Photoshop CS5 Mac vs PC Tips

Photoshop CS5 Mac - Preventing Headaches!

If you’re like me and you’ve recently started working in Photoshop CS5 on a Mac, you may have become frustrated by the default application layout & preferences. As a long time PC user I’ve become very used to way the Photoshop works on PC, and biased or not, things just seemed to work a little better in my honest opinion. And no, that’s not to say I’m not in love with my new iMac! :D

I thought I’d put together a little write up on some of the frustrations I’ve encountered and finally overcome thanks to some in depth googling. Some of these tips were easy to find with one quick Google search, but oddly enough it took some digging to uncover some other simple preferences. I guess I just didn’t know where to look!

I’ve tried to order these 3 quick tips in what would make most sense to me had I just opened Photoshop CS5 on a Mac for the first time.

1. Windows Resizing on Zoom

A nasty little issue. I honestly could not understand why this would be a default and who could possibly enjoy this feature, but to each his own. Basically what happens is no matter what size you make your document window, upon zoom, the document window will resize to automatically fit the zoomed canvas. This can be quite a pain when you always prefer a full screen document window.

The Fix: Simple and easy to find, provided you know it’s there. Open Photoshop CS5 on your Mac, and navigate to the “Photoshop” menu at the top of your screen. You’ll want to go to Preferences > General or just hit ⌘K on your keyboard as a shortcut. Make sure the “Zoom Resizes Window” option is unchecked, at which point you should be good to go.

Side Note: Checked or not, this preference doesn’t seem to make a difference if you follow through with my next tip, opening Photoshop CS5 Mac in full screen mode.

2. Photoshop CS5 Mac Full Screen

This single preference on it’s own would have saved me all the headaches I ran into. The issue here is that when opening a document in photoshop, each document will be given it’s own window. If you’re anything like me and enjoyed the PC versions of Photoshop, you’ll probably prefer to have Photoshop open full screen, with all your documents consolidated into one window, separated by tabs. PC veteran or not, this is a far more organized set up, and is just plain easier to work in.

You do have the ability to control how your documents are arranged thanks to the “Arrange Documents” options in the header toolbar, next to the quick zoom options. However these are somewhat buggy on their own, and won’t affect the default layout when you start of Photoshop the next time around. Basically, not a valid solution to the problem.

The Fix: Simple. So simple it’s mind blowing. I guess the reason I wasn't able to find it on my own is because I’m used to editing all my default preferences via Photoshop > Preferences. Can you blame me? Unfortunately you won’t find this solution no matter how deep you dig into the preferences menu. The solution here is to look under “Window”, and make sure the option “Application Frame” is checked. Like I said, simple. Once checked, you’ll be a happy camper. And if you haven’t yet, now is probably a good time to set up a custom workspace.

Side Note: Checking the Application Frame option will even take care of the window resizing on zoom, since it’s not really possible when the application frame is always full screen.

3. Creating a Custom Workspace

Nothing here is different from the PC version of Photoshop, provided you’ve already checked the Application Frame option. I just like to suggest this option to designers if they’ve never used it before, as everyone has their own layout preferences. I know I can get my hair in a knot if my “History” and “Layers” panels aren’t big & large since I rely on them oh so often.

Remember to save your workspace once you’ve got everything laid out by going to Window > Workspace > New Workspace. Give it a name and your good to go!

Photoshop CS5 PC vs Mac: Conclusion

In conclusion I’ve come to enjoy working in Photoshop CS5 on my Mac, now that I’ve changed the annoying default settings. Hopefully these tips will help you get set up so that you too can work in a stress-free photoshop environment. Happy designing everyone!