# GIF Lock?
**URL:** https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699
**Category:** design
**Created:** [April 19, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699 "2003-04-19T22:25:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Maxtr0sity](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Maxtr0sity)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/1 "2003-04-19T22:25:10Z")
Hey, how can I edit a gif file in Photoshop? I tried just opening it, but it has a small lock on it making me unable to make a new layer or do anything.:hair:
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/2 "2003-04-19T22:29:24Z")
If your talking regular gifs… open it up in Photoshop, Press CTRL+A to select the stage, then CTRL+C to copy.
Then go to File/New and it SHOULD be set to the dimensions of the copied image, but if not, just make it the right size.
Then copy and paste.
If it is an animated gif, I don’t think you can edit that in Photoshop. Maybe in ImageReady, not sure.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/3 "2003-04-19T22:33:10Z")
sweet…it worked…now i feel absolutely dumb
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/4 "2003-04-19T22:34:09Z")
Don’t feel dumb. I was in the same situation with a jpeg before. It took me like 15 minutes to figure out I could copy and paste it into a new document.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/5 "2003-04-19T22:37:16Z")
yea…i was fumbling with fireworks and photoshop at the same time…but however…never thought of that…
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/6 "2003-04-19T22:40:58Z")
Lost… really :sure:
go to:
image -\> mode -\> RGB COLOR
A gif is in indexed color mode, so you have to set it to RGB in order to add layers and such, regular gif’s do not support layering… 🙂
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/7 "2003-04-19T22:51:58Z")
Its faster to drag the layer to the new layer button (hence copying it) and then delete the original layer…
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/8 "2003-04-19T22:56:33Z")
> \*Originally posted by eilsoe \*
> \*\*Lost… really :sure:
go to:
image -\> mode -\> RGB COLOR
A gif is in indexed color mode, so you have to set it to RGB in order to add layers and such, regular gif’s do not support layering… 🙂 \*\*
Thanks for the info Eilsoe. I have only had the problem like 2 or 3 times, so I never really thought to look for an alternative.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/9 "2003-04-19T22:58:33Z")
ok, wel…i got that done…but for some reason, the image quality went down!..check this out…
[http://members.lycos.co.uk/maxtr0sity/](http://members.lycos.co.uk/maxtr0sity/)
Look at the quality of the title compared to the content stuff…I know it has bad colors right now, but due to change.
PS.My actual site is at [asianillusion.com](http://asianillusion.com), but I’m moving to a new server now and its gonna take a while, so I’m working on the new design with ahmed meanwhile on this test site.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/10 "2003-04-19T23:00:53Z")
So save it as a higher quality 😉
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/11 "2003-04-19T23:01:28Z")
?..I just do Save As as usual.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/12 "2003-04-19T23:02:59Z")
I usually do File/Save For Web, it lets you mess around with quality and color settings to get it where you want it, and it has a preview of what it will look like.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/13 "2003-04-19T23:03:12Z")
use save for web… i think
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/14 "2003-04-19T23:08:28Z")
YAY!!!..fixed
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/15 "2003-04-19T23:10:46Z")
but ahmed has a different idea…i’m gonna start another topic…to generate a slogan and new design now…
ps.what will i do without u guys
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 9:13am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/16 "2003-04-20T09:13:40Z")
you might want to use a optimized octree option (im not sure that’s PS but it’s PSP) and save your own 256 colors - i dont know if the standart-websafe option is really important… I’ll have to find some info about that
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/17 "2003-04-20T15:26:56Z")
wel…i tried the web save idea…it worked fine, but thanks anyways
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/18 "2003-04-21T18:25:42Z")
mlk: Optimized octree is for PSP I think…
and max: Save for web is a good idea, I do that for gfx used as layout for a site, but usually when I just do ordinary gif’s (like my avatar and stuff), I just go “save as” then choose gif, and when it asks me about color resolution, I go with primary colors, instead of web.
but save for web is prolly better… takes the file size down a lot… primary colors means a custom palette with the file, and it usually screws up in IE (well on my gf’s com it does…)…
some times… 🙂
but that’s just me… 😛
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/gif-lock/18699/19 "2003-04-21T22:33:00Z")
thanks neways…i’ll keep that in mind if when i do other ps stuff…😃