Sometimes, two windows really are better than one!
Did you know that you can open a document in Photoshop in more than one window?
To do so, with the document open, use the Window / Arrange / New Window for … command. The filename shows at the end of the menu command (see Figure 1).
Fig 1 - The Window Arrange Menu
You can have more than two windows open for a document, but in practice I can’t see a lot of use for more than two.
Once you have the two windows open use the Window / Arrange / 2-up Horizontal or 2-up Vertical commands to arrange the windows how you like them.
Now every change you make in the window that you are working on will be reflected in the second window.
There are two main occasions when I like to use two windows;
1. Have one window zoomed in to allow detail work and have the second window zoomed out to see how your changes look when viewed wider.
2. When working to update a layer mask have one window showing the layer mask (click the Layer mask while holding the Alt/Option key) and the other window showing the image.
To return both windows back to the same Zoom state, location or Rotation state you can use the Window / Arrange / Match Zoom, Match Location, Match Rotation or Match All commands.
When using the Hand tool to move the image around in the window, or the Zoom tool to zoom in and out, be aware of the Scroll All Windows check box in the Hand tool Options Bar and the Zoom All Windows check box in the Zoom tool Options Bar (see Figure 2). If these are checked the moving and zooming are synchronised between windows.
Please also note that holding down the Shift key while using these tools will also cause the movement / zooming to be synchronised across multiple windows.
Fig 2 - Synchronise Windows
Once you have finished with the second window you can safely close it, the document will not be closed until all windows are closed.
This article was first published in the May 2020 issue of Artists Down Under magazine.