Deleting a selection

G
Posted By
GrloftheCity
Jul 31, 2006
Views
296
Replies
8
Status
Closed
I am trying to delete part of a layer. On a PC, I was able to do this by selecting the area I wanted to delete, (with either the Marquee or Lasso tools), and then hitting "Delete" on the keyboard. (Worked wonderfully, because shadows and everything would be adjusted to the new shape, as well.) This is not working on a Mac. I try pressing the delete key, and nothing happens.

Help would be appreciated!

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

CB
charles badland
Jul 31, 2006
Mac keyboards are different. Look for the BIG delete key just to the right of the =/+ key.
EH
Ed_Hannigan
Jul 31, 2006
Should work exactly the same. You must be doing something differently.

EDIT: Is Charles right? Even on my PC I use that key, even though it says Backspace. Never occurred to me to use the little Delete key to the right.

Maybe my Mac roots.
CB
charles badland
Jul 31, 2006
Yeah. I just checked on a PC down the hall- hitting either Backspace or the "little" delete key do the same thing. I’ll bet that is her problem here.
G
GrloftheCity
Jul 31, 2006
Yeah, never occured to me, either. 😉 Sarcasm aside, tried both delete keys, just like on the PC, (as noted in the first message), and I did not get the same effect. I guess the better question now is…what might cause me not to be able to delete? I’ve never had the problem before…is it something to do with the color mode?
CB
charles badland
Jul 31, 2006
Sarcasm? Hmm…

Color Mode shouldn’t matter.
Right Layer targeted?
Layer locked?
Try trashing your preferences?
G
GrloftheCity
Jul 31, 2006
Sarcasm gets us nowhere. I am a new Mac user and am humble enough to admit that perhaps I don’t know everything about the system. As I am working with a client, I am merely trying to get to the bottom of the problem as quickly as possible.

Have the right layer selected; is not locked. How would I trash my preferences? Another message that I am getting now when I try to delete a selection from a shape is that the contents of the layer are not directly editable.
EH
Ed_Hannigan
Jul 31, 2006
Is it a Shape Layer? You can’t delete a selection from a Shape on either platform. What you could do is rasterize it and then make a selection and delete or make a Layer Mask on the Shape.
CB
charles badland
Jul 31, 2006
What Ed says.
FYI to delete preferences hold down Shift+Option+Command (Shift+Alt+Ctrl on PC) AS you launch Photoshop. You’ll get a little dialog to delete your preference settings (or something like that)

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections