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How to Use the Photoshop Marquee Tool

Four ways to select and mark images

By Eric Miller Eric Miller Writer New York University Eric Miller is a former Lifewire writer, freelance graphic designer, and owner of a web development and graphic design studio established in 1998. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 21, 2020 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Design Graphic Design Photoshop Animation & Video 3D Design

What to Know

Select the marquee tool and choose a rectangular, elliptical, single row, or single column marquee. Select an area of the image to work with.For elliptical and rectangular, hold Shift to make circles and squares. For the others, click and drag to select a one-pixel line.To move the selection while still creating it, hold down the spacebar and drag the mouse. To continue to resize, release the spacebar. At its core, the marquee tool selects parts of an image so you can edit them, like the three items in the Lasso menu. But it can do some things that those features can't. Here's how to use it.

How to Use the Marquee Tool in Photoshop

You can use the Photoshop marquee tool to select areas of an image that you can then copy, cut, or crop. It can also isolate sections of a graphic to apply a filter or effect to a particular area. Marquee selections also mark out boundaries for stroke and fill commands to create shapes and lines. These instructions apply to Photoshop CS5 and later, although some settings and commands may differ between versions.
Open the image you want to edit in Photoshop. Select the marquee tool in the Photoshop toolbar. It's the second down, below the move tool. To access the four options of the marquee, hold the left mouse key down on the tool, and select one of the additional options from the pop-up menu. You can also use the keyboard command M to switch to the marquee tool. Use Shift-M to switch between the rectangular and elliptical versions. Select an area of the image to work with. Position the mouse where you want to begin the selection and click the left mouse button, holding it down while you drag the selection to the desired size. For the elliptical and rectangular marquees, hold Shift to make perfect circles and squares. For the single row and single column marquees, click and drag the marquee to select the one-pixel line of your choice. To move the selection while you're still creating it, hold down the spacebar and drag the mouse; the selection will move instead of resizing. To continue to resize, release the spacebar. When you've selected everything you want, click and drag to move the selection area. You can also nudge it using the arrow keys.

Additional Options for the Marquee Tool

When you select the marquee tool, a new set of options appears in the toolbar at the top of the screen. The first group determines what happens every time you click: New selection: You'll start a completely new shape.Add to selection: If you make one selection and click again, the two areas will join together if they overlap. You can also use this option by holding Shift before you make the next selection.Subtract from selection: The second shape you create will remove itself from the first (i.e., placing a circle inside another circle will create a selection the shape of a doughnut). You can also subtract one selection from another by holding the Alt or Option key before you start making the second shape.Intersect from selection: Making multiple shapes will give you a selection based on where they overlap. Feather lets you create a softer border for your selection area. Enter a value from 0 to 250 to set how far out you want to blur the selection beyond the line you select. The Anti-alias box tells Photoshop whether to "smooth" the borders of a selection. This setting is useful when you're working with low-resolution images. The Style pulldown menu lets you decide how the shapes behave when you use the elliptical or rectangular tools. Normal means that the ellipse or rectangle will follow your mouse pointer exactly.Fixed ratio lets you decide the relative dimensions of the width and height of your selection. For example, enter 2 and 1 to always make ellipses and rectangles twice as wide as they are tall.Fixed dimension means that every time you click, you'll create a specific size of a shape. Enter the height and width in pixels to set these values.

Putting the Selections to Use

Once you have selected an area, you can apply different uses to it. Use a Photoshop filter, and it will only apply to the selection. Cut, copy, and paste to use it elsewhere or alter your image. You can also use many of the functions within the Edit menu, such as fill, stroke, or transform, to alter the spot you've selected. Create a new layer, and then fill a selection to build shapes. Once you learn the marquee tools, you'll be able to manipulate not just the whole, but parts, of your images. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Make a Pattern in Photoshop How to Create the Out of Bounds Effect in Photoshop How to Change Background Color in Photoshop Put Text on a Path or in a Shape in Adobe Photoshop CC How to Use the Photoshop Background Eraser Tool Creating and Using Custom Brushes in Photoshop Elements How to Add a Border in Google Docs How to Make a Timeline on Google Slides How to Hide and Unhide Columns, Rows, and Cells in Excel How to Apply Rubber Stamp Effects in Photoshop Elements 8 Greeting Card Template and Instructions for Adobe Photoshop How to Resize Multiple Files with Photoshop Elements How to Use the Photoshop Clone Stamp Tool Getting Around Photoshop CC Using the Lasso Selection Tool in Paint.NET How to Draw the Outline of a Shape With Photoshop Elements Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies