How to Open and View Files

Opening images is easy and can be done by choosing File> Open. You'll also notice that the hotkey for this operation is Ctrl+O. Try to remember hotkeys from now on and use them frequently. Instead of choosing File> Open, press Ctrl+O to bring up the Open window.

Inside the Open window you can browse to the folder with your photos and open any file you want. You can select one image or multiple images by holding down the Ctrl key. Select at one image then click Open.

Zoom

Now we have a file opened inside Photoshop. We'll now show you how to view the image inside Photoshop.

Zoom using hotkey

There are many ways to zoom in or out of the image. We'll start off with the basics. Open the View menu you'll notice that there is a hotkey beside the Zoom In and Zoom Out command. It shows that you can zoom in or out simply by holding the Ctrl key and pressing either + to zoom in or - to zoom out. Try it out; press Ctrl++ to zoom in and then Ctrl+- to zoom back out.

Zoom using scroll wheel

Another way to zoom is to use the scroll wheel on your mouse (if you have one). Simply hold down the Alt key while scrolling to zoom in or out.

Zoom using the navigator

One of the best way to zoom is using the navigator. The navigator is located at the top right but if you don't see it, go to Window> Navigator to bring it up. With the navigator, you can slide the slider on the bottom right towards the left or right to zoom in or out. You can also input the exact percent of zoom in the field to the left. And the best part about the navigator is that once you zoom in, you can click inside the red outline and drag it to anywhere in the image you would like to see.

Working with Multiple Images

Before we begin

Before we continue with this section, we'll need to open several more images. You can open more files by browsing to the folder and then dragging and dropping the files into the Photoshop application. Or, you can press Ctrl+O and browse for the files with the Open command. Open one or more image(s) into Photoshop.

How to switch to other opened images

We loaded several images into Photoshop but why do we only see one? Well the images are loaded but they are just hidden behind the image you're seeing. Open the Window menu and at the very bottom of the menu, you'll see the three files that are opened. You can simply click on the image that you want to switch to.

Switch using a hotkey

You can also switch between the images using a hotkey. The hotkey to switch between the opened files is Ctrl+Tab. Press Ctrl+Tab several times to cycle through the images. If you want to go backwards, hold Shift so that you are pressing Ctrl+Shift+Tab.

How to arrange the images

We have several images opened and now we'll go through the several ways to view arrange the windows inside Photoshop.

Cascade

Choose Window> Arrange> Cascade.

This will cascade the windows so that you can resize and rearrange them.

Tile

If you have many images opened, you can have Photoshop automatically tile them so that you can view all the images in one screen without having to switch back and forth to view them. To tile, choose Window> Arrange> Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically.

Match Zoom and Location

Now we have a bunch of images tiled, but to view them all we have to go to each window and zoom out. If they the images you open are all about the same image size, then there's a faster way to do this. Simply go into any one window and zoom out until you see the entire image. Then, choose Match Zoom and Location.

Once you have that checked, all your images will have the same zoom and location setting.