its.pea

Sometimes you just need a quick look at a file, but if your layered file is 200 MB, 300 MB, etc. in total size, it’s not going to be a quick look. That is, unless you know this little trick that lets you open a flattened version of that very same file, which will be dramatically smaller in file size (which means it will open much faster). Just hold Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) before you open the file and it will bring up a dialog asking you if you want to open just “the composite data.” Click OK and a flattened version will open instead (leaving your layered version untouched).

When using this feature, be careful to start with a 300 dpi scan or higher. If you start with a 72 dpi scan, and choose 133 line with Best quality, it’ll jump you up to 266 ppi; but it doesn’t warn you that your image will look so pixelated when printed that it will trash your whole project, because you can’t add resolution that’s not really there to begin with.