No matter how long you've used your favorite creative tools, there's always one more shortcut, hidden feature, or unexpected workaround waiting to surprise you. In this episode, Theresa Jackson and Mike Rankin share a collection of practical tips and "wait, you can do that?" discoveries submitted by CreativePro Week speakers.

You'll hear tips for favorite tools from Acrobat to PowerPoint, including clever ways to edit faster, move between apps, customize layouts, animate designs, manage masks, and make AI more useful in real workflows. Theresa also talks with PageProof founder Marcus Radich about PageProof Intelligence (PI) and learns how a proof can mark itself with AI.

Episode Highlights

• Hear why Mike Rankin is looking at Affinity as a useful add-on to Adobe workflows, including an easier way to use images as custom bullets
• Learn where to find your Firefly generation history, including the prompts you used to create past results
• Discover how to export video with transparency from PowerPoint
• Follow Theresa and Mike through practical "round trip" workflows, from editing PDF images in Photoshop to moving Firefly Boards assets into other Adobe apps
• Hear Amy Balliett's tip for getting better AI results by using more than one AI tool
• Learn how Ben Willmore uses keyboard shortcuts to build masks faster in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom
• Discover Dax Castro's simple InDesign alt-text tip that can save time when adding descriptions to multiple images

Resources

• CreativePro Week 2026: Nashville, June 29–July 3, 2026. https://creativeproweek.com/
• CreativePro Events: https://creativepro.com/events/
• Event Savings: Save $100 on any CreativePro event in 2026 with the discount code PODCAST: https://creativepro.com/events/
• Membership Discount: Get $15 off one year of CreativePro membership with the discount code PODCAST: https://creativepro.com/become-a-member/
• PageProof Intelligence: https://pageproof.com/pageproof-intelligence
• José Semidei: Tips for Creating Gradient Mesh Effects in Illustrator: https://creativepro.com/tips-for-creating-gradient-mesh-effects-in-illustrator/
• How to Edit Photos in a PDF with Photoshop: https://youtu.be/aak26NToW5g?si=_ZQBnAU3AkyU6XXV