Photoshop effects layer merging.?

Question

I am trying to merge my layers with drop shadows and I can't figure out how. I want the effect and the layer I've made the effect on to become one layer without merging the whole image.

Answer 1

Keep only the layers you want to merge visible (meaning turn off the eyeball on all other layers - do this by clicking on the eyeball). Make sure the layers you want to merge are stacked on top of each other. Then go to the >> indication which is next to and on the same line as the "layers, channels, paths" in your side layers pallette. Click on that and say "merge down". If they're not stacked on top of each other, select "merge visible". That should work, but sometimes you have to "rasterize" the text layer first. Try the above and if it doesn't work, right click on your layer with the effects and go to "Rasterize layer". Then do the merge process. (You can also rasterize in the top menu "Layer, Rasterize".) Keep in mind that once you rasterize, it is no longer really "text" and you can not edit or change it. You can only delete that layer and start again with text. Hope this helps.