Today’s Question: Is there a way to have the document window in the workspace automatically align to top left instead of center when using the “fit on screen” or “print size” options?
Tim’s Quick Answer: While you can’t have the image automatically aligned differently within the canvas, you can move the image into a different position with the Hand tool as long as you enable the “Overscroll” setting.
More Detail: When you use the “Fit on Screen” or “Print Size” commands from the View menu in Photoshop, the image will be centered in the canvas area. While you can’t change this behavior within Photoshop, you can move the image into a different position using the Hand tool.
First, you need to make sure the “Overscroll” checkbox is turned on. Bring up the Preferences dialog by choosing Edit > Preferences > Tools on Windows or Photoshop > Settings > Tools on Macintosh. On the Tools tab find the “Overscroll” checkbox, and turn it on if it isn’t already. Then click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog.
You can then select the Hand tool from the toolbar, or by pressing the letter “H” on the keyboard. With the Overscroll option turned on, the image can be dragged around within the canvas area with the Hand tool, positioning the image anywhere you’d like. This isn’t as convenient as if you could change the automatic positioning of the image, of course, but it does provide a similar result.
Note, by the way, that you can also move the image around within the canvas by switching to a floating window rather than a docked image. You can put the image into a floating window by choosing Window > Arrange > Float in Window from the menu.
