Fireworks is great because you can create lots of individual objects on multiple layers and then easily export a single merged image. But what if you want to simply copy the flattened pixels onto the clipboard and then paste them into another application?

You could export the image, open the file, select all, and then do the copy, but that's not very convenient if you're modifying your image a lot and have to copy each change. Or, you could select all the objects in your document and then copy, but only objects on unlocked layers get copied that way, forcing you to unlock every layer first.

With just one step, the "Copy Merged" command copies onto the clipboard the entire document as a flattened image. It even copies the objects on locked layers, without affecting their locked state.

If you want to copy just a portion of your image, first select an object that encompasses the rectangular area you want to copy, and then run the command. Slices work well for this purpose. Or you can make a marquee bitmap selection over part of the canvas. "Copy Merged" will copy only the area covered by the selected object.

"Copy Merged into New Document" will make a flattened copy of the pixels under the selection and then paste that bitmap into a new document the same size as your original selection.

"Copy Merged into Selection" gives you even more control. If you draw, say, an ellipse with a feathered fill over your document, select it, and then run "Copy Merged into Selection", the ellipse will be replaced with a flattened bitmap of whatever pixels were under it; the feathered fill will also be applied to the bitmap. Text blocks work, too. Just select a text object and run the command; the opaque pixels of the text will be replaced with the pixels underneath. Open paths work as well; the visible pixels of the path serve as the mask.

Things get more interesting if multiple objects are selected. The bottom-most selected object serves as the pixel source for the rest of the selection. Say you have a screenshot of a toolbar and you want to extract each 16X16 icon into its own bitmap. Place a 16X16 rectangle over each of the icons, select all of the rectangles and the screenshot, and then run "Copy Merged into Selection". The rectangles will be replaced with the pixels from the screenshot, which will remain unaffected.