Graphics Tips

Photoshop Quick Tip #3: Create a new document the size of another

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You can make a new file that mimics the dimensions and resolution of any other saved file Photoshop has open by simply going to the File menu and choosing New and then go to the Window menu and select from the list of open documents at the bottom of that menu or choose it from the bottom of the Preset menu in the New dialog box. Now, magically, the width, height, resolution and color mode settings in the New document dialog box match the chosen document.

Note that since you can only create new files in Bitmap, Greyscale, RGB, CMYK or Lab color modes, you may only match the specifications of files in those modes when using this maneuver. Thus, you cannot match the dimensions of an Index Color image in this way; Photoshop will seem to oblige but at the last second it will error on you.

Another method of creating a new document the size of another is to open the document you wish to match, choose Select All (Command-A) from the Edit menu and then select Copy (Command-C) or Copy Merged (Command-Shift-C) if your file has layers. Now when you ask to create a new document, Photoshop will automatically plug in the dimensions of the image in the clipboard as the specifications of the new document.

The downside of this method is that you will have to replace whatever you might have in the clipboard with your chosen image which, if it is quite large or multi-layered, may take time and memory resources you might not have.