Adobe has introduced a series of “small” but important changes in the recent new release of Photoshop CC 2017. Here are some of the changes that caught my eye:

The New New Document Dialog Box
When you create a new document (File>New or Command/Control-N) the overhauled New Document dialog will open. Now along with the option to enter the dimensions you want to use, you can also choose from a series of presets, and to use one of the various built-in templates. Most templates include Smart Objects so it’s easy to replace the images in the template.

new

 

In App Search
Press Command/Control-F (or use the search icon in the top right corner) to search for a tool or function in Photoshop. You can search in these categories: Photoshop, to search within the application itself; Learn, to search within Help and online tutorials; or Stock, to search in Adobe Stock. (Or search All to get results from all of these sources).

search2

 

The Properties Panel
The Properties panel displays more information in context to what you are doing: for example if you have a Type layer selected you will see – and be able to edit – basic information about the format of the type (Fonts, size, alignment and color), saving a trip to the Options Bar. As you click on different layers the display in the Properties panel updates.

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Select & Mask
The Polygonal Lasso tool has been added to the selection tools within Select and Mask

Face Aware Liquify
Now offers the option to edit eyes independently of each other (previously you could only adjust both eyes at the same time)

Creative Cloud Libraries
Find stock assets similar to a library element using visual search.

Other Changes
Match Font improvements to include more results from locally installed fonts.
You can now click outside a text box to commit text.
Preference to select a highlight color in the UI to blue or gray.
Auto-Select is now the default setting for the layer Move tool