1. Where Is The Magic Wand Tool In Photoshop
2. Vupoint Magic Wand Tool
3. Magic Wand Tool Fireworks
4. How To Stop The Magic Wand Tool

How do you use the Magic Wand Tool in Adobe Photoshop CS5? Apparently it changed from CS3 (And CS4.). Before, when you use the Magic Wand to select certain parts of the area, it would 'update live' and show the parts of the image that you are selecting.

Now, this is delayed and the changes to the areas that you add or subtract to the area selection with the Magic Wand only happen after you release on mouseclick. This is rather inefficient, isn't it?

Or have I done something wrong?

Step 3: Configure the Photoshop Magic Wand Tool. Choose the Magic Wand Tool in the Tools palette to the left of your screen, or type “W.” If the Magic Wand Tool isn’t visible, it may be hidden behind the Quick Selection Tool. In this case, click and hold on the Quick Selection Tool, and choose the Magic Wand Tool. If you're accustomed to using the 'magic wand' tool to make parts of pictures transparent in Microsoft Office applications, you'll need to rearrange your workflow in Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2011. Illustrator’s Magic Wand tool is found in the Tools panel, just below the Selection tool. To set the options for using the tool, either double-click it in the panel, or choose Magic Wand from the Window menu. The Magic Wand tool selects adjacent pixels based on their similarity in color. The Tolerance value determines how many color tones the Magic Wand tool will select.

Where Is The Magic Wand Tool In Photoshop

The Magic Wand tool shares a spot in the Tools palette with the Quick Selection tool and it is the fourth icon. If the Magic Wand tool isn’t visible, click and hold on the Quick Selection tool and you’ll see a little fly-out menu appears.

2 Answers

This sounds like you want the functionality of Quick Selection Tool which is under the Magic Wand in the tool bar. Any chance you confused the two?

If I recall right, the magic wand has always worked 'after you release mouse click'. At least it does so in the CS1 and CS5 versions, which I have access to (CS1 doesn't even have the quick selection tool).

Vupoint Magic Wand Tool

I agree with JFW. In CS4 I could see the selection line update as I was moving the mouse while I was using the magic wand tool. In CS5 I can't see it until I release the mouse button. IS there a setting somewhere I can change or did something break?

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged adobe-photoshop or ask your own question.

Home > Articles > Design > Adobe Photoshop

Like the Color Range command, which is discussed on pages 156–157, the Magic Wand lets you control the range of pixels the tool selects, but unlike Color Range, this tool lets you add nonsimilar colors to the selection.

To select color areas with the Magic Wand tool

1. Click a layer or the Background.
2. Choose the Magic Wand tool (W or Shift-W).
3. On the Options bar:
   • Choose a Tolerance value (use the scrubby slider) to control the range of colors the tool selects (for a starting value, try between 30 and 40).
   • Check Anti-alias to allow the tool to add semitransparent pixels along the edges of the color areas it detects. This will produce smoother edge transitions for your image edits.
   • Check Contiguous to limit the selection to areas that are connected to the first pixel you click, or uncheck this option to allow the tool to select similarly colored, noncontiguous (unconnected) areas throughout the image with the same click.
   • To select possible occurrences of a similar color on all visible layers, check Sample All Layers, or uncheck this option to select colors on just the current layer.
4. Click a color in the image.
5. Unless your image contains nothing but totally flat color areas (which is unlikely), you’ll have to do some extra work to refine the selection. Do any of the following:
   • To add to the selection, Shift-click any unselected areas.A
   • To subtract any areas from the selection, hold down Alt/Option and click them. Or choose the Quick Selection tool, then with the Alt/Option key held down, drag short strokes across the areas to be subtracted.B
   • To select additional, noncontiguous areas of a similar color or shade based on the current Tolerance value, right-click in the document and choose Similar. (This command works the same whether the Contiguous option is checked or not.)
6. Optional: If you have selected a background area that you want to remove and you clicked a layer in step 1, press Backspace/Delete;A or if you clicked the Background in step 1, press Ctrl-Backspace/Cmd-Delete. Deselect (Ctrl-D/Cmd-D).
   • You can change the Tolerance value for the Magic Wand tool between clicks. For example, for more control when adding unselected shades or colors along the edges of a selection, lower the Tolerance value incrementally: Click with a Tolerance of 30–40 first, lower the value to 15–20 and click again, then finally lower it to 5–10 and click once more. To select just one color or shade, use a Tolerance of 0 or 1.
   • To undo the results of the last click made with the Magic Wand tool or to undo the last use of the Similar command, press Ctrl-Z/Cmd-Z.

To expand a selection using a command

• With any selection tool chosen, choose Select > Grow or Similar.B–C These commands use the current Tolerance setting of the Magic Wand tool. You can repeat either command to further expand the selection.
  • When the Magic Wand tool is selected, you can access the Grow and Similar commands via the context menu.

Related Resources

• Book $35.99

Magic Wand Tool Fireworks

• eBook (Watermarked) $28.79

How To Stop The Magic Wand Tool

• Book $47.99