Copying Layer Styles in Photoshop

by corriehaffly

I just learned a new trick!!

I’ll explain my “old way” of doing things first.

Let’s say you have a layer in Photoshop and apply a Layer Style (drop shadow, stroke, bevel, etc…). The Layers palette shows which effects you’ve applied (see picture below). Quite often, I find myself needing to duplicate layer effects on other layers.

Now in the “old days,” I would right-click on the layer and choose “Copy Layer Style,” then right-click on the target layer and choose “Paste Layer Style.”

But those days are gone.

Now, I know that I can simply click on the “Effects” text, drag, and drop it on my target layer (actually, slightly “below” the layer – you’ll see what I mean when you try it) – and the effect will be applied immediately!

I am always ecstatic when I find ways to do things that involve less clicking.

By the way, you can also click-and-drag the individual effects to copy them as well. You just click the “Effects” text if you want to apply the whole lot of them.

Share and Enjoy:

Five Photoshop Layers Speed Tricks Jennifer shows you five quick tricks to speed up your...
Making A Clipping Mask With Text In Photoshop Jennifer shows you how to make a clipping mask using...
Make A Big, Beautiful Call-To-Action Button In Photoshop Yesterday, we looked at some guidelines for creating a call...
Create Type Within A Shape In Photoshop Jennifer shows a quick and easy method to create various...
Photoshop Web Graphics Tips Jennifer shows you three tips to help speed up your...

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 24th, 2004 at 3:13 pm, contains 251 words, 9 images, and is filed under Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. The views and opinions in this blog post are those of its author.

This post has 16 responses so far

Nice trick, I never find these myself so this one seems useful.
charmedlover
November 24th, 2004 at 3:48 pm
Great find! I’m a frequent right-click “copy layer style” user. And I hate using contextual menus, they are so clunky at times.
Thanks
mbstuart
November 24th, 2004 at 4:31 pm
I’ve always done it the two click way as well. Thanks for the tip!
ant1832
November 24th, 2004 at 9:16 pm
Very nice trick, alot better than the two click method.
JonathanS
November 25th, 2004 at 1:11 am
Thanks for the tip! :)

And I just realised you can clear a style by dragging it to the trash icon. Doh!
MarkB
November 25th, 2004 at 1:31 am
Coolio Iglesias!!!
Scratch2
November 25th, 2004 at 10:42 am
Great tip, thanxs loads
Anonymous
November 25th, 2004 at 11:47 am
Corrie – this might be a little more useful if you explained which versions of Photoshop you’re talking about when you say “old way” or “new way” – I don’t have PS in front of me to test.
Chris
November 26th, 2004 at 1:56 am
Wow, I didn’t even know you could copy and paste the effects! I always manually entered them for each layer. I should go get a photoshop book. But then, I use Fireworks most of the time ;)
Onur
November 26th, 2004 at 4:14 am
Nice. I knew about copy layer styles, but was always annoyed that you had to copy all the styles when maybe you only wanted 1. Great tip!
JP:N9
November 27th, 2004 at 9:48 am
Chris — I’m using Photoshop 7 but “new way” and “old way” simply means that I found a different way of doing things.
corriehaffly
November 27th, 2004 at 8:34 pm
ha, nice trick. It’s amazing how all these little nuggets of info can save you time. Thanks…
ricktu
November 29th, 2004 at 7:56 pm
Corrie, your blog is great. I’ve only recently been copying layer styles, and this is a good shortcut.
busy
December 1st, 2004 at 3:25 pm
Hmm… nice one! Thanx.
IL
December 6th, 2004 at 5:26 pm
very kool…
zote63
January 11th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
actually in CS2 I have to hold the ALT key (windows) to copy the style – else it moves it….
Mark
September 20th, 2007 at 4:02 am