The Move Tool is an essential Photoshop tool and you will use it a lot to move layers and image elements, but it does more than just move objects.
Use it to;
This received a small change in the v26.0 update in October 2024, restoring the Show Transform Controls button back on the toolbar, where it lived for years, before the last version.
You can create and save a Tool Preset for any tool, which will remember settings that you choose for that tool, so you can quickly and easily select different presets and settings for a particular tool. The degree of usefulness of presets varies, depending on the tool.
You can reset any tool back to its default settings by right clicking on the Tool Presets button and select Reset Tool. Take care not to Reset All Tools, unless that is intended.
When the Auto Select box is ticked, clicking on an element within an image will automatically select the layer containing that element. This can be very useful, especially when you have a large number of layers in your image, e.g. a montage.
I would suggest that for most people, especially beginners, this should be ticked most of the time.
However, at other times it can be a nuisance and I find it helpful to untick this box. So be prepared to turn this feature on or off as appropriate.
Select a Layer or Group to move.
Show or Hide the Transform Controls and blue bounding box. When selected, you will see a blue box around the layer contents, with "handles" in each corner and midway along each side. This allows you to quickly and easily resize the layer.
When the box is unticked, there is no visible box around the image and you are not able to resize the layer.
Note that if the layer is locked, even with Show Transform Tools selected, you will NOT see the box and handles. You will need to unlock the layer, by clicking the lock icon.
If you still can't see the bounding box or handles, you may be very zoomed in on the image. Keep zooming out until you can see the box and handles.
I'm very pleased to see this option is now back on the Options Bar in the October 2024 v26 release, after being placed in the Additional Options in the previous version.
Three buttons to Align:
Align Left Edges, Align Horizontal Centers, Align Right Edges
These buttons are only active when multiple objects or layers are selected. The buttons are greyed-out (unavailable) if multiple objects are not selected.
When multiple objects or layers are selected, you can distribute (space evenly) them vertically.
These buttons are only active when multiple objects or layers are selected. The buttons are greyed-out (unavailable) if multiple objects are not selected.
Three buttons to Align:
Align Top Edges, Align Vertical Center, Align Bottom Edges
These buttons are only active when multiple objects or layers are selected. The buttons are greyed-out (unavailable) if multiple objects are not selected.
When multiple objects or layers are selected, you can distribute (space evenly) them horizontally.
These buttons are only active when multiple objects or layers are selected. The buttons are greyed-out (unavailable) if multiple objects are not selected.
All of the previous four options are also gathered on one button.
Three options are listed, but most important one is the first one, Show Transform Controls. I regard this one as essential, whereas the other three are preferences.
Show layer bounds on hover When this option is selected, if you move the cursor over the object, the layer bounds (the edges of the layer) will show.
Expand layer group on click Expand Layer Groups in the Layers Panel when clicking on a layers in the image.
Show hover bounds from layers Show Layer boundary when moving the cursor over the layer in the Layers Panel.
Don't distort images, unless you intend to. Faces and many objects just look wrong if resizing is not done proportionately, maintaining the Aspect Ratio. Thankfully Photoshop helps protect you from this. Current and recent versions of Photoshop allow you to click and drag any handle without distorting the image or layer. (Older versions would distort the image unless you also held the Shift key while clicking and dragging to resize). The current version is the opposite. If you want to distort the image, press and hold the Shift key and click and drag.
The two images below show resizing by dragging the bottom right handle (below left) and the middle right handle (below right).
The two images below show resizing by dragging a handle whilst also holding down the Shift key, which allows you to distort the image.
The image below shows that you can also drag the handles outside of the image, to zoom in, or enlarge a part of the image. Note that if you crop the image, you will lost the content outside the crop area, if you have selected the Crop option to "Delete Cropped Pixels". See the Crop Tool tutorial for more information.
When you move a layer or object around in your image, Smart Guides can be helpful with positioning. You have an option to turn them on or off, so to use them, you must turn them on.
The Move tool is an indispensable tool in Photoshop and it does more than just move things. It is great for resizing layers and for aligning and distributing multiple objects or layers.