Photoshop

Manage paths

When you use a pen or shape tool to create a work path, the new path appears as the work path in the Paths palette. The work path is temporary; you must save it to avoid losing its contents. If you deselect the work path without saving it and start drawing again, a new path will replace the existing one.

When you use a pen or shape tool to create a new shape layer, the new path appears as a vector mask in the Paths palette. Vector masks are linked to their parent layer; you must select the parent layer in the Layers palette in order to list the Vector mask in the Paths palette. You can remove a Vector mask from a layer and convert a Vector mask to a rasterized mask. For more information, see Add and edit vector masks.

Paths saved with an image appear when you open it again. In Windows, JPEG, JPEG 2000, DCS, EPS, PDF, and TIFF formats support paths in Photoshop. In Mac OS, all available file formats support paths.

Note: Paths in formats other than those listed here generally don’t survive a transition from Mac OS to Windows and back to Mac OS.

Save a work path

  • To save without renaming, drag the work path name to the New Path button  at the bottom of the Paths palette.
  • To save and rename, choose Save Path from the Paths palette menu, enter a new path name in the Save Path dialog box, and click OK.

Rename a saved path

 Double-click the path name in the Paths palette, type a new name, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).

Delete a path

  1. Click the path name in the Paths palette.
  2. Do one of the following:

    • Drag the path to the Delete icon  at the bottom of the Paths palette.

    • Choose Delete Path from the Paths palette menu.

    • Click the Delete icon at the bottom of the Paths palette, and click Yes.

    To delete a path without being asked to confirm, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the Delete icon at the bottom of the Paths palette.