Hi again Cynlee, Well i went and looked at what was going on again. I noticed that the "header" name for this pic (when it opened in ps) said (grey) at end. So i clked on "mode" and sure enough it said it was in greyscale. No idea why or how that happened. I clked on cymk (couldn't find a 24 bit color option) and walla - the new layer had color. You set me on a path that explained something new. Thanks again. I dont begin to suggest i may not get thrown by something simple again tho. PS is very user unfriendy i think. Lee