Photoshop - Managing Your Gradients

In Photoshop you have many different Gradient Effects. Many folks don't even know that they have more Gradients than the ones that are in the Gradient box. In this Photoshop Guide I will show you how to do the following.

How to Open your Gradient Options Window
How to Apply a Gradient
How to Load Preset Gradients
How to Download and add Gradient Styles to Photoshop
How to Create Gradients

How to Open your Gradient Options Window
Draw a rectangle on your canvas that we can use for an example. Go to the top of your Photoshop window and click Layer > Layer Styles > Gradient Overlay. The Gradient Box will pop up.

How to Apply a Gradient
Drop down the box in the Gradient Window beside Gradient. Then click on one of the Gradients to apply it to your Rectangle.

How to Load Preset Gradients
Open the Gradient window. Then click the arrow beside the Gradient Box to drop the box down. On the right side of the box you will see a little arrow, click that arrow. A menu will drop down and at the bottom of the menu you will see Color Harmonies 1, Color Harmonies 2, etc. Click on one of them to change the Gradient Presets.

How to Download and add Gradient Styles to Photoshop
You can download preset gradients off the internet. Find the gradients that you want to download and download them to your computer. When they are finished downloading, unzip all the files. Open the folder that you just unzipped and copy the .GRD file in the folder. Go to your Adobe folder and click the following Photoshop > Presets > Gradients. Once you are in the Gradients Folder, paste the .GRD file in there.

How to Create Gradients
You can change the colors of the Preset Gradients. When you have changed them to something that you want to keep, click Save on the Dialog Box. Then the Save Dialog Box will pop up. Enter a name for the Gradient and click Save.

Gradients can be applied to any and everything in Photoshop. You can apply Gradients to Text, Buttons, Custom Shapes, and more. Applying a Gradient can change the entire look of a Graphic.

If you have any problems with the Gradients, I would be more than glad to help out. You can contact me using the contact button at the top of this page.