This is a list of the most useful default Photoshop keyboard shortcuts that you can use them to speed up your workflow. Some of them are rarely mentioned, some are more common and some are only available in Photoshop CS5. I hope everyone will find some new and useful shortcuts in this article. So let"s get started!
1. Drag-Zoom
Command/Ctrl + Space + Click and Drag Left or Right. Fastest way to zoom in and out with one keyboard shortcut (only in CS5 and only with GPU enabled).
2. HUD Color Picker
Alt + Shift + Right Click (Win) or Control + Option + Cmd + Click (Mac). Gorgeous color picker with a color wheel (only in CS5 and only with GPU enabled). Preferences are under General tab.
3. Bird’s Eye View
Hold Down H + Click, Reposition View and Let Go of the Mouse to Zoom Back). Works great with large images, when you need to work closely. Fast way to fit the image to screen and then zoom back into another area with the previous zoom ratio quickly.
4. Brush Size & Hardness
Ctrl + Alt + Right Click (Win) or Control + Option + Click (Mac). Drag your mouse to right/left to change the size and up/down to change the hardness. It only works with CS5 in both directions. In CS4 only the size change works. You can change the color of the brush preview under Preferences/Cursors. You also need GPU turned on under the Performance tab to be able to see the brush preview.
5. Draw Straight Lines
Hold Down Shift. Works with nearly every drawing tool.
6. Move
Hold Down Command/Ctrl. Fastest way to move something quickly and then switch back to the previous tool.
7. Pan (Shift + Space) and Zoom Simultaneously in all Documents
Shift + Ctrl + Space (Win) or Shift + Command + Space (Mac). Best way to compare or work on more than images at the same time.
8. Hide Panels
Hit Tab. You can always show them again by pressing Tab once more, or just simply hover over the edges to show the panels and toolbar temporarily.
9. Full Screen Preview of Files From Mini-Bridge
Space and Then Arrow Keys. It works the same way as in Bridge. Make sure that you deselect the images in MiniBridge or collapse the panel when you continue working in Photoshop.
10. Text Size
Command/Ctrl + Shift + . or , you can use it for selected text. It won’t work by only selecting the text layer.
11. All Caps for Text
Command/Ctrl + Shift + K. Quick way to switch between lowercase and uppercase text. Make sure you type without Caps lock to be able to use this.
12. Tracking and Kerning
Alt/Option + Left and Right Arrow Keys. Useful way to make equalize the distance between characters. If you select a word, a line or a whole paragraph then you change the Tracking. If you click between two characters you change the Kerning.
13. Leading
Alt/Option + Up and Down Arrow Keys. Quickly change the distance between selected lines.
14. Baseline Shift
Alt/Option + Shift + Up and Down Arrow Keys. Easy way to use one text layer but have different positions for the text.
15. Fill
Command/Ctrl + Backspace – Foreground Color, Alt/Option + Backspace – Background Color, Shift + Backspace – Fill Options. Great way to fill color into selections or change the color of text and vector shape layers.
16. Reset Any Dialog Box
Alt/Option + Click on Cancel. Instead of canceling a dialog box and returning to it try Reset and save time and effort.
17. Changing Opacity and Fill Opacity
Numeric Keys, Shift + Numeric Keys. This will change the opacity and fill of the selected layer (or even more than one layer at the same time in CS5) and it will change opacity and fill of the tool if you select a drawing tool.
18. Invert Colors of Selected Layer or Layer’s Pixel Mask
Command/Ctrl + I. This is a fast way to invert visible parts of a layer if you invert the colours of the layer mask.
19. Switch to Precise Cursors for Drawing Tools
Hit Caps Lock. If you don’t want to see the edges of the brush you can switch to precise mode easily by having Caps lock on.
20. Reset Preferences
Ctrl + Alt + Shift (Win) or Command + Option + Shift (Mac) When Loading Photoshop. If you want to start with the default settings and user interface hold down these buttons while Photoshop is loading.
21. Switch Foreground/Background Colours
Press (X). Fast way to switch between the selected colour.
22. Mask View
Alt/Option + Click on a Layer Mask. Great way to clean up the mask after you save it from a selection. Using it again will switch back to normal view again.
23. Disable Mask
Shift + Click on a Layer Mask. You can quickly show the original contents of the layer with this keyboard shortcut. Using it again will enable the mask again.
