You can click and drag the cursor over a block of text to select it, but that’s not always the most efficient way. Sometimes a text thread spans across multiple pages, or you almost highlight all the text you need but come up a few words or characters short. An easier way is to insert the cursor in the text block and click the right number of times to get the selection you desire. For example click your cursor anywhere in a word, then:

There are a number of ways to create a color palette for your Illustrator design projects, but if you’re looking for a harmonious palette based on two colors, the Blend Tool takes the cake! With the Blend tool, you can create two identical shapes filled with two different colors, then blend them with a set number of steps to mix new colors based on the two originals. The result? A harmonious swatch family to complement your next project!

To create new colors with the Blend tool, select the Rectangle or Ellipse tool from the Tools panel. Click and drag on the artboard to create a simple shape. Copy and paste the shape so you have two of the same shape. Fill each shape with one of each of the colors that you want to base the palette. Choose Object > Blend > Blend Options to display the Blend Options dialog box. Select Specified Steps from the Spacing pop-up menu, and then enter a number in the Spacing text box indicating how many different colored shapes you want Illustrator to create. A low number from 3-5 is ideal. Click OK.

Next, select the two shapes, choose Object > Blend > Make, and Illustrator will create the designated number of shapes, each with a different color mixed from the original two you started with! To add the colors to your Swatch panel, select the Eyedropper tool, click one of the swatches to make it the foreground color, click the options menu in the Swatches panel and select New Swatch. Finally, click OK in the New Swatch dialog box to add it to the panel. Repeat for each color.

Photoshop isn't the only program that lets you create interesting image effects. There is a clever way to import a single photo into multiple picture frames in InDesign that will give you a really cool look.

In Indesign, you have the ability to lock consistent page elements into place, instead of repositioning them over and over again as pages are added. This process is done through creating a master page. Master pages are an important, time-saving tool in booklet creation to maintain consistency.

Panels have their purpose, but they can also obstruct the view of your Photoshop canvas. Oftentimes, you don't actually need to show a panel in order to use it. That's right, you can select normal layers without ever touching the Layers panel.

When you use the Magic Wand tool you have the option to set the tolerance, which determines the range of pixels selected when you use the tool. But did you know that the tolerance setting for the Magic Wand tool can produce different results depending on how you have the Eyedropper tool's Sample Size option set? This option determines the number of pixels both tools sample.

As you work on a project that contains a number of layers, you many times apply effects to various layers that add visual interest to your image. Each of the effects, such as the Drop Shadow or Outer Glow effect, have a variety of options that you can use to control the appearance of the effect. For example, you can set the distance of a drop shadow effect or the spread of an outer glow effect.

You create a PDF from InDesign and set the Initial View Settings for the document in Acrobat 9 Professional. When you reopen the PDF in Acrobat 9, however, the Initial View settings are ignored. Annoying isn't it?

Have you ever noticed that all of a sudden Photoshop is just acting wacky? Maybe the application is crashing frequently or fonts are missing. If you're suddenly experiencing performance issues within Photoshop, it might be due to a corrupt preference file. Luckily, even though preference files corrupt often, they're simple to delete, and will rebuild themselves the next time you launch the application.

Have you ever tried to merge a layer with the layer below it and lost all of the effects applied to that upper layer? This is because when you choose Merge Down from the Layers palette's pop-up menu, Photoshop only applies the blending mode of the bottom to layer to the merged version. However, if you select Merge Visible, and hide any layers that you don't want combined, all of your blending modes will be preserved and your merged layer will look exactly as is does onscreen.