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How Do I Copy and Paste a Selection in Photoshop?

Published in Photoshop Editing 2 mins read

To copy and paste a selection in Photoshop, follow these steps:

  1. Make your selection: Use any of Photoshop's selection tools (Lasso, Marquee, Quick Selection, etc.) to select the area you want to copy.

  2. Copy the selection: Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Copy" (or press Ctrl+C on Windows, or Cmd+C on Mac). This copies the selected pixels to your clipboard.

  3. Navigate to the destination: Open the image where you want to paste the selection, or create a new document.

  4. Paste: Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste" (or press Ctrl+V on Windows, or Cmd+V on Mac). This will paste the copied selection as a new layer in your document.

Alternatively, you can use "Paste Into Selection" if you want to paste the copied selection into another selection:

  1. Make a selection in the destination image: Use selection tools to define the area where you want to paste the copied content.

  2. Paste Into Selection: Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste Special" then "Paste Into" (or press Alt+Shift+Ctrl+V on Windows, or Option+Shift+Cmd+V on Mac). This will paste the copied pixels within the boundaries of your selection, creating a layer mask automatically.

These are the two main ways to copy and paste selections in Photoshop, each serving a different purpose depending on whether you want a separate layer or to confine the pasted content to a specific area.

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