Photoshop tip: Use a copy of a merged layer

Tuesday 18 November 2025, 20:40 by Nando Harmsen | 1,634 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Do you have lots of layers in Photoshop and need to apply an edit to all of them? With one action, you can make a copy of all the layers and merge them into one layer. You can only do this with a keyboard shortcut.

To work non-destructively in Photoshop, you use different layers. These can be pixel layers or adjustment layers. You use masks and blending options.

If you then want to apply an edit to the result of all those layers together, this can be difficult. You would have to merge all the layers into one single layer. But then you can no longer change or adjust anything, if that turns out to be necessary.

One solution is to copy all the layers and then merge them into one single layer. You can do this manually, and it works fine. You select all the layers, then right-click and choose to copy the layers.

You then merge the copies of all those layers into one single layer. You can apply the edit to that one merged layer. You still keep all the layers and masks underneath, so you can always adjust them later.

You can also perform this action with a keyboard shortcut. Select the top layer in the layer stack. Then press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + E if you are using Windows. Apple users should press CMD + OPT + SHIFT + E.

All visible layers are then copied and merged. Note that this action cannot be found in the menu. You can only do it with this keyboard shortcut. Or you can do it manually, of course, because that works too.

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