24. Intersection of Selections
Alt/Option + Shift + Click With a Selection Tool Over Another Overlapping Selection. Easy way to keep only a specific part of a selection.
25. Merge All Visible Layers to a New Layer
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E (Win) or Command + Option + Shift + E. If you want to keep all your layers but you also need to merge them together to be able to use something you can convert them all into one Smart object or use this keyboard shortcut to make a duplicate merged layer.
Bonus (Easter-Egg) Keyboard Shortcut
Alt/Option + Click on Panel options under the options of Layers panel.
Conclusion
Of course you can use Photoshop without keyboard shortcuts, but you can be much faster and productive if you spend a little time on getting used to have one of your hands over the keyboard all the time and memorize some of these combinations. Feel free to include some other useful shortcuts in the comments section.
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By Martin Perhiniak
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Awesome list – thanks for sharing!
Most time i use just Shortcuts, i don’t use Mouse so Much, can be better if remember all Shortcuts!
i know most of these shortcuts.
the only shortcut i wanted to know is…
** How to switch between canvas on a fullscreen mode without having to click Menu – Window – Active Window.psd **
anyone know that shortcut ? please share…
Control Tab should do it..on a mac at least.
Not sure if thats what you wanted to know.
It works on Windows too.
Command + Tilde switches between tabs within photoshop. and this will work for other apps as well..
To switch between photoshop opened files you should press:
command + shift + <
(on a mac)
Does anyone know if there is a shortcut to do:
Select > Transform Selection
Notice that is diferent from:
Edit > Transform
Thanks!
The only way that I know is to make a selection and right click it the selection and you can see a menu option from there. You can edit the shortcuts to do it by making your own custom shortcut.
Just hit the “F” key and it will toggle between the different views. I think that is what you are getting at.
The “Drag zoom” can be achieved by holding down ‘Alt’ and moving the scroll wheel in and out. Much easier! (alternatively holding control and using the scroll wheel moves the screen left and right instead of scrolling up and down) Good post regardless Martin, hoped that helped :).
nice list! I use completely different shortcuts :) so thanks for these !
Some of these I didn’t know yet, thanks for sharing!
especially #1, #2 & #3
The only one thats new to me is the HUD colour picker.
in conjunction with #8, you can also press ‘F’ to cycle through different viewing options…great way to display artwork for a client preview.
Yeah, that’s my favorite shortcut. Combine it with Tab to hide/reveal panels, toolbox, and option bar or Shift+Tab to hide/reveal panels only.
classic dude
Awesome list! Thanks.
Also, most people probably know this one, but ctrl + t will get you the resize option right away.
I’ve been searching for a shortcut to get me out of a text box. So if I have my text tool active inside a text box and want to use my move tool, is there a shortcut for that?
‘Command Return’ or ‘Enter’ on Macs
If you have an active text box or layer, and wish to move that layer while keeping it active, just hold ctrl (win) / command (mac). drag to move, release ctrl/command, continue editing. If you’re done editing and wish to accept the changes, hit enter on the numeric keypad (not the enter above the right shift!). If you wish to discard any changes to an active text area, hit the escape key.
You dont even need to hold ‘ctrl’ or ‘cmd’ to move the text box. Just click and drag anywhere outside of the text box will do the same thing.
enter on your numeric keyboard is is the easiest way to apply changes.
Ctrl + enter on your normal keyboard also works in the same way.
I just bought an intuos 4, I work with CS4 for Mac in english with a spanish keyboard and I don’t find the way to custom a shortcut to go to next or previous layer.
Can someone help?
My favorite shortcut/tip/secret is to do with the transform tool and is a great way to make patterns and designs. Not many people know this one……
Take your marque tool draw any shape and fill it with a colour (make sure its on it own layer)
Duplicate that layer then hit Ctrl + T and while holding down shift move the shape anywhere you like within the document and hit the “tick” to ok it. (or press return)
Then hold Ctrl + Shift + Alt + T and the shape you just moved will be duplicated and move the exact same distance as the previous one. boooooya!!
Nice list. Although, I believe the HUD color picker is Control + Option + Cmd + SPACE + Click
Is there a shortcut for changing a layer name ?
Not sure, but you could always make your own in the keyboard shortcuts Menu
Is there a shortcut how to make the computer do all the designs just as you have thought out in your head???
Ctrl/Cmd+N and then start designing :)
with “R” rotate the document. it’s amazing specially for illustrator.Bye
Sweet. Great tips.
