Make a Section of a Path Into A New Path In Photoshop

Posted in: Computers - Photoshop CS4

Date: February 27, 2010

This tutorial documents the functionality of copy-and-pasting photoshop paths.

Imagine you have a single path that is made up of many individual closed paths. For instance:

Image of single path that is made up of many individual closed paths

Let's also imagine that you would like to take the triangle on the bottom, and make it into it's own path.

  1. Select the individual closed path you would like to move (all the anchor points should be filled). You can select all the anchor points with the Path Selection Tool.
  2. Go to Edit Menu -> Cut (or Ctrl + x)
  3. The individual path has now disappeared
  4. Select the new path you would like to move the individual path to.
  5. Go to Edit Menu -> Paste (or Ctrl + v)
Image of individual path pasted to new path

You have successfully moved one section of a path to a new path.