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How to Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool in Photoshop?

Published in Photoshop Tools 3 mins read

Using the Rectangular Marquee tool in Photoshop is straightforward. It allows you to select rectangular or square areas of your image for editing, copying, or other modifications. Here's how:

Steps to Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool:

  1. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool: Locate the Rectangular Marquee tool in the Tools panel. It looks like a dotted rectangle. You can also select it by pressing the M key on your keyboard. This is its shortcut.

  2. Customize Options (Optional): In the Options bar at the top of the screen, you can adjust settings to refine your selections. Here's a breakdown of common options:

    • Selection Mode:

      • New Selection: Creates a new selection each time you drag.
      • Add to Selection: Adds to an existing selection. Click and drag to add another rectangular area to your current selection.
      • Subtract from Selection: Removes areas from an existing selection. Click and drag to remove a rectangular area from your current selection.
      • Intersect with Selection: Keeps only the area where a new selection overlaps with the existing selection.

    • Feather: Softens the edges of your selection, creating a smoother transition between the selected and unselected areas. Enter a value in pixels to specify the feather radius.

    • Anti-alias: Smooths the jagged edges of the selection, creating a more natural look (usually enabled by default).

    • Style:

      • Normal: Allows you to freely draw a rectangle.
      • Fixed Ratio: Lets you define a specific aspect ratio (e.g., 1:1 for a square, 4:3 for a standard photo).
      • Fixed Size: Allows you to create a selection of a predefined pixel size. Enter the width and height in pixels.

  3. Draw the Selection: Click and drag your mouse cursor over the area you want to select.

    • Rectangular Selection: Simply drag diagonally to create a rectangle.
    • Square Selection: Hold down the Shift key while dragging to create a perfect square. The Style option set to Fixed Ratio of 1:1 will also achieve this.
    • Start from the Center: Hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key while dragging to draw the selection outward from the point where you initially clicked. Combine with Shift to draw a square from the center.

  4. Adjust the Selection (If Necessary): After creating the initial selection, you can adjust its position and size.

    • Move the Selection: Click and drag inside the selection to move it to a different location.
    • Transform the Selection: Go to Select > Transform Selection to resize, rotate, or skew the selection. Press Enter when done.

  5. Perform Actions on the Selection: Once you have your selection, you can perform various actions:

    • Copy: Edit > Copy (or Ctrl/Cmd + C)
    • Cut: Edit > Cut (or Ctrl/Cmd + X)
    • Paste: Edit > Paste (or Ctrl/Cmd + V)
    • Fill: Edit > Fill (or Shift + F5)
    • Apply adjustments: Adjustment layers will only affect the selected area.

  6. Deselect: To remove the selection, go to Select > Deselect (or Ctrl/Cmd + D).

By following these steps, you can effectively use the Rectangular Marquee tool in Photoshop for various image editing tasks.

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