Lightspeed Tips: Saving Spaces
Last week I did posted a little something about the new Configurator for Adobe. This cool little app lets you create your own custom panels right inside Photoshop. Well along with that is something else I like to use in Photoshop and that is something called work spaces. While the Configurator just creates custom panels, works spaces allow you to arrange those panels in a way that is more conducive to the way you work. Once these workspaces are arranged you can save them to use over and over. Workspaces aren’t new. In fact they have been around for a while. It just seems nobody remembers they are there. Photoshop comes with a few preset workspaces to get you started. There are spaces for video, web, automation among others designed for specific tasks but you will learn as you go what you need and don’t need. Once you have arranged your workspace to your liking, simply go under the Window menu to Workspace and then choose Save Workspace. Give it a name and there you have it.
I’ve been tweaking and perfecting various Workspaces to my liking for various tasks. When jumping back and forth between tasks I just click on the handy button at the far right of the Applications bar (activate via Window/Application Bar) and all of my custom Workspaces are revealed for me to chose. The less panel-juggling the better.
Now along comes Configurator with a great quick-button panel solution which frees the user from the rigors of deep menu diving. Config also offers an alternative to the memorization of dozens of keyboard shortcuts.(Or, as a learning tool the keyboard shortcuts could be displayed next to the related tool buttons within a Config panel.)
The cherry on top? They work together!
Workspaces saves not only the Photoshop panels as you’ve arranged them, but in addition saves any Configurator panels that you’ve designed and incorporated into the Workspace. Customization for different tasks or different people has just gotten gigglingly easy.