Corel PaintShop Pro Help

Saving masks

PaintShop Pro saves masks as separate files in PspMask format. You can load a mask into another image without opening the original image. After the mask is loaded, it is automatically saved with the image in PspImage format. If you want to share a mask or use it in another image, you can save the mask to your hard drive or to an alpha channel.

An alpha channel is a data storage area within an image. Masks and selections stored in alpha channels have no effect on the appearance of an image. You can save a mask to an alpha channel within the current image or within another image. For more information on saving or loading selections in alpha channels, see Saving and loading selections.

Important! When you save the image to a file format other than PspImage format, the alpha channels are not saved. To retain the alpha channels, you should always save a master copy of your image in PspImage format.

To save a mask to disk

Edit tab

1 On the Layers palette, click the mask layer.

2 Choose Layers

Load/Save Mask

Save Mask to Disk to open the Save Mask To Disk dialog box.

The Mask Files group box displays the filenames of the masks in the default Masks folder. The New Mask group box displays the current mask.

3 Click Save.

By default, mask files are stored in ...Documents\Corel PaintShop Pro\2023\Masks. For information about setting file locations, see Setting file locations.

To save a mask to an alpha channel

Edit tab

1 On the Layers palette, click the mask layer.

2 Choose Layers

Load/Save Mask

Save Mask To Alpha Channel to open the Save Mask to Alpha Channel dialog box.

3 In the Add To Document drop-list, choose an alpha channel.

If you want to save a mask to an alpha channel in another image, open the other image in PaintShop Pro, and click it to make it active.

If you want to change the name of the alpha channel, type a new name in the Name group box.

4 Click Save.