Preferences

Help Center → Adobe Photoshop → Preferences

Preferences can be customized in Photoshop to fit your needs. When working with print you can specify several types of units of measurement, for example, and Photoshop can be customized in the same fashion. To customize Photoshop for yourself, select Edit > Preferences from the menu bar, or use one of these two key combinations: <Ctrl><Shift>K (Windows) or <Cmd><Shift>K (Mac OS).

Preferences

Although a lot of the material included in the Preferences dialog box can certainly help with advanced features and functions, there are only a few things that most people use. Here is a brief overview of each of the eight customizable option sets included in Preferences:

Dropdown options
  • General: As shown in the picture above, this option set allows you to customize some of the general and more miscellaneous features in Photshop, such as zooming and the number of history states. To access this set directly once the Preferences dialog has been opened, you may use one of the following key combinations: <Ctrl>1 (Windows) or <Cmd>1 (Mac OS)
  • Saving Files: This set includes defining upper or lowercase file extensions when saving, and how often Photoshop autosaves. <Ctrl>2 (Windows) or<Cmd>2 (Mac OS)
  • Display and Cursors: This set changes cursors for painting and other tools. <Ctrl>3 (Windows) or <Cmd>3 (Mac OS)
  • Transparency and Gamut: This set allows you to change background grid size and color. <Ctrl>4 (Windows) or <Cmd>4 (Mac OS)
  • Units and Rulers: This set is perhaps the most used one, and enables you to change measurement units. <Ctrl>5 (Windows) or <Cmd>5 (Mac OS)
  • Guides and Grid: This set is another commonly used one, and allows you to change grid color and gridline intervals. <Ctrl>6 (Windows) or <Cmd>6 (Mac OS)
  • Plug-ins and Scratch Disks: This set controls filters (a type of plug-in) to extend Photoshop's capabilities. You may also name additional virtual RAM locations for your scratch disks. <Ctrl>7 (Windows) or <Cmd>7 (Mac OS)
  • Memory and Image Cache: This set determines how much memory Photoshop uses. <Ctrl>8 (Windows) or <Cmd>8 (Mac OS)