Select the Marquee tool from the toolbar or press M to cycle through the Marquee tools.
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Make selections with the Marquee tools
Last updated on
Sep 28, 2026
Draw rectangular, elliptical, or single-pixel selections with geometric precision.
Marquee tools create geometric selections that isolate specific areas of your image for editing, applying effects, or copying content. Use these tools when you need regularly shaped selections, such as rectangles, circles, or single-pixel rows and columns. For irregular shapes or complex edges, consider using the Lasso tools or the Object Selection tool instead.
The Marquee toolset includes four tools: for rectangular or square selections, for elliptical or circular selections, and Single Row or Single Column Marquee for 1-pixel-wide selections. Marquee selections can be combined, subtracted, or intersected to create more complex selection shapes.
Select your marquee tool
The tool creates rectangular selections or perfect squares when the Shift key is pressed. The tool creates elliptical selections or perfect circles with Shift. The Single Row Marquee and Single Column Marquee tools define 1-pixel-wide selections as rows or columns.
Configure tool options
Select a selection mode in the Options bar: New Selection, Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, or Intersect with Selection.
Enter a Feather value in pixels to soften selection edges or leave it at 0 for hard edges.
For the , select or deselect Anti-alias to smooth curved edges.
Choose a Style option: Normal to drag freely, Fixed Ratio to constrain proportions by entering width and height values, or Fixed Size to specify exact pixel dimensions.
Note
Use Fixed Ratio with values like 2 for width and 1 for height to create selections twice as wide as they are tall.
Create your selection
With the or , drag across the area you want to select.
Hold Shift while dragging to constrain the marquee to a square or circle, then release the mouse button before releasing Shift.
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while dragging to draw the marquee from its centre point outward.
With the Single Row or Single Column Marquee tool, click near the area you want to select, then drag the marquee to position it precisely.
Note
To reposition a marquee while creating it, begin dragging to create a selection, keep the mouse button pressed, and hold the spacebar to continue dragging the selection. Release the spacebar to resume adjusting the selection size.
You can enable snapping to help align selections with document elements by choosing View > Snap, or choosing View > Snap To and selecting guides, grids, slices, or document bounds from the submenu. If the Single Row or Single Column Marquee is not visible, increase the magnification of your image view.
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