---

In previous versions of Photoshop the New Document Dialogue Box was compact and didn’t allow for much choice. In Photoshop CC 2017 however some things have been added, and you might think, taken away.

In this post I’ll explain some of the improvements and show you how to make a document with a transparent Background layer that might have fooled you (like it did with me!);

 

 

Image Size and Orientation

The New Document Dialogue box in Photoshop CC2017 now offers a collection of templates that can be chosen in various categories. What’s great is that you are no longer restricted to that size document in either landscape or portrait;

I used to have an action for creating and turning an A4 document, a little frustration that no longer exists.

Templates from Adobe Stock

 

Searching Adobe Stock was added in CC2015 but now there’s a new section on adding a template. These make quick light of your mock-ups or design process by utilising Photoshop Templates, added in CC2015, and Smart Objects.

 

 

(Incidentally, you can save your own template, I explain in this video here)

Transparent Background

In previous versions of Photoshop, you can give a new document a white, custom colored or transparent background, however at first sight this doesn’t seem to be the case in CC2017;

Photoshop CC2017 offers white, black or transparent. Or does it?

When you click on the downward arrow and the menu appears you might notice that a scroll bar appears on the right-hand side.;

 

 

Meaning there’s more to be seen if you scroll the window up;

(You may have seen in other tutorials, mine included, sorry, that the way to display the Transparent option was to click and open the Advanced Options. This doesn’t reveal the ‘extra’ background options but just scrolls the window up to display the Advanced options. Thus, when you go back to the Background options it already scrolled up.)

Using The Old Dialogue Box

I have to admit that in 2015 I wasn’t keen on the New Document dialogue box, but the improvement in 2017 make things much easier. If you want to go back to the old style then;

On a Mac go to Photoshop > Preferences > General (Or press Cmd+K)

On a PC go to File > Preferences > General (Or press (Ctrl+K)

This will open the preferences dialogue box where you can uncheck ‘Show “Start Workspace” when no documents are open’

This will take effect from the next time you open Photoshop. The new style New Dialogue Box will still be the default, just not present when you first open Photoshop CC2017