How to Unmerge Photoshop Layers on PC
Let's see first how to unmerge Photoshop layers on PC e Mac, then using Photoshop CC. If you are still "at the crime scene", that is, you have not yet closed the image you were working on, you can be able to recover the original separation of the layers simply by undoing the latest changes made to the file.
To do this, all you have to do is press the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Z (its Windows) oppure cmd + alt + z (on macOS) until you see the layers you want to restore appear in the lower right pane of Photoshop. If you don't want to use keyboard shortcuts, click on the menu Modification Photoshop, top left, and select the item Step back from the latter, in order to obtain the same result.
Of course, doing this will not only undo the merging of the layers but also all other changes made to the image before merging the layers. I know, it is a heavy price to pay, but unfortunately we cannot act in a less invasive way.
Another way, even faster, to unjoin layers in Photoshop is to turn to the program panel containing the history of all the operations carried out on the photo in use. To activate the display of the latter (which, for obvious reasons, is called Story), you have to click on the icon with i three squares and the arrow located at the top right, next to the toolbars located on the right side of the screen.
After that you need to locate the entry Only level in the list of operations carried out on the photo and click on the one before it to cancel the merging of the image layers. It seems a bit convoluted as an operation, but I assure you that it is a real child's play to complete it.
Once the layers are restored to their original state, you can go back to editing your photo as you see fit. But be warned, this time pay more attention to which levels you melt!
How to Unmerge Photoshop Layers Online
As you probably already know, this is not possible disjoin layers in Photoshop online, and for a very simple reason: the Web version of Photoshop, that is Photoshop Express Editor, does not integrate a panel for managing levels.
If you use an alternative to Photoshop Express Editor, such as Photopea, you can succeed in your intent by following more or less the same steps that I indicated in the previous chapter. Also in this case, in fact, it is possible to cancel the union of the levels using some key combinations or using specific functions of the service.
If you use Photopea, you can do this by going to the card of the browser in which you left the main page of the service open and, after selecting the window where the project you intend to act on is located (assuming you are working on more than one), press the keys at the same time Ctrl + Alt + Z (its Windows) oppure cmd + alt + z (on macOS) until you see the layers you want to restore appear. Alternatively, you can also act from the menu Modification. After opening the latter, all you have to do is click on the item Step back until you get the desired result.
Another way you can go in these cases is to use the panel Chronology of Photopea which, as you can imagine, allows you to view all the changes made to your project and quickly and easily restore it to a previous state. To use it, all you have to do is click on the tab Chronology placed in the upper right corner and then click on the item immediately preceding the wording Only level.
Whichever option you decide to unjoin the layers you merged, the result will be the same: as if by "magic", the layers will be separated again. Obviously, the other changes you made to the image will also be canceled: this is the price that, unfortunately, you must agree to pay to complete the operation.
How to Unmerge Photoshop Layers on Smartphones and Tablets
want disjoin Photoshop layers on smartphones and tablets? If you use the iPadOS version of Photoshop (which, for the record, is free for the first month of use and then costs 10,99 euro / month) all you have to do is press on the symbol of freccia rivolta sinistra verse which is located in the upper right corner of the screen, until you reach the desired result and that's it.
Obviously, by undoing the changes, not only will you disunite the previously merged layers, but you will also undo all the other operations performed on the image. Understood?
Please note: from the tests I did to complete the writing of this article, the method just described seems to work only if you left the Photoshop app screen for iPad active. By closing the screen in question, in fact, the app seems to lose the "memory" of the changes made and, consequently, do not allow you to go back. However, it could also be a momentary problem due to an early download of data from RAM.
How to Unmerge Photoshop Layers
