This Layer Style Box is Driving Me Crazy

[puppychew]

Hi - I do zoom consulting for house colors. When I click on the Layer - Color Overlay to change the color, the Layer Style box opens up right in the center of my computer screen. I then need to move it down and out of the way before I can change the color in order for the client to be able to see the new house color get applied. They cannot see this when the Layer Style box is in the center of the screen.

This is really annoying for I do this about 1 to 2 times in one minute.

Is there a way to set up PS so the box does not open in the center of the screen? Here is a video. ps video.mp4

Thank you!!

 

[IamSam]

Are you working from a laptop? Hard to tell from the video........but it does look like a laptop. You would have limited space on such a small screen.

Just a note, my layer styles UI stays where I last drug/positioned it!



Make sure your UI font is set to small or tiny. Tick the "scale UI to font" box as well. Restart Ps.


And another note, the UI will not stay off the screen, the next time you open it, it will open as close to where you last placed it, but it will open so you can view the entire UI.

 

[puppychew]

Sorry - just saw this. My notifications didn't work. I am using a laptop but this still does not work. Thanks!

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi @puppychew
I think I have this figured out.
Photoshop panels will load back up where you left them most of the time yet not always.
If you drag the panel to where it is off your monitor screen, the next time you open it up it will place it as close as it can to where you left it except it will bring the whole panel to fit within the window.
So, with your present monitor resolution, you could choose to have it pop back in along any edge or corner that you want, yet it must fully fit in the window.

If your monitor resolution is set to less than the maximum resolution, one workaround is to set the system preferences so that you are at the maximum resolution. This will reduce the panels' size and intrude less.
You could also use a monitor with a higher resolution to get the same result.
Another workaround is before you connect with your customer. Select the different color options one at a time and take a snapshot (camera icon in the history panel). Then, you can click on the snapshot one at a time in the history panel to show the various options one at a time.

These are just some quick ideas on workarounds, as I don't know exactly how you are interacting with the customer. There are probably other workarounds as well.

Hope this helps
John Wheeler

 

[puppychew]

I see what you mean. I usually drag it 90% off the screen and then it pops up then next time right in the center. Keeping it in the corner is slightly better but the box still takes up half the screen. However I just thought that maybe I can create an action. I thought I would start the action by double clicking on the layer, when the layer style box opens up, I would move it to the bottom. Unfortunately I cannot end the action unless I select a color so I thought that I could edit the action to stop it in the middle and then I can select a color. Didn't work.

 

[thebestcpu]

I see what you mean. I usually drag it 90% off the screen and then it pops up then next time right in the center. Keeping it in the corner is slightly better but the box still takes up half the screen. However I just thought that maybe I can create an action. I thought I would start the action by double clicking on the layer, when the layer style box opens up, I would move it to the bottom. Unfortunately I cannot end the action unless I select a color so I thought that I could edit the action to stop it in the middle and then I can select a color. Didn't work.

Given the limitations of panel positioning, there may be other workarounds if the details of your workflow with the customer were clearer. It's hard to tell just from your Layer Stack. There are often ways to workaround the issue you have, yet I will leave that up to you if you ask another question in this thread or post a new question on the forum.

 

[puppychew]

When I do my zoom meetings I have the PS screen split into two. One side is the house I work on and the other is a paint chart - I just click on the colors I want to use. I thought that instead of clicking on the layer to change the color overlay I could create a keyboard shortcut for an action - just to get the color overlay window open and moved to the bottom. I can't seem to get that to work though.