# Photoshop CC 2020 Productivity Techniques - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/photoshop-cc-2020-productivity-techniques/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Productivity · Quick win · Rated 7 /10 # Photoshop CC 2020 Productivity Techniques Updated August 2026 Daniel Scott · Adobe Certified Trainer Intermediate · 76 min 76 minutes of real Photoshop 2020 workflow shortcuts for people who already know the tool but waste time on repetitive tasks. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fphotoshop-cc-2020-productivity-techniques%2F144789829) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. Daniel Scott's "Photoshop CC 2020 Productivity Techniques" is built around a single premise: if you already know how to use Photoshop, you're probably still using it slowly. The course does not teach fundamentals. It assumes an intermediate user and spends its 76 minutes almost entirely on shortcuts, batch operations, and 2020-era feature updates layered onto a single running project, a multi-format ad campaign with a coffee cup as its recurring hero image. ## Structure and technique The opening lessons cover selection and compositing: the newer Object Select tool for quick isolation, Content-Aware Crop for extending a background beyond its original frame, and the one-click Remove Background feature paired with the Select and Mask panel for cleaning up edges afterward. These are demonstrated on the same product photo repeatedly, which makes the before-and-after differences easy to track but means the technique coverage is narrower than the lesson count suggests. The middle section is the strongest part of the course. It walks through building a CC Library from scratch, dragging assets between Photoshop and Illustrator, and showing how a linked library item updates everywhere it's used the moment the source changes. This is paired with the two batch-editing lessons, changing every font in a document at once and changing every shape color at once, both driven by Photoshop's layer filter panel rather than manual layer-by-layer edits. For anyone managing artboards across social, print, and web sizes, this pairing of libraries plus filtered batch selection is the closest thing the course has to a signature move, and it justifies the "productivity" framing in the title. The back half thins out. Cloud Documents gets a full lesson explaining syncing, sharing, and collaborator permissions, useful context but not a technique in the same sense as the earlier lessons. Exporting covers Export As versus the older Save for Web, batch JPEG export with quality settings, and per-artboard export, all genuinely practical for anyone still using outdated export habits. The closing lesson on template mockups with smart objects is short and mostly a demonstration of a concept already established earlier with the library items. ## What works and what doesn't The course's biggest strength is specificity. Nearly every lesson ties a technique to a concrete, repeatable action rather than abstract advice, and the running campaign project gives viewers something to apply each trick to immediately. The library and batch-editing lessons alone would save meaningful time for anyone handling recurring brand assets across formats. The weaknesses are pacing and depth. At under six minutes per lesson on average, some topics, particularly Cloud Documents and the smart object mockup lesson, feel rushed and closer to a feature tour than a taught skill. The teaching style is loose and conversational, which suits quick tips but occasionally undercuts clarity on why a setting matters, not just where to click it. There is also no cumulative project file to walk away with beyond the exercise files, so retention depends on the viewer replicating steps rather than building something of their own. For its intended audience, an already-competent Photoshop user looking to shave time off repetitive campaign work, the course delivers what it promises in a tight package, even if a few lessons feel like padding around the two or three techniques that actually earn the "productivity" label. The standout The layer filter trick that lets a designer select every text layer or every shape layer across a whole multi-artboard file and change font, size, or color on all of them in one action. ## What you will learn - · Isolating and removing objects fast with the Object Select tool and updated Content-Aware Fill - · Extending a photo's background with Content-Aware Crop instead of cloning or stock patching - · One-click background removal using the new Remove Background feature plus edge cleanup with Select and Mask - · Building and syncing a CC Library across Photoshop and Illustrator so logos, colors, and character styles stay consistent - · Batch-changing every font or every shape color in a multi-artboard file using layer filters - · Exporting many artboards at once as PDF or sized JPEG/PNG sets through Export As instead of Save for Web Best for: A working designer or marketer who already knows basic Photoshop and needs to move faster across multi-format campaign work with consistent branding. Skip it if: Total beginners to Photoshop, since the course assumes comfort with layers, masks, and artboards and never explains them from scratch. Engaging Teacher Clarity of Instruction Helpful Examples Organization of Lessons [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fphotoshop-cc-2020-productivity-techniques%2F144789829)