I clicked on the mask thumnail, then draged it with the apple key down. sometimes it worked mostly not, I am not sure why. once I make the mask, can I move the photo behind it without moving the mask? when I move or enlarge the photo, the same happens with the mask.
Are the two images in separate documents? Are the two documents the same size? Are you dragging the layer with the layer mask FROM the source image's Layers palette and dropping it ONTO the target image's canvas? This kind of stuff makes a difference.
Try just dragging the whole layer to the other document. No modifiers, just select the layer in the layers palette and drag (then replace the contents).
Dragging just the mask won't do anything.
Or you can target (option-click) the mask, then select all, copy, target the other layer mask, paste.
Let me make it more complicated, maybe that would work : ) Click on the mask you want to copy (in the layer window) Select all Copy Click on the new image Double click on the layer's name (background?) OK Press "q" (on the keyboard) Paste Press "q" Press the "layer mask" icon in the layer window (circle in a square).
Would that work for copying the mask from one layer to another one in the same document? (For example if you really want to delete the layer you're copying the mask from but don't want to go through the trouble of recreating the mask from scratch?)
Just tried that, but it doesn't work for me. I option clicked on the mask I want to copy, then went to the new layer and clicked the mask button, It just added a blank "vector mask". I'm missing something obviously. I'm on 7.0.1 in 9.2.2.
Unless I'm not following you, that is the solution Todie gave me, except with a command key combo instead of going to the Select menu. Even the History state showed "Load Selection". There was no "quick mask mode" involved. Anyway, it worked very well.