Today, we will be learning how to personalise our workspaces in Photoshop and Krita. How to switch between workspaces, adjust, reset and finally save our own. For those following along on Krita, please note that I am now using the latest version 4.1.5.
Switching & Adjusting Workspaces in Photoshop
Switching between workspaces in Photoshop is easy. Navigate to the top right side of your taskbar and click the little arrow. This will bring up another menu which shows the workspaces you have currently got installed as well as options for resetting, deleting and saving workspaces. To load the preset “Photography” workspace, we would select “Photography” from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can also change workspaces by clicking on “Window” in the taskbar, then navigating down to “Workspace”.
We can also adjust and save our own workspaces easily. Let’s start by changing the width on the right-hand toolbar. Move your mouse carefully over the border of this toolbar. You will notice that your mouse pointer will change shape when you do this. This double pointed arrow shows us we can drag this element over. Left-click and drag will allow you to make the right side wider or thinner. This will also allow you to change the height of individual elements, such as the colour swatches window.
If you click on “Window” in the top taskbar, you will see a list of extras that you can add to your workspace. Clicking any of these will add the extra element to your workspace. Again, these new elements can be moved into position with a left-click and drag. I suggest you try moving things around to see for yourself how this works.
Switching & Adjusting Workspaces in Krita
Those who have come over to Krita from Photoshop will notice that the two ways to switch workspaces in Krita mirror that of Photoshop. The quickest way to switch workspaces is to navigate to the icon on the far right of your taskbar. Clicking this brings up a pop-up menu. Select one of the workspaces by clicking an item from the list and see how everything moves around. You can also change workspaces by clicking on “Window” in your taskbar, then scrolling down to “Workspace”.
It’s easy to adjust and save our own workspaces in Krita. Try moving your mouse slowly over one of the borders of an on-screen docked element. You will notice that it changes shape. When the mouse shows this double arrow, it means we can click and drag to alter. This means you can left-click and drag to adjust the width and height of the docked elements.
If you navigate to “Settings” in the top taskbar, and scroll down to “Dockers” a list will appear. Clicking on any of the list items will add a new docker to your current workspace. By left-clicking and dragging we can easily move and adjust these new dockers to suit our needs.
Saving & Resetting Workspaces in Photoshop
To save a new workspace that you have created, you can either go to “Windows” then “Workspace” in the top taskbar, or click on the little arrow next to the loaded workspace. Click on “New Workspace” to save your current settings. Type your name into the field provided and click save.
It’s very easy to move or even accidentally delete something from your workspace. However, we can easily reset our workspace by going to “Windows”, “Workspaces” and then click the reset option on the list. Alternatively, you can also rest your workspace by clicking on the arrow on the top right of the toolbar and selecting reset from there.
Saving & Resetting Workspaces in Krita
Happy with your new workspace layout and want to save it? There are two ways to do this. Navigate back to the workspaces icon again on the top right, click to open then click again in the text field. Type the name of your new workspace in here and then click save. Your new workspace will be shown at the bottom of the list. When you next use Krita, you will notice that your workspace is now listed alphabetically. The alternative method of saving workspaces involves going to “Windows”, “Workspace” then click on “New Workspace”.
Essentially, as yet, Krita does not have a way to reset workspaces. However, if you load an alternative workspace, then reload your desired one, you will notice everything has been reverted back to standard. A bit of a long winded way to reset workspaces, but better than a poke in the eye.
Finally
Your task for today is to explore your desktop. Move stuff about, change sizes and add new dockers. Find a set up that works for you and save it.
Next time, we will be looking at colour and display options. If we have time, we will then take a look at shortcuts. Until then, have fun exploring and remember if you have any questions, please get in touch.
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