"merge" in the adjustments layer

[AGain]

Hi,

first of all I don't know if this is a bug or ... a feature... but, reading the help manual in the "Applying adjustments" I read: 

• Merge—merges the current adjustment layer with the layer immediately below it in the layer order.

Now, unless I don't know how to use it ... which it could also be..., but on my mac (AD2, bigsur) I have a picture layer (positioned at very bottom) and on top of that three adjustment layers. if I click one of the adjustment layers (for example the first of the three on top), it opens correctly its "property window" where the "merge" button is, but If I click on the "merge" button, absolutely nothing happens in the layers => all of them remain there, while I expected a merge with the adjustment layer below, as the manual says.

...

am I doing wrong ?

anyone can help ?

thx

[walt.farrell]

Can we see a screenshot of your application window, including the Layers panel showing the relevant layers, please?

[Hangman]

3 hours ago, AGain said:

but If I click on the "merge" button, absolutely nothing happens in the layers => all of them remain there, while I expected a merge with the adjustment layer below, as the manual says.

Clicking Merge in the Adjustment Layer Panel will (or certainly should) merge the selected Adjustment Layer with the Image (Edit: Picture) layer rather than merging with another Adjustment Layer (if that is your expectation), so you should see something like this, assuming your image layer is rasterised and not still an image... You can tell by looking at the icon to the left of the 'Picture', if it shows a checkboard then it is rasterised, if it shows a person in a border then it is an image and will need to be rasterised for merge to take effect...

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

Clicking Merge in the Adjustment Layer Panel will (or certainly should) merge the selected Adjustment Layer with the Image layer

It would not merge with an Image layer, but it should merge with a Pixel layer. That's part of why we need a screenshot including the Layers panel.

[Hangman]

Just now, walt.farrell said:

It would not merge with an Image layer, but it should merge with a Pixel layer. That's part of why we need a screenshot including the Layers panel.

Apologies, I was using 'image' in the generic sense but realise in this particular context it is confusing, thanks for picking me up on that one... 😳

[AGain]

@walt.farrell @Hangman

thanks for your kind replies. by looking at your answers I understood that the problem was that I was trying to merge them with a NOT pixel layer. It was not clear to me that the layer below had to be a pixel layer and NOT persona layer. maybe adding this to the manual would help (or maybe I did not see it...?)

case is closed it seems.

thx

[Old Bruce]

My opinion is that the Merge button should only work when the Adjustment Layer is a Child layer and should therefore only be active if the Adjustment Layer is a Child layer. It is perhaps an added convenience that it works when directly above a Pixel Layer. Yet this can lead to unexpected results, if I have 2 pixel layers (from bottom to top) with brush strokes and then an Adjustment layer (Gaussian Blur) on the very top, both Pixel layers are blurred and the Merge button will only apply the blur to the uppermost Pixel layer.

[Hangman]

17 hours ago, N.P.M. said:

You can however select both the adj.layer and the image layer if they're not nested, make only these 2 layers visible and use merge visible.You can however select both the adj.layer and the image layer if they're not nested, make only these 2 layers visible and use merge visible.
Or you can, when the adj.layer and image layer are nested aka the adjustment is a child layer of the image layer, select and make only these visible and use merge visible.
This way you can merge image layers and it will create a merged down pixel layer

You can in Photo but not in Designer (as far as I'm aware)...