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Use an external image editor



While in Dreamweaver, you can open a selected image in an external image editor; when you return to Dreamweaver after saving the edited image file, any changes you made to the image are visible in the Document window.

You can set up Fireworks as your primary external editor. You can also set which file types an editor opens; and you can select multiple image editors. For example, you can set preferences to start Fireworks when you want to edit a GIF, and to start a different image editor when you want to edit a JPG or JPEG.

Start the external image editor

 Do one of the following:

  • Double-click the image you want to edit.

  • Right-click (Windows) or Control‑click (Macintosh) the image you want to edit, then select Edit With > Browse and select an editor.

  • Select the image you want to edit, and click Edit in the Property inspector.

  • Double-click the image file in the Files panel to start the primary image editor. If you haven’t specified an image editor, Dreamweaver starts the default editor for the file type.

Note: When you open an image from the Files panel, the Fireworks integration features are not in effect; Fireworks does not open the original PNG file. To use the Fireworks integration features, open images from within the Document window.

If you don’t see an updated image after returning to the Dreamweaver window, select the image and then click the Refresh button in the Property inspector.

Set an external image editor for an existing file type

You can select an image editor for opening and editing graphic files.

  1. Open the File Types/Editors Preferences dialog box by doing one of the following:

    • Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Dreamweaver > Preferences (Macintosh), and select File Types/Editors in the Category list on the left.

    • Select Edit > Edit with External Editor and select File Types/Editors.

  2. In the Extensions list, select the file extension you want to set an external editor for.
  3. Click the Add (+) button above the Editors list.
  4. In the Select External Editor dialog box, browse to the application you want to start as an editor for this file type.
  5. In the Preferences dialog box, click Make Primary if you want this editor to be the primary editor for this file type.
  6. If you want to set up an additional editor for this file type, repeat steps 3 and 4.

    Dreamweaver automatically uses the primary editor when you edit this image type. You can select the other listed editors from the context menu for the image in the Document window.

Add a new file type to the Extensions list

  1. Open the File Types/Editors Preferences dialog box by doing one of the following:

    • Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Dreamweaver > Preferences (Macintosh), and select File Types/Editors in the Category list on the left.

    • Select Edit > Edit with External Editor and select File Types/Editors.

  2. In the File Types/Editors Preferences dialog box, click the Add (+) button above the Extensions list.

    A text box appears in the Extensions list.

  3. Type the file extension of the file type you want to start an editor for.
  4. To select an external editor for the file type, click the Add (+) button above the Editors list.
  5. In the dialog box that appears, select the application you want to use to edit this image type.
  6. Click Make Primary if you want this editor to be the primary editor for the image type.

Change an existing editor preference

  1. Open the File Types/Editors Preferences dialog box by doing one of the following:

    • Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Dreamweaver > Preferences (Macintosh), and select File Types/Editors in the Category list on the left.

    • Select Edit > Edit with External Editor and select File Types/Editors.

  2. In the File Types/Editors preferences dialog box, in the Extensions list select the file type you are changing to view the existing editor(s).
  3. In the Editors list, select the editor you want to want to affect, then do one of the following:

    • Click the Add (+) or Delete (–) buttons above the Editors list to add or remove an editor.

    • Click the Make Primary button, to change which editor starts by default for editing.