PSE 3 help, please! :)

[dmd25]

Hi there,

I recently got PSE 3. I have only been digi-scrapping for a couple of months and was using PSE 1. I am having a problem--I suspect there is an obvious answer, but I can't figure it out myself.

I have opened a new file (File>New>Blank File) with the appropriate dimensions/dpi. My problem is incorporating anything onto the file. In PSE 1, the files I opened (elements, photos) would open onto the workspace and then I would drag what I wanted onto the document I was working on. Now, the files opened are in the Photo Bin, and I don't know how to move them. I have done it accidentally twice (my file now has a background and two other papers on it)--but I don't know what I did that got those papers on the background. I am now trying to place a photo, and can't do it. As I said, I am sure there is a simple answer, but I can't find it! I never even had this problem as a real newbie with PSE 1--I know I am doing something wrong.

Any advice?

Thank you so much.

[Emma]

The photo bin shows what's opened, whether maximized or minimized

To use the file in the bin, either double click to Restore it, or click and drag it onto the Active Image Area. Then proceed as normal dragging and dropping things onto your canvas

I'm not sure why they're minimized automatically when you open them; are they minimizing automatically? Perhaps you opened a lot of images and minimized things as you were looking through them. I can't find any option that opens images minimized into the Photo Bin. Hopefully you can use them easily now.

[dmd25]

The photo bin shows what's opened, whether maximized or minimized

To use the file in the bin, either double click to Restore it, or click and drag it onto the Active Image Area. Then proceed as normal dragging and dropping things onto your canvas

I'm not sure why they're minimized automatically when you open them; are they minimizing automatically? Perhaps you opened a lot of images and minimized things as you were looking through them. I can't find any option that opens images minimized into the Photo Bin. Hopefully you can use them easily now.

Emma,

When I double click the file in the bin, the canvas that I am working on goes down to the bin, and the new element comes up. I can't figure out how to get the two together! Actually, I can if I do Select All>Edit>Copy>Paste--but I know that I should somehow be able to drag and drop. Does that make any sense?

Also, I must not have written clearly--the files are not minimized to the bin automatically--they are on the work space.


This is so frustrating, and I am sure has an easy explanation/solution, but I don't know what it is!

Thanks so much for your help.

[Emma]

So you can't have more than one window open on the Active Image Area at a time? Mine tile or stack just like in older PSE, then bin is just an added feature to see what's open in a hurry.
If you have more than one window in your active image area, you should be able to click and drag the title bar to see both windows at once. Perhaps your window is maximzed so you can't see the open windows underneath, or perhaps you're in Full-screen mode, allowing you to view only one window at a time

Use the Restore window size to see multiple open documents at once, then you can drag and drop them. Or just copy and paste the element, that's how it's done in PSP, no dragging allowed!