Manage paths

The Paths panel (Window > Paths) lists the name and a thumbnail image of each saved path, the current work path, and the current vector mask. Turning thumbnails off can improve performance. To view a path, you must first select it in the Paths panel.

Select a path

Deselect a path

Change the size of path thumbnails

Choose Panel Options from the Paths panel menu, and select a size, or select None to turn off the display of thumbnails.

Change a path’s stacking order

Create a new path in the Paths panel

• To create a path without naming it, click the Create New Path button  at the bottom of the Paths panel.
• To create and name a path, make sure no work path is selected. Choose New Path from the Paths panel menu, or Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the New Path button at the bottom of the panel. Enter a name for the path in the New Path dialog box, and click OK.

Create a new work path

Path options

You can define the color and thickness of path lines to suit your taste and for easier visibility. While creating a path—using the Pen tool, for example—click the gear icon () in the Options bar. Now specify the color and thickness of path lines. Also, specify whether you want to preview path segments as you move the pointer between clicks (Rubber Band effect).

Manage paths

When you use a pen or shape tool to create a work path, the new path appears as the work path in the Paths panel. The work path is temporary; you must save it to avoid losing its contents. If you deselect the work path without saving it and start drawing again, a new path will replace the existing one.

When you use a pen or shape tool to create a new shape layer, the new path appears as a vector mask in the Paths panel. Vector masks are linked to their parent layer; you must select the parent layer in the Layers panel in order to list the Vector mask in the Paths panel. You can remove a Vector mask from a layer and convert a Vector mask to a rasterized mask. For more information, see Add and edit vector masks.

Paths saved with an image appear when you open it again. In Windows, JPEG, JPEG 2000, DCS, EPS, PDF, and TIFF formats support paths in Photoshop. In Mac OS, all available file formats support paths.

Save a work path

• To save without renaming, drag the work path name to the New Path button  at the bottom of the Paths panel.
• To save and rename, choose Save Path from the Paths panel menu, enter a new path name in the Save Path dialog box, and click OK.

Rename a saved path

Delete a path