Alt (Option on Mac) + Click on layer stack Thumbnail Feature...

[polarwoc]

I serendipitously stumbled on a useful feature of Photoshop (I am on Version 23), especially if you have tens of layers in your work flow.

I discovered it today by sheer accident. When you Alt (Option on Mac) + Click on the Thumbnail (not the visibility Eye beside the thumbnail) in the layers panel, the screen displays only the contents of that layer such that it fills the screen. You know exactly what that layer contains.
If you want to go back, you can Alt (Option) click on the Background Layer at the bottom of the layer stack.

Does this work for you too and what version are you on if it does not work?

 

[Rich54]

I have CS5 (very old) and it doesn't work. Nothing happens at all when I Alt+click on the thumbnail.

The closest thing I have to what you're describing is pressing Ctrl+click on the thumbnail. That automatically creates a selection of whatever is on that layer.

 

[polarwoc]

pressing Ctrl+click on the thumbnail. That automatically creates a selection of whatever is on that layer.

Ah, yes. Alt + Click on the thumbnail must have been a more recent feature.

Sometimes, you have so many layers, not always labelled and you want to know if there is any content on the layer or not - so you Ctrl + Click on it to see if there is a selection which means there is some content otherwise it is blank. Instead, Alt + Click directly takes you to the content, zooming it to fill the screen. I found the feature useful.

I also find on the web that some people find this feature distracting.

 

[JeffK]

Ah, yes. Alt + Click on the thumbnail must have been a more recent feature.

Sometimes, you have so many layers, not always labelled and you want to know if there is any content on the layer or not - so you Ctrl + Click on it to see if there is a selection which means there is some content otherwise it is blank. Instead, Alt + Click directly takes you to the content, zooming it to fill the screen. I found the feature useful.

I also find on the web that some people find this feature distracting.

Hmmm...tried it but that only zooms in on the layer. But if I alt + click (windows) on that little eye, it does show only that layer...

BEFORE



AFTER



Incredibly helpful suggestion - was working on a private job for a few days with at least 20 layers. Sometimes I didn't mark the layers and ended up turning off all the layers except that one to find out what was in it. To get everything back, just alt + click on the eyeball again. Many thanks for the tip!

 

[IamSam]

This shortcut has been around for awhile and usually works by Opt/Alt clicking on the eye icon of the layer you would like to view.

Edit: Sorry Jeff, did not see your post until after I posted mine. We say the same thing!

 

[polarwoc]

This shortcut has been around for awhile and usually works by Opt/Alt clicking on the eye icon of the layer you would like to view.

Did you try Alt + Clicking on the thumbnail itself - not on the Eye that controls visibility? I knew about the Alt + Click on the Eye feature from before but not the click on the thumbnail itself.

 

[JeffK]

Did you try Alt + Clicking on the thumbnail itself - not on the Eye that controls visibility? I knew about the Alt + Click on the Eye feature from before but not the click on the thumbnail itself.

Yup - alt + click on thumbnail just zooms in on layer. Difference in builds?

 

[polarwoc]

Yup - alt + click on thumbnail just zooms in on layer. Difference in builds?

Both the Alt + clicks works for me too. Both are different.

I used to use the Alt + click on Visibility eye for a long time.

Alt + Thumbnail click is something I discovered recently by accident. It was a recent add on to PS as a feature. Just wanted to share my discovery here just in case someone did not know about it previously like me.
lol...I was living under an ancient rock so far.

 

[JeffK]

lol...I was living under an ancient rock so far.

Yah -I'm ancient myself but always a revelation to learn these little tidbits...

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi @polarwoc
The two functions to which you refer actually have a different action.

Clicking with Opt/Alt and the visibility eye icon hows that Layer by itself and if Opt/Alt click on eye icon is clicked again all the prior visible Layers are now again visible.

If one use the Opt/Alt on the Layer thumbnail, this zooms in to the Layer Edges for that one Layer. It does not turn off visibility of any of the other Layers. Note that the Layer edges are determined by the visible pixels (e.g. full transparency is not included in the Layer Edges. Under some circumstances it can seem that the other Layers are turned off though they are not. Example below:

This first image is 5 layers with numbers 0 to 4 in center and each corner all surrounded by transparency.




If I Alt/Opt Click on Layer 0 it zooms in to the zero (to its Layer Edges) yet all the other Layers are still visible just out of sight.




If I zoom out of this image you will see all of the Layers are visible (Note I turned the View > Show Extras> Layer Edges. The Layer Edges for Layer zero are shown and that was what was zoom in to.:




It appears that the other Layers are not visible yet that is not the case. You can do the same it Alt/Opt is done with any of the other Layers.


If a given Layer has not transparency, the Layer Edges are at the document boundaries and using the Alt/Opt on the Thumbnail only slightly enlarges so the Layer edges fill up the entire Workspace.

I am not sure if the other posts already covered this yet wanted to point out the misconception that when Alt/Opt click on thumbnail is only showing the one Layer when it is only zooming it the Layer Edges for that Layer. Just zoom back out and it will be clear.

Hope this helps
John Wheeler

 

[polarwoc]

The two functions to which you refer actually have a different action.

Thanks, John. I was saying the same, but you explained much better with a beautiful illustration to assist.

Sometimes, when I use too many layers, I tend to not label all of them and after a break from the monitor, when I see a layer, I do not know why I created that layer or if anything opaque is present on that layer. In such an instance, Alt + Click on thumbnail would zoom screen to whatever is on that layer.

 

[thebestcpu]

Sometimes, when I use too many layers, I tend to not label all of them and after a break from the monitor, when I see a layer, I do not know why I created that layer or if anything opaque is present on that layer. In such an instance, Alt + Click on thumbnail would zoom screen to whatever is on that layer.

Same for me. It can also help find Layer Edges when there are components of very transparent yet not totally transparent pixels as those are hard to find sometimesl
John Wheeler

 

[MrToM]

@polarwoc
Yeah, this 'feature' is extremely useful for isolating a layer mask too.
I often end up with an outline on a mask and just need to 'fill in' the rest of it....toggling the mask by Alt + LMB displays just the greyscale mask ready to paint on.

@Rich54

Nothing happens at all when I Alt+click on the thumbnail.

'Nothing happens' is par for the course with PS isn't it? Haha

If it makes you feel better I use CC 2019, IMO still the most stable version, and it too does absolutely nothing with ALT + LMB on the thumbnail, just the mask.

Lots of things changed after CS5, layers had a big change in the way they work, especially with vector masking, totally different to CS5. Personally I thought it was better back in CS5, easier to get what you wanted but hey, you can't stand in the path of progress right? Yeah, right.

Oh and BTW... ALT + Eye icon is THE MOST ANNOYING THING EVER!

Regards.
MrToM.