Save And Reuse Photoshop Text As A Custom Shape

Step 2: Convert The Text Into A Shape

Before we can save our text as a custom shape, we first need to convert it into a shape. Make sure you have everything spelled correctly before doing this, since your text will no longer be editable once you've converted it to a shape.

When you're ready, with your text layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, select Type, and then select Convert to Shape. Nothing will seem to have happened to your text. It will still look exactly the same, but if you look over in your Layers palette, you'll see that your type layer has now become a shape layer:

Step 3: Save The Shape As A Custom Shape

Now that our text is a shape, we can save it as a Custom Shape. Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and select Define Custom Shape:

A dialog box will appear asking you to enter a name for your new custom shape. I'm going to call mine "logo":

Click OK in the top right corner of the dialog box to exit out of it, and your text is now a custom shape!

Step 4: Select The Shape Whenever You Need It From The List Of Custom Shapes

The next time you need to use your logo, all you need to do is select the Custom Shape Tool from the Tools palette. By default, it's hiding behind the Rectangle Tool, so just click your mouse down on the Rectangle Tool and hold it there for a second or two until the fly out menu appears, then select the Custom Shape Tool from the list:

With the Custom Shape Tool selected, go up to the Options Bar at the top of the screen and click either on the Shape preview thumbnail or the small down-pointing arrow to the right of the thumbnail:

A box will appear showing you all of your available custom shapes. The one you just saved will appear at the very bottom of the list. If you have "Show Tool Tips" enabled in Photoshop's Preferences, you'll see the name of your shape (whatever you named it a moment ago) appear when you hover your mouse over the shape. Click on the shape to select it:

To then add the logo to another document, first select a color for your logo by clicking the color swatch to the right of the word Color in the Options Bar:

This brings up Photoshop's Color Picker. I'll select a red color for my logo this time:

Click OK to exit out of the Color Picker. Then, to add the logo to the new document (I've already opened a new document with a white background), simply click your mouse inside the document and drag out the shape to whatever size you need. You'll most likely want to constrain the proportions of your logo so that you're not distorting the look of it, so hold down your Shift key as you drag:

Then simply release your mouse button when you're happy with the size of your logo (you can always resize it later with the Free Transform command), and your logo is added to the new document. It's that easy!

This technique of saving text as a custom shape also works great for adding your copyright notice to images. Just follow the same steps, first by typing out your copyright information and making sure everything is spelled correctly, then convert the text to a shape, and finally, define the shape as a custom shape, which you can then access any time you need it from the list of available custom shapes in the Options Bar.

And there we have it!