Tool manual

How to use the Background Eraser tool

The Background Eraser tool erases the colour under the centre of the brush and colours like it, to transparency, and leaves other colours alone. Brush along the edge of a subject to cut it from its background.

Where to find it

It is in the toolbar, in one slot with Eraser and Magic Eraser. Right-click the slot, or press and hold it, to choose between them. Press Shift+E until it is selected (E on its own picks Eraser).

How to use it

1. Choose the tool. Press Shift+E until it is selected, or right-click the eraser slot in the toolbar and pick Background Eraser.
2. Set the brush. Choose a Size that covers the edge and some background, and a Tolerance to start with.
3. Brush along the edge. Keep the crosshair on the background as you paint. The background colour is erased; the subject stays as long as its colour is different.
4. Clean up. Erase the rest of the background with the Eraser, which is quicker away from the edges.

Options bar settings

• Size, Hardness: The brush diameter and how soft its edge is.
• Tolerance: How different a colour may be from the sampled one and still be erased. Lower it if the subject gets erased too.
• Sampling: Continuous samples under the crosshair all the time, Once keeps the first colour you touched, Background Swatch erases the background colour.
• Limits: Contiguous erases only connected areas, Discontiguous any matching colour under the brush, Find Edges keeps sharper edges.
• Protect Foreground Color: Never erase colours close to the foreground colour. Pick a colour from the subject with the Eyedropper first.

Tips and common mistakes

• Erased pixels become transparent. Save as PNG or PSD to keep the transparency; JPEG has none.
• For a whole subject in one go, Magic Cut or Remove Background is usually faster; use this tool for hair and fine edges they miss.

Related

• How to use the Eraser tool
• How to use the Magic Eraser tool
• How to use Magic Cut to select an object
• Make a transparent PNG

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Checked 13 November 2026 in the current editor.

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