How to crop a user defined shape?

Question

I have created a right arrow with Pen Tool, .

The layer is

Now I want to crop the right arrow only. I have tried slice tool but I get

which have a white background.

But what I want is only the grey right arrow.

How could I get it?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Duplicate the layer in question, Right click it (in the layers tab) and click rasterize layer.

Now you have it singled out, without a mask or background. You can put it in its own document and save it as a PNG or GIF, saving transparency.

Edit: In reply to your comment, A quick way to export with multiple (or even single) layers, is to do the following: It only exports layers that are visible, unless you specify otherwise.

There is also another method:

Create a new document, then click and drag the layer you want isolated to the new document, crop around it and make you you've disabled your background layer, then save as GIF or PNG.

Answer 2

To merely just crop the custom shape:

ctrl-click or ⌘-click the shape's Vector mask thumbnail in the Layers window to choose all the shape's pixels. Then select Image → Crop to crop to selection.

However, slicing should work fine. Just make sure all layers (including the Background layer, as @Johannes commented) behind the shape layer are OFF. If you need the background layer, do the Save for Web & Devices… step in two runs: one with the background and one without; you could always choose which slices you want to save per saving.