Problem moving photos or elements

[Grandidi]

I have encountered something today that has me completely baffled - when using the move tool to move a psd photo(with layers) onto a background or new blank file, it is only moving the last layer worked on. If the last thing I did to the psd was a levels adjustment, then that layer gets dragged onto the new background, not the entire photo.

I have been using PSE6 for scrapbooking for about a year and this is a first for me. Do I need to merge all the layers, or save as a jpeg or flatten in order to drag entire file to background? I thought I had moved psd files before, but maybe not.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Sepiana]

Hi Grandidi,

You can link the layers together. Then you can move them as a group.

1. Shift-click to select the layers you want to link.
2. Click on the little chain above the layer stack. (The chain icon will appear to the right of each layer showing that these layers will be moved as a unit.)

The layers will stay linked until you unlink them -- by selecting the linked layers and clicking the chain icon to turn it off.

[Grandidi]

Thank you so much. As you can tell, I am still struggling to learn PSE6. I do love it though.

[Sepiana]

Grandidi, you're most welcome! Don't struggle alone -- just post and help will come.:)

[Diana]

Grandidi,

If you don't need all the layers in the image you are moving to the new background, you can make a composite layer containing all the layers, this way:

In the layers stack, make the top layer active
Press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E

This will create a new layer at the top of the stack which is a combination of all the other layers. Leave this layer active when you drag the image to the new file.

If you no longer need the composite layer in the original image, you may delete it after moving, especially if you're going to do further editing to the layered image.

Diana

[Grandidi]

Both these tips are great. Thanks so much. I must not have ever tried to move a psd and just thought I had.