Layer unlock wasnt enough

[George Stilley]

Thanks to several for advice on how to unlock a layer that was automatically saved as a background layer, so I couldnt move around the images I had. I wish Id looked sooner! So I changed the name of the background layer and unlocked, I presume.

But!! it still wouldnt let me separate the images, so I could insert more?

Looks like ungroup should have done it, but ungroup & group were both dimmed. I'd like to know how to prevent the probs in the future.Especially since I was trying to paste images ont a background blank page(collage) and I have lots more to do.

I was using Photoshop Elements.

[Ray]

George,

Did you use Paste or Paste Into ? Use Paste, that will put the image on a
seperate layer.

Ray

[George Stilley]

Yes I was sure I had used paste when I first put the other pics in.

Came back a day or two later & they
were locked in a background layer. Dont understand that either.

[Richard Coencas]

George,

I can think of two possibilities why you would have your images be locked in a background layer. 1) What Ray said, that you are using paste into instead of paste, or 2) That you are saving your images in a file type that doesn't support layers, like jpeg. Images you want to work on later in layers are best saved as PSD.

Rich

[Nancy S]

George,

To add a thought to Rich's comment; if you were saving your file as a jpg (which would present you with a single background layer when reopened) you could use File>Save As>scroll up .psd>rename if you desired a second version (instead of overwritting).

Jpg does not support transparency nor layers.

Nancy