work, turn off application frame, and 'Open docs
as Tabs' preference. If you still want tabbed documents, they are still
available - holding down the control key and dragging into the title area
of a frame.

Hey Mark, are you saying that turning off the Application Frame and "Open Documents as Tabs" preference turns off tabs completely? I've done this on my version of CS4 and this isn't the case at all. Simply dragging-and-dropping a window to the ruler area of another window automatically turns it into a tab (without the help of a control key).

[v6v...@adobeforums.com]

Mark, maybe I misread your previous post (or you mistyped). Are you saying that by clicking control and dragging the window it forces the window to not become tabbed? I tried it just now and that's actually the behavior I was talking about.

(Marianne, sorry for hijacking your post.)

[Ann_She...@adobeforums.com]

Marianne:

Have you tried using the n-Up tiling feature (Arrange Documents) in CS4 when working with multiple files?

It is accessible from the Application Bar.