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Is there a way to directly paste PNG images in Photoshop and keep their transparency? I don't mean dragging them, but directly pasting from, for example, a browser. Transparency is always replaced by black.

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3 Answers

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I don't think so.

I believe it's the operating system clipboard which kills the transparency so it's more of an operating system issue than an image or application issue.

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It may or may not be an OS issue depending on OS. Under windows it would be an application issue. in that case one can only hope the application would support this in the future. Look for a browser plugin that can perhaps solve this before. – Ken - Abdias Software Dec 5 '12 at 23:24
Just curious how you see it as an application issue if applications are being switched? To me, it's clear the OS clipboard storing the data is not storing transparency when apps are changed. However, copy.pasting transparency within many apps works with no problem. – Scott Dec 5 '12 at 23:52
It's up to the application to set the data object to the clipboard. Under Windows you can do this in various ways, also the sort-of "lazy" way which a lot of applications seem to utilize (which make it appear as if it's a outside problem). I have used the clipboard to store transparent images myself (programmatic) and it's not a huge thing to accomplish, but never-the-less, it's up to the application :) – Ken - Abdias Software Dec 6 '12 at 0:15
Fair enough. Thanks :) – Scott Dec 6 '12 at 0:26
I'm under windows so it looks like an application issue. Thanks! – Yisela♦ Dec 6 '12 at 3:11
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There is a plugin for Firefox: Open with photoshop that does what you want, and actually does some of the work for you.

The way it works is: You right click an image and choose "Open in photoshop", and that is exactly what happens ( Not to mention pngs maintain their transparency ).

  • It does work pretty well, though it doesn't open up the images 100% of the time ( at least on mac/cs6 ).

  • It also has a feature to open background images.

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I'm a bit reluctant to switch from Chrome (its inspector is simply amazing), but it's good to know there is an extension to do so. Maybe I can find a similar one for this browser. Thanks! – Yisela♦ Dec 6 '12 at 3:13
@yisela I did try to check if chrome had similar extension when I made my answer, but seems like there isn't one. -- I kinda have it the other way. I feel more comfortable using firebug. one thing is that I like the way firebug tells you about javascript errors. I think that firebug is way more straight forward with that ( ...or it could be that I just don't get chrome.. ). – Joonas Dec 6 '12 at 9:30
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The easiest way to do this would be to save a copy of the PNG and then open it in Adobe Photoshop. This preserves the transparency.

The downfall of this method is that you would have to remember to delete the file afterwords, if you don't want to keep it. Alternatively you could download it to the temp folder.

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In OS X I keep a shortcut to the hidden temp folder accessible for these kinds of routine tasks. Save into /tmp, drag it over to your editor (Quicksilver makes this painless for me), create your new file, and forget all about that original that's going to get wiped anyway. – plainclothes Dec 6 '12 at 17:36

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