Bob McDonald from Akatombo Media was kind enough to share this trick with Photoshop text layers.
If you have lots of text layers that you want to make the same change to (for example, change the font, color — anything in the options bar), you DO NOT have to go to every text layer and make changes. (Which would take a lot of time.)
Instead, link all the text layers you want to change, then select one of them and use the option bar to make the changes WHILE holding the Shift key.
Thanks, Bob!
November 30th, 2004 at 1:13 pm
hurrah for obscure, hand-twisting options…usability at its finest.
November 30th, 2004 at 3:32 pm
ROFL @ redux. Thanks for the tip!
November 30th, 2004 at 3:58 pm
Cool tip! Sometimes the simplest are the most useful!
:)
March 3rd, 2006 at 9:29 am
Change Multiple Text Layers in Photoshop
A long time ago (like over a year) I sent a photoshop tip to Corrie Haffly (sic?) who, at least at the time, was running the Sitepoint design blog. She published it, and I forgot about it, but a referrer in my logs reminded me of it. Since …
May 31st, 2006 at 2:55 am
I just tried that and it doesn’t work. Only the text layer which is selcted is changed (I want to change the font). All type layers are linked and I held shift while changing the font face in the options bar. I use PS 7.
Any ideas why this doesn’t work for me?
September 1st, 2006 at 2:28 am
Darren,
In PS8 It doesn’t work either but you can select all the layers you want to change in the layers palette and then change the properties without any shift pressing…
Hope it works on ps7.
Claudio
May 1st, 2007 at 12:00 am
Excellent post, saves me tons of time because I switch between editing with a Mac at work and a PC from home, fonts never quite seem to match even if they have the same font so this makes for a quick change. Thanks!
May 25th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
July 31st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
This was a great help, thanks! I use it when converting Fireworks files to Photoshop. Sometimes Fireworks converts typeface to Myriad for some reason.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:12 am
This just saved me hours of extra clicking. Woohoo!
PS 8.0 Mac OsX
June 12th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
doesn’t seem to work in CS3 when the linked text layers are in different groups… grrr! unless someone else has an idea how to do it? I’m assuming you hold shift while clicking the checkmark to accept the text changes on the option bar?
September 13th, 2008 at 4:49 am
CHANGE MULTIPLE LAYERS
Courtesy of MyJanee.com
In order to make changes to many Type layers at the same time, here’s what you do:
Click the first of the Type layers in the Layers palette.
Ctrl-click the next ones, or Shift-click the last one — not the thumbnail, but the layer name. This will highlight all of these layers.
Now you can change the Type attributes in the Type Tool Options bar at the top.
Adding a Layer Style is not too much more difficult:
Fix the Layer Style for one of the layers just as you want it.
Right-click the layer name in the Layers palette.
Choose Copy Layer Style.
Highlight all of the other Type layers, by Ctrl-clicking each of them.
Right-click one of these now selected layers and choose Paste Layer Style.
Tada! This should do it for you quickly and painlessly. Have fun!
Always me, Janee
No one else has your vision. No one else can do your art.
myJanee.com for Janee’s Photoshop Tutorials, Art Gallery, Photo Albums, and more.
Go to myJanee.blogspot.com to see what I’m up to!
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
It is not necessary to link the layers anymore. As long as you are running PS CS4 and you have set the current tool to the text tool, the colors and other properties panel is active.
March 11th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I have 2 things to say:
1. Linking all text layers is misleading because YOU DO NOT NEED TO LINK ALL LAYERS for this to work. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to do this, but it will be easier to Shift+Click on each text layer which you would like to change. Of course you must have the “Auto Select Layer” box in the top toolbar checked while you are in drag mode.
2. Where the hek is the signup for this place? Is this invite only or something? I would like to register a UN and PW but I couldn’t find the function in this site if I was held at gunpoint. Any help would be appreciated.
-Jonno
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:52 pm
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