Turn off SmartObject Layers in Photoshop

Turn off SmartObject Layers in Photoshop by default.

So you’ve selected ‘Place’ then popped over to your hard drive and imported an image. Said image predictably appears in the Layers panel just as you expected, You flex your fingers ready for serious image editing then bang the following message pops up.

So what are SmartObjects anyway?

SmartObject layers in Photoshop contain all the same information ans any normal raster (Photoshop) layer and are great if you just want limited editing resources. For example they’re perfect for resizing images without losing quality but limiting if your intention is to edit pixels for other jobs. Basically this comes down to the way Photoshop works with what are known as destructive and non-destructive workflows.

SmartObject Advantages

SmartObjects let you use tools such as transformations for rotating, resizing, distorting, skewing etc with out causing any distortion to the image. This is known as a non-destructive workflow. It is worth noting at this point in the post that SmartObject layers work well with Adjustment Layers.

What are Adjustment Layers?

As you may guess these too are non-destructive editing tools as Adjustment layers don’t alter the original image and can be adjusted, hidden, or deleted at any time without losing the original image quality.

You can work with non-destructive filters in Photoshop known as SmartFilters – which in actually fact are pretty cool to use.

Vector images from software such as Illustrator can be imported directly into Photoshop without needing to convert to a pixel layer.

You CANNOT directly edit anything pixel on a SmartObject layer such as dodge and burn which can be a real pain to some including those using Photoshop for photography. You can simply double click on the layer itself and complete the SmartObject edits in its own window..

What is a non-destructive workflow?

About Non-Destructive Workflows otherwise known as NDW’s

We’re digressing from the point of this post. It was only meant to be a few words and screen shots and we’ve tumbled down numerous rabbit holes already. So lets get back on track.

Pixel Layers and only Pixel Layers

In themselves SmartObjects are super useful for so many things but as mentioned earlier they are not needed by many and keep have to convert them back to pixel layers can become really tedious so let’s fix the issue.

Setting Pixel Layers as default

Go to the Edit Menu and select > Preferences followed by clicking on General..

Which opens the following dialogue box

You’ll see ‘Always create SmartObjects when placing’

Just deselect the box and click OK

Problem solved.

Edit SmartObject Layers

If you’re happy with working directly with SmartObject layers then simply leave the above box checked.

Place the image then double click on the image SmartObject layer

This will open the image into its own window where you can edit it quite freely

‘We used a Black and White Adjustment layer in this example’

SmartObject with Black and White Adjustment Layer

SmartObject Layers in Photoshop Training

We cover SmartObjects in depth on our Photoshop Training for Beginners Course. Learn how to update multiple instances of an object or just one – find out how to work with vector images from Illustrator and more.

Photoshop Training for Beginners Course

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