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Empty space in the transparent backgrounds of the .PNG files of embellishments for Digital Scrapbooking can chew up a LOT of hard drive space. Literally for nothing! It can also make placement of embellishments difficult in some programs. Excessive empty transparent space can also be a hiding ground for stray pixels, causing issues on layouts, particularly by playing havoc with Drop Shadows and other Layer Styles. In today’s blog, we delve into what to look for, and how to fix it, when checking the embellishments in your digi-stash.
One of the very first things I like to do when I download a new kit to my hard drive is check if the embellishment .PNG files have been safely trimmed to remove excess empty pixels.
Many designers routinely trim excess empty space from their designs with transparent backgrounds. However, some designers don’t for whatever reason.
At first glance it seems simple to just go ahead and hit the Trim command in Photoshop, but doing that always results in rounded embellishments ending up with flat spots from the trimming process. I didn’t know this for a very long time and was just hitting trim on everything … big mistake!
There is an easy solution that is a breeze to follow to get the job done safely that leaves the beautiful rounding on your rounded embellishments nicely round.
The following tutorial was written whilst using Adobe Photoshop CS4. However, the basic interface commands are pretty much the same across all versions of Photoshop® Creative Cloud® as well as very similar in Photoshop® Elements from version 2 upwards. The workspace that you see on screen looks a little different to the Adobe® out-of-the-box workspace because I tweaked and customised it to help my "visual thinking" ~ you can customise and save yours too to suit your own unique and individual needs. 
If you use Photoshop® Elements despair not! The commands in Elements are very similar. PLUS … There is a little surprise at the end of this tutorial for you too.
Step 1: Open Your File
The first step is obvious … open the file of the embellishment that you would like to trim.
Step 2: Select the Layer in the Layers Palette
Make sure that the layer the embellishment is located on is selected as active in the Layers palette.
This will change the colour of the background of the active layer within the Layers Palette if it was not already selected as the active layer.
Step 3: Apply a Stroke Layer Style
On the Photoshop Menu Bar, click on Layer > Layer Style > Stroke.
This will bring up the Layer Styles dialogue box so that you can apply a simple Stroke Layer Style to the embellishment.
Step 4: Set the Style Options
Set the Stroke options to 3 pixels wide and choose any colour so that you are able to see that it has been applied to the embellishments.
This will create a 3px stroke outlining all the opaque areas of the embellishment. Essentially the embellie has now been made 6px wider and taller than it was before we applied the layer style.
Now is also a good time to zoom in on the image to see if you can spot any stray pixels and, if you find any, delete them from the file.
Step 5: Open the Trim Command
On the Photoshop Menu Bar, click on Image > Trim.
This will open up the Trim command’s dialogue box.
After trimming is another good opportunity to check for any stray pixels.
Step 6: Trim the Background
Set the Trim > Based On command options to Transparent Pixels and ensure that ALL the Trim Away check boxes are ticked as selected.
This will ensure that all sides and all the areas with empty pixels will be trimmed away within a four-sided / rectangular perimeter.
Step 7: Clear Layer Style
Right click on the active embellishment layer in the Layers palette and click on Clear Layer Style.
This will remove the stroke from the embellishment, leaving a gap around the embellie of approximately 3px on each side. The gap is not precisely 3px because Photoshop always trims a little more than it should …. which is why we are safely trimming our rounded embellishment in the first place!
Step 8: Check Point
Pause to admire your beautifully trimmed embellishment.
Step 8A: RE-Check Point
If your image is trimmed in a skewed way, ie there is still an excess transparent area remaining after running the Trim Command then there may still be a stray pixel hiding in the image that was missed earlier.
Simply re-apply the stroke layer style and go hunting until you find the little blighter (or plural) and then delete it.
Step 9: Resave the File
On the Photoshop Menu Bar, click on File > Save to over-right the file or alternatively click on File > Save As to re-save your newly trimmed .PNG file with a different name or in a different folder. DONE!
Pretty easy really!
To make things even easier I have created a quick and simple action to do the grunt work of trimming .PNGs for you.
There are two versions in this download: one with an automatic Save/Close command and one without so that you can retain full control over where and how the trimmed files save.
Also included in the download are instructions for both Photoshop® Creative Cloud as well as for Photoshop® Elements. Elements users can also refer to the current help documents at Adobe and to review legacy information for older versions of Elements that you may be using.
Freebie download: coming soon.
So there we have it: a brief explanation of the why and how-to process of trimming the transparent and empty pixels from .PNG files to optimise files sizes. Please let us know how you are going with it. Did it work as expected? Need help? Did this action work in Photoshop® Elements too? I would love to know: please post in the comments to get a discussion going.
This post is part of our Learn Digital Scrapbooking FAQ Series, the complete index for which can be found on the Learn Digital Scrapbooking: Start Here with the FAQs page.
Enjoy! 
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- Tutorial Coming Soon
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- Backing up: Why should I do it? What is the best method?
- Tutorial Coming Soon
https://anitarichards.com.au/digiscrap-1173/
