Selecting opaque areas on a layer

By loading a layer mask, you can quickly select all the opaque areas on a layer--that is, the areas within the layer boundaries. This is useful when you want to exclude transparent areas from a selection. You can also load the boundaries of a layer mask as a selection.

To load a layer or layer mask's boundaries as a selection:

Do one of the following:

• In the Layers palette, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the layer or layer mask thumbnail.
• To add the pixels to an existing selection, press Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or Command+Shift (Mac OS), and click the layer or layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette.
• To subtract the pixels from an existing selection, press Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Command+Option (Mac OS), and click the layer or layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette.
• To load the intersection of the pixels and an existing selection, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS), and click the layer or layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette.

To move all the contents of a layer, you can use the move tool without loading a transparency mask.