Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
There are certain situations where Elements presents you with the Save As dialog box no matter
what
you choose in the On First Save menu. For instance, say you add layers (explained in
Chapter 6
) to a JPEG file. You can't save a JPEG with layers, so Elements brings up the Save As
dialog box to let you choose a different file format for saving your work.
You can also use the Saving Files preferences to control how well your image file works with oth-
er programs. If you leave the Maximize PSD File Compatibility drop-down menu set to Always,
Elements embeds a flattened copy of your image in the file for the benefit of programs that don't
understand layers. That makes for a substantially larger file, but with disk space so cheap these
days, it's usually not a problem. If you instead set this menu to Ask, then each time you save a
layered PSD file, you'll see a dialog box asking whether you want to maximize compatibility.
Changing a File's Format
It's super easy to change a file's format in Elements: Just press Shift+Ctrl+S/Shift-
⌘
-S or go
to File→Save As and, in the Save As dialog box's “Save as type” drop-down menu (labeled
“Format” on Macs), select the format you want. Elements makes a copy of your file in the
new format and gives you a chance to change the name, if you want.
