It is estimated that you could save up to 8 days a year just by using shortcuts! So here are a list of useful shortcuts in Photoshop, with my favorites highlighted. And many of them work in Illustrator and InDesign as well. You can also define your own keyboard shortcuts. My favorite tip there is to define shortcuts to Tile images, and then to Consolidate all to Tabs.
Tools |
|
| Spacebar | Hand/Move canvas |
| R | Rotate View |
| D | Default colors |
| X | Switch Foreground and Background colors |
| V | Move |
| M | Marquee tools |
| L | Lasso tools |
| W | Quick Selection, Magic Wand |
| C | Crop and Slice Tools |
| I | Eyedropper, Color Sampler, Ruler, Note, Count |
| J | Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush, Patch, Red Eye |
| B | Brush, Pencil, Color Replacement, Mixer Brush |
| S | Clone Stamp, Pattern Stamp |
| E | Eraser tools |
| G | Gradient, Paint Bucket |
| O | Dodge, Burn, Sponge |
| P | Pen tools |
| T | Type tools |
| A | Path Selection, Direct Selection |
| U | Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Line, Custom Shape |
| To switch between all tools within groups, add the Shift key to the letters above | |
| For example, to switch between rectangular and elliptical marquee hit Shift-M | |
Selecting |
|
| Draw Marquee from Center | Alt-Marquee |
| Add to a Selection | Shift |
| Subtract from a Selection | Alt |
| Make Copy of Selection w/Move tool | Alt-Drag Selection |
| Make Copy of Selection when not in Move tool | Ctrl-Alt-Drag Selection |
| Move Selection (in 10-pixel Increments) | Shift-Arrow Keys |
| Select all Opaque Pixels on Layer | Ctrl-click on Layer Thumbnail (in Layers panel) |
| Restore Last Selection | Ctrl-Shift-D |
| Move Marquee while drawing selection | Hold Space while drawing marquee |
Viewing |
|
| Fit on Screen | Ctrl-0 |
| 100% View Level (Actual Pixels) | Double-Click on Zoom Tool or Ctrl-Alt-0 |
| Zoom in | Ctrl-Space-Click or Ctrl-Plus(+) |
| Zoom out | Alt-Space-Click or Ctrl-Minus(–) |
| Hide all tools and panels | Tab |
| Rotate through full screen modes | F |
| Scroll image left or right in window | Ctrl-Shift-Page Up/Down |
| Jump/Zoom to part of Image | Ctrl-drag in Navigator panel |
Layer Shortcuts |
|
| Create new layer | Ctrl-Shift-N |
| Duplicatge a layer | CMD-J |
| Select non-contiguous layers | Ctrl-Click layers |
| Select contiguous layers | Click one layer, then Shift-Click another layer |
| Delete Layer | Delete key (while in the Move tool) |
| View contents of layer mask | Alt-Click layer mask icon |
| Temporarily turn off layer mask | Shift-Click layer mask icon |
| Clone layer as you move it | Alt-Drag |
| Find/Select layer containing object | Right-Click on the object w/Move tool |
| Change layer opacity | Number pad keys (w/Move tool selected) |
| Cycle down or up through blend modes | Shift-Plus(+) or Minus(–) |
| Change to a specific blend mode | (w/Move tool) Shift-Alt-letter (ie: N=Normal, M=Multiply. etc.) |
| Switch to layer below/above current layer | Alt-[ or Alt-] |
Type Shortcuts |
|
| Select all text on layer | Double-Click on T thumbnail in Layers panel |
| Increase/Decrease size of selected text by 2 pts | Ctrl-Shift->/< |
| Increase/Decrease size of selected text by 10 pts | Ctrl-Shift-Alt->/< |
| Increase/Decrease kerning/tracking | Alt-Right/Left Arrow |
| Align text left/center/right | Ctrl-Shift-L/C/R |
PaintingHold down CTRL+Option and drag up/down for hardness, and left/right for size! |
|
| Fill selection with background color | Ctrl-Backspace |
| Fill selection with foreground color | Alt-Backspace |
| Display Fill dialog box | Shift-Backspace |
| Sample as background color | Alt-Click w/Eyedropper tool |
| To get Move tool | While in any painting/editing tool-hold Ctrl |
| To get Eyedropper with Paint tools | Alt |
| Change paint opacity (with Airbrush OFF) | Number keys |
| Change paint opacity (with Airbrush ON) | Shift-Number keys |
| Change Airbrush flow (with Airbrush ON) | Number keys |
| Change Airbrush flow (with Airbrush OFF) | Shift-Number keys |
| Cross-Hair Cursor | Any painting/editing tool-turn Caps Lock on |
| Decrease/Increase Brush Size | [ or ] |
| Decrease/Increase Hardness of Brush | Shift-[ or Shift-] |
| Switch between preset Brushes | < or > |
| Open Brushes pop-up panel | Right-Click in Image window |
| Cycle down or up through blend modes | Shift-Plus(+) or Minus(-) |
| Change to a specific blend mode | Shift-Alt-letter (ie: N=Normal, M=Multiply, etc.) |
Pen Tool Shortcuts |
|
| To get Direct Selection tool while using Pen | Ctrl |
| Switch between Add-Anchor and Delete-Anchor Point tools | Alt |
| Switch from Path Selection tool to Convert Point tool when pointer is over anchor point | Ctrl-Alt |
| To Select a whole path w/Direct Selection tool | Alt-click |
| Convert path to a selection | Ctrl-click on path name (in Paths panel) |
Other Shortcuts |
|
| Switch between open documents | Ctrl-Tab |
| Undo or Redo operations beyond last one | Ctrl-Alt-Z/Ctrl-Shift-Z |
| Reset Dialog Box | Hold Alt, Cancel turns into Reset Button, Click it |
| Increase/Decrease value (in any option field) by 1 unit | Up/Down Arrow |
| Increase/Decrease value (in any option field) by 10 units | Shift-Up/Down Arrow |
| Replay last Transformation | Ctrl-Shift-T |
| Move Crop Marquee while creating | Hold Space while drawing |
