CS4-Why are menu options disabled (Fill.., Stroke... etc)?

I apologize if this has been asked before... I searched but didnt find anything.

I just installed CS4 a week or two ago. I've used other versions in the past -- mostly for processing digital images -- and am now trying learn some graphic design techniques, so please forgive me if I'm missing something obvious.

I created a path using the pen tool, changed it to a selection, right-clicked inside the selection area and wanted to Fill the selection, but the menu option is disabled. Does anyone know why?

I am running on Windows Vista, Dell Quad-Core system w/4GB RAM.

Thank you for any input/ideas!

Christine

You may notice the context menu says "Fill Path"; you have turned it into a selection. To fill a selection use Edit > Fill or the Paint Bucket tool.

Thank you John. The strange thing is that I'm following along with a video tutorial... doing exactly what the instructor is doing and he has the Fill/Stroke options available and I don't?? Can you think of anything else? or am I really just not following along right (hard to believe as I've wathed it now 5 times to be sure I wasn't missing anything -- of course still possible)?

I never use the context menu method but tried it before answering your question.

In my copy of CS4 it says "Fill Path".

Do you have a link to the tutorial?

That's the weirdest thing...

After you turn a path into a selection, right-click and fill path is still available - and it works. It doesn't even make a shape layer, it just fills the selection with colored pixels.

That is completely counter-intuitive - a vector function that's working directly on pixels? Anyway, there it is. Apparently the path is still alive along with the selection. It's still there in the paths panel.

And that's probably your problem, Christine. It has to be active in the paths panel - not grayed out. Just click once on it.

You probably have a vector layer selected in the Layers Panel, or no layer selected at all. Make sure that an empty or a normal pixel layer is selected and that you right+click with a selection tool active as the options that you get when you right+click are different from tool to tool.