Effect presets

Effect presets are pre-made combinations of effects that you can apply to automatically customize your selected layer with multiple effects. Pixelmator Pro comes with a number of presets for you to choose from and you can easily create and save your own.

Apply an effect preset

1. Do one of the following:

   • Choose the Effects in the Tools sidebar.
   • Choose Tools > Effects from the Tools menu at the top of your screen.

   • Press the F key on your keyboard.

2. Select the layer or layers you’d like to edit.

3. Choose an effect preset from the presets browser at the top of the Tool Options pane or click the Collection pop-up menu to browse other preset collections.

📘 Note: The effect presets cannot be applied to empty layers or selections.

Save a combination of effects as a preset

With presets, you can save specific effect combinations and quickly apply them to other layers in the same or a new document.

1. Choose the Effects in the Tools sidebar.
2. Apply and customize any number of effects to a layer.

3. Do one of the following:

   • Click Add in any effects collection to save the preset to that collection.
   • Click More next to the Collection pop-up menu and choose Add Preset.

Create a custom effect presets collection

1. Choose the Effects in the Tools sidebar.
2. Click More next to the Collection pop-up menu and choose New Collection.

Manage effect presets and preset collections

Once you've created a preset or a preset collection, you can rename, redefine them, or share them with others.

1. Choose the Effects in the Tools sidebar.
2. Control ⌃ – click an individual preset or More next to the collection you want to manage.
3. Do any of the following:

   • Redefine an effects preset: If you’d like to overwrite or update an existing preset with new settings, you can redefine it.

   • Add an effects preset to favorites: To quickly access your favorite and most-used presets, save them to the special Favorites collection.

   • Rename an effect preset or preset collection: You can give individual effect presets or preset collections distinguishable names or rename the default presets and collections that come with Pixelmator Pro.

   • Remove an effect preset or preset collection: If you’ve accidentally duplicated an effect preset or would simply like to delete a preset collection you no longer use, you can remove it from the presets bar.

   • Import effect presets or preset collections: In the Collections pop-up menu, choose import and browse your Mac for a .effects file to import. You can also drag and drop a preset or a preset collection to the Pixelmator Pro icon in the Dock.

   • Share an effect preset: To share a preset with others or use it in Pixelmator Pro on another Mac, drag and drop a preset from the list of effect presets onto the desktop or into a Finder window, then share the .effects file with someone else via email or any other way you like.

   • Share an effect presets collection: In the Collection pop-up menu, choose Export to export a single preset collection or press and hold the Option ⌥ key on your keyboard and choose Export All to export your entire presets library.

   • Reset all effect presets to default: Resetting all effect presets to default removes any custom presets and returns all the default presets that come with Pixelmator Pro. In the Collection pop-up menu, press and hold the Option ⌥ key on your keyboard and choose Reset All.

Show or hide the presets browser

1. Choose the Effects in the Tools sidebar.
2. Drag the line that separates presets from the Add Effect button up to hide the presets, or drag it down to reveal or expand the presets section.