Hi all, I am new to Photoshop and wonder if any kind soul can point me the right direction. When selecting the eclipse, rectange or any shape, once inserted on the page the 'shape' becomes uneditable. I use to be able to edit shapes and don't know what I have to cause this state change.

I also have had an error message on starting up the program saying something like 'The scratch something or other is in same place as the Windows something or other and should be moved in order to enhance proformance'. It has only happened once so I can't recreate it to be more precise.

Thank you for reading this and have a great day.

try patre's solution for another prob', always a good starting point

If you use the rectangular or other marquee tool you can't edit. Put it on a new layer Fil it with any color. Make that layer invisible and go back to the first layer. Than ctrl-click on the bew layer with the shape on it and you can edit it.

You can also fill it with any color and than set the opacity to zero.

Many thanks to both of you for taking the time out of your busy day to help a stranger:-)

That scratch disk error message will not stop Photoshop from working, BTW. It is simply there to advise you that the disk it uses to temporarily story files while it works on them is the same disk that Windows is on. This may slow your computer down a bit, but that's about all. Some people only have one disk, so there's no way round this. If you DO have more than one hard drive, then you can edit the settings as follows...

Click on
Edit>Preferences>Plug-ins & Scratch Disks
Where it says "Scratch DIsks", in the "First" field, click on the arrow and choose the disk you wish to use. ANY disk will work, but it is smarter to use one other than the one that Windows is on. For example, if you can choose C or D, I'd recommend "D" as Windows will most likely be on C. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it though.

Hey I am amazed that yet another person has tried to kindly help, thank you. Could I please ask another question? I have two Plug- In folders, one is here My Computer> Disk C and the other is in Photshop, which also opens a further folder inside it called effects. Could you please tell me which is the best place to place the plug-ins please. Kindest regards, Justlookin

Hi Justlookin.
Well, the norm would be for the plug-in folder to be within the photoshop folder.

Mine is:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 7.0\Plug-Ins

(obviously, I have Photoshop 7.0. Not sure about you)

Again, it really doesn't matter WHERE it is as long as when (or if) you download plug-ins, you remember to save them to that particular folder. Personally, I don't even use them.

Hi again, thank you so such a prompt reply. That helps, it is where mine are but I wasn't sure that I was doing it right. Maybe one day when I have done enough tutorials I will be able to get rid of mine:-) Many thanks to all the kind people that have helped me. With all the malicious viruses that are sent around the internet, it restores a little bit of faith in humanity.

You're welcome, justlookin. There are a lot of nice people here who will always be willing to help. By the way, I have nothing against plug-ins.... just don't seem to ever get round to downloading any.

P.S. I hope you will enter a contest or two, even if it's just for practice.

Unfortunately I have nothing worth showing but I will keep an eye on this site and may be one day..... create something that I am proud to say is mine and not something that I copied in a tutorial. -x-