Examples are directed to selective editing of digital images using editing tools having persistent tool settings. A source image is opened as a target image in an image editing application. Once opened in the image editing application, the target image includes a plurality of image layers. Visual elements of the target image file are then edited using tools in the image editing application. For each tool used, a tool identifier and the relevant tool settings are saved and associated with the corresponding layer in a target image file. Upon closing and later re-opening the target image file, the saved tool identifier and tool settings are presented for display for further image editing in subsequent user sessions.