Photoshop Tools Names, Icons and their Functions

Move Tool

moves a layer, selection or guide

Artboard Tool

allows you to create multiple, individual canvases of varying sizes within a single document

Rectangular Marquee Tool

creates rectangular selections

Elliptical Marquee Tool

Lets you select ovals or perfect circles.

Single Row Marquee Tool

creates horizontal one pixel high selections

Single Column Marquee Tool

creates vertical one pixel wide selections

Lasso Tool

creates freehand selections

Polygonal Lasso Tool

creates polygonal selections

Magnetic Lasso Tool

creates snap-to freehand selections

Object Selection Tool

lets you select an object just by dragging a rough selection outline around it.

Quick Selection Tool

lets you quickly "paint" a selection using an adjustable round brush tip

Magic Wand Tool

selects similarly colored pixels

Crop Tool

crops the canvas

Perspective Crop Tool

crops an image to correct distortions caused by perspective

Slice Tool

lets you draw bounding boxes directly over the parts of your document you want to extract. primarily used for web design, app development, or exporting specific sections (like headers, social media carousels, or individual graphics) as separate image files

Slice Select Tool

allows you to manage and adjust the slices you have created

Frame Tool

Creates placeholder frames for images

Eyedropper Tool

samples colors from the image

Color Sampler Tool

Tool that samples-and stores-up to four distinct color samplers. This feature is used when you want to save specific color settings for future use.

Ruler Tool

This tool lets you measure angles and distances in Photoshop, as well as gives you access to the Straighten button.

Note Tool

creates non-printing notations

Count Tool

lets you manually track objects in an image by placing a numbered marker on them with each click

Spot Healing Brush Tool

removes imperfections by sampling pixels, preserves texture

Remove Tool

Erases unwanted elements and automatically fills in the area based on surrounding pixels.

Healing Brush Tool

Paints larger areas with a sample or pattern to repair imperfections in an image.

Patch Tool

lets you repair a selected area with pixels from another area or a pattern

Content-Aware Move Tool

Allows you to select pixels and move or extend them to another area of your image without the use of layers and masks.

Red Eye Tool

removes red eye in flash photos of people and white or green reflections in flash photos of animals

Brush Tool

Apply and draw with brushes to create artistic elements

Adjustment Brush Tool

allows you to non-destructively apply targeted adjustments (like Exposure, Curves, or Hue/Saturation) directly to specific parts of your image. It automatically creates a new adjustment layer with a layer mask, streamlining the traditional multi-step masking process into a single brush stroke

Pencil Tool

creates rigid, hard-edged, pixel-based freehand lines.

Color Replacement Tool

simplifies replacing specific colors in your image. you can paint over a targeted color with a corrective color.

Mixer Brush Tool

simulates traditional painting by blending colors, combining multiple hues on the brush tip, and smudging pixels together. It is ideal for digital painting, retouching skin, and softening textures.

Clone Stamp Tool

clones imagery

Pattern Stamp Tool

applies patterns

History Brush Tool

Selectively "undo" edits by brushing original pixels back into the current image. paints exactly what your image looked like at a specific past moment.

Art History Tool

paints a history state or snapshot in stylized brushstrokes. Transform photos into digital paintings with textured strokes (like oil or watercolor).

Eraser Tool

erases pixels

Background Eraser Tool

samples the specific color beneath your brush's crosshair and deletes it as you paint. It is ideal for cutting out fine details like hair or glass while preserving foreground edges

Magic Eraser Tool

erases color areas by clicking

Gradient Tool

creates color blends

Paint Bucket Tool

fills similarly colored areas by clicking

Blur Tool

blurs edges

Sharpen Tool

a brush-based tool in Photoshop that enhances the focus and definition of soft edges in an image by increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels

Smudge Tool

smudges pixels

Dodge Tool

lightens pixels

Burn Tool

darkens pixels

Sponge Tool

saturates or de-saturates pixels

Pen Tool

draws curved or straight paths

Freeform Pen Tool

draw freehand paths

Curvature Pen Tool

a simplified, highly intuitive alternative to the standard Pen Tool. Designed to make drawing paths and vector shapes easier, it allows you to create smooth curves and straight lines just by clicking, without having to manually adjust complex anchor handles

Add Anchor Point Tool

Tool used for adding anchor points to an existing path.

Delete Anchor Point Tool

Deletes unnecessary points from a path without causing a break in the path.

Convert Point Tool

converts corner points into curve points and vice versa

Horizontal Type Tool

creates editable type on its own layer

Vertical Type Tool

Tool that creates vertical text (top to bottom)

Vertical Type Mask Tool

Allows you to cut letters from the background in a vertical pattern of letters

Horizontal Type Mask Tool

Allows you to cut letters from the background in a standard, horizontal pattern of letters.

Path Selection Tool

selects paths

Direct Selection Tool

selects segments and points of a path

Rectangle Tool

draws rectangular shapes

Ellipse Tool

draws circles and ovals

Triangle Tool

draws triangle shapes

Polygon Tool

A tool in Photoshop that allows users to draw polygons; pentagons, hexagons, octagons, etc.

Line Tool

creates lines

Custom Shape Tool

creates pre-defined custom shapes

Hand Tool

moves the image in its window

Rotate View Tool

rotates the model around its x-axis (moves the object not the camera)

Zoom Tool

changes the zoom level

Foreground Color Square

currently selected color to use as foreground

Background Color Square

currently selected color to use as background

Default Colors

black and white

Edit in Standard Mode/quick Mask Mode

lets you toggle between the two editing modes

Standard Screen Mode

the default workspace that displays the entire interface. It features the top Menu Bar and Options Bar, the left Toolbar, the right panel docks, and window tabs.

Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar

a workspace layout that expands your image to fill the screen. It removes distracting window frames (like tabs and scrollbars) while keeping the top Menu Bar and all your panels/toolbars accessible so you can work uninterrupted

Full Screen Mode

a workspace setting that hides your operating system's taskbar or menu bar, along with Photoshop’s tools and panels. It maximizes your canvas to fill the entire monitor, providing a clean, distraction-free environment for viewing or editing images