One of the easiest ways to create a layer in the Layers panel of Photoshop Elements is to move a file such as a photo or an element from one document to another. So in this lesson I'll show you the most common way to do that. This method doesn't require the use of the Move tool. But once you get the photos or elements onto the new document, you'll need the Move tool to move them around. So click on the Move tool to select it. To make sure your settings are the same as mine, click on the Tool Options icon in the Taskbar to the far right, click on the menu icon, and choose Reset Tool, Enclosed Tool Options.

I'll start by clicking Open and navigating to the folder that contains the practice files for this lesson. If you downloaded the files for Part 2, Layers Made Easy, you can follow along. Here's my Part 2 folder. And here's the folder with the practice files. I'll click on lesson two and select all the images by clicking and dragging over them with my mouse. Click Open to open them on your desktop.

Currently, my open files are in a tabbed arrangement, so I can only see one file at a time on my desktop. I'll use Ctrl Tab to cycle through my files. I have squares of paper and a couple of elements. Now open the Photo Bin by clicking on its icon in the Taskbar.

To make a different file visible on the desktop, click on a tab or click on a thumbnail in the Photo Bin. I'll click on the yellow paper thumbnail. By the way, in some versions of Photoshop Elements, you need to double click on a thumbnail to activate the file, though you can drag in either direction from the desktop to a thumbnail, or from a thumbnail to the desktop. I think it's more intuitive to drag from the Photo Bin to the desktop. So in that case, the destination image needs to be active on the desktop.

The yellow paper is the larger background file onto which you'll put all the other papers and elements. Let's start by clicking and dragging the green patterned paper on to the yellow paper. When I let go of the mouse, Photoshop Elements will place a copy of the element in the center of the destination document and it will create a new layer in the Layers panel for the element.

Notice that the new layer has a thumbnail of the element on it. See how easy it was to create the layer? All you had to do was move one file onto another file and Photoshop Elements automatically made a layer and it put the name of the file on the layer, which is very nice. Let's add another paper. I'll add the teal polka dot paper. Notice something interesting here. The Layers panel shows that I did indeed create a new layer of teal polka dot paper, but it doesn't show up on my document. That's because it's hidden below the green paper. Of course, I can click and drag to move the green paper, and now the teal paper is visible.

Let me explain what's happening. In the past when you clicked and dragged from the Photo Bin, Photoshop Elements placed the new layer above the currently selected layer in the Layers panel. But now it places the layer above the layer over which you let go of your mouse. But no matter where the layer lands in the Layers panel, it always lands in the center of the destination document. I know that sounds a little confusing, so let me demonstrate.

I'll click and drag the chevron paper onto my active document and let go of the mouse above the to paper. The paper lands in the center of the document and also lands above the teal paper in the Layers panel. Now let's try it with flip flops. This time I'll let go the mouse over some part of the yellow background. The flip flop layer lands above the background layer in the Layers panel but the actual element lands in the center of my document, and because I have paper there, my flip flops are hidden from view. Just remember that where you let go of your mouse determines where the layer will land in the Layers panel. And if you forget and it lands in the wrong spot, just click and drag the layer to a correct spot in the Layers panel.

Now let's move our squares of paper around and arrange them. So I'm going to move this one down in this corner and the teal one up here. You can use the right or left arrow keys or the up or down arrow keys to move your paper over a little bit and I'm going to bring that over a slight bit more. And this one over to the right.

And now let's move the flip flops down here in this lower corner. So now I'm ready to move the round sticker onto the document. And I'll let go of the mouse over the background paper because I want it to be below the flip flops. So now I can click and drag it. I'll move it over about there. Let's just bring it out a little bit with our arrow keys. Just about there. I want you to go ahead and do this yourself. See if you can create what I've done here, or feel free to improvise. This will give you some practice moving files from the Photo Bin on to a different document. In our next lesson, we'll learn how to save a layered file like this.