Move, copy, and delete selected areas
Once you have made a selection, you can move, copy, delete, or cut the selected areas, apply effects or adjustments to them, create masks, crop images, and more.
Move a selected area
- Choose the Arrange tool by doing one of the following:
- Click in the Tools sidebar.
- Choose Tools > Arrange (from the Tools menu at the top of your screen).
- Press the V key on your keyboard.
- Move the pointer inside the selection and drag the selected area to a new position.
Copy or cut and paste a selected area
- Make a selection of the area you want to copy.
- To copy the area, choose Edit > Copy or Edit > Cut.
- To paste the area, choose Edit > Paste.
You can cut, copy, and paste from Pixelmator Pro into other apps, or from other apps into Pixelmator Pro.
Tip: If, after pasting a selection, you notice any trace of the previous background color you want to remove, you can use the Decontaminate Colors feature. Choose Format > Image > Decontaminate Colors to apply it.
Copy or cut and paste a selected area as a new layer
- Make a selection of the area you want to copy.
- With any selection tool active, Control ⌃ – click the image and choose Copy and Paste as Layer or Cut and Paste as Layer.
You can also press the Command ⌘ + J and Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + J keyboard shortcuts to copy or cut and paste selections as new layers.
Tip: If, after pasting a selection, you notice any trace of the previous background color you want to remove, you can use the Decontaminate Colors feature. Choose Format > Image > Decontaminate Colors to apply it.
Delete a selected area
- Make a selection of the area you want to delete.
- Do one of the following:
- Choose Edit > Delete.
- Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
- Press the Backspace ⌫ key on your keyboard.
Delete everything outside a selected area
- Make a selection of the area you want to keep.
- Choose Edit > Invert Selection.
- Do one of the following:
- Choose Edit > Delete.
- Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
- Press the Backspace ⌫ key on your keyboard.
Crop the image using a selection
- Make a selection of the area you want to keep.
- Control ⌃ – click the image and choose Crop.
- Click Apply in the Tool Options pane to crop the image.
Note: Doing this crops the entire image, rather than deleting areas from just your selected layer. To crop the selected layer, you’d need to delete everything outside the selected area.