Great! Always wanted to know more shortcuts in photoshop!
Thanks for the tips! :-)
Command + D (Mac) or Control + D (Windows) Deselects everything if you have anything selected.
Another easter egg for you guys. Hold Ctrl and click Help > About Photoshop. You’ll get a rabbit on CS5 and stonehenge on CS4. You can do this on every version of Photoshop.
Hold on Command, then Photoshop/About Photoshop on the Mac. ;)
awesome, shortcut make my work more faster :)
thanks
Great tips
Great tips…!! Thanks..
Also,
inside Layer style [Blending Option] – press “Alt” – its will change Cancel button to Reset button.
Ctrl + Shift + E => Flatten All.
Ctrl + B => Color Balance.
Ctrl + J => Duplicate Layer.
Ctrl + ‘ => Show / Hide Grid.
Shift + Arrows => Move Layers Quickly.
:)
The one shortcut that i never find in photoshop. MASK. it would be so much easier on my life if i could just press a key to mask a layer instead of going and clicking it.
I even looked through the entire Kelbytraining LIVE keyboard shorcuts pamphlet. which has only every shortcut ever made. this is just me ranting… but I WANT A MASKING SHORT CUT. ha
Hey Jake,
I have the solution! :)
The Masking options are under Layer/Layer Mask. You just need to assign your own Keyboard shortcuts to the options there. For instance I have F7 set up for Reveal Selection, which means it will turn a selection into a Layer mask.
Hope that helps,
Martin
Hi there,
same here. I wanted a mask shortcut, so I simply assigned it in the options. I put it on CTRL+SHIFT+M.
Also, I quite often use Smart Objects, so I assigned it to CTRL+SHIFT+O.
You have to be careful not to delete a standard shortcut, or just take a shortcut of something you very seldomly use. That’s how I did it.
Cheers :)
Also you can push CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+K (it’s the shortcuts dialog’s shortcut) and in that dialog, click on “Summarize…” button -> it saves the .html file (where you tell it to) with your active shortcuts layout.
it’s HUGE, but you can “retouch” this .html and print your favourite ones and hang it in the toilet, bathroom, kitchen, on the mirrors around the house, you can glue it to all things you can see and grab and give it away for free on the streets and even put some very special ones on the back of your new businesscard. yeah, that’s what i’ll do tomorrow :)
another way – is to install Adobe Configurator and make a panel with buttons for all the things (menus, etc) you use, and even those you don’t use.
i hope i’m not flooding, sorry if i am {
Some good shortcuts, some i didn’t know, there are a lot in the discussion too which are helpful, especially the information on the text boxes. I’ve always wondered if there was a shortcut to leave the text tool. I now know, thanks!
I never get the joke of most easterneggs. Merlin :)
Begone :)
Lovely stuff, didn’t know a lot of these cheers!
Found this one the other day cmd + ; (Mac) to hide and display your guides.
heheh really intresting
Great list. Love Photoshop shortcuts. Definitely quite a few I’m not aware of. Just got to try and remember them now! Thanks.
Hi. Great shortcuts!
I am confused on the last shortcut:
Bonus (Easter-Egg) Keyboard Shortcut
Alt/Option + Click on Panel options under the options of Layers panel.
This does nothing on my Mac.
Please advise anyone.
Thanks
Stephen
Go to the Layers Panel, Click and hold on the panel options icon (little arrow-and-4-line icon on the far right of the panel’s title bar), go down to Panel Options and release the mouse button. You should see a clipart of Merlin.
You can also find the White Rabbit’s by going to Photoshop on the top menu, hold down Command and let go on About Photoshop.
I don’t find how to cycle through the layers nor the way to customize a shortcut to do it.
Can someone help me???
You can cycle through layers with Opt+ [ or ] on the Mac. I would assume Alt+ [ or ] works the same for the PC.
You can also select one layer at a time, either up or down, with Opt+Shift+ [ or ]. ;)
can I customize it on a spanish keyboard or I’ll have to change my keyboard language every time I want to use photoshop?
Are you talking about a real Spanish keyboard that includes the letter (ñ) or just the language? Assuming you’re in the U.S. and you’re using a U.S. standard keyboard, it should work the same way as long as you use the same region (i.e. Spanish (U.S. or International) and not Spanish (Spain) for instance). Changing your region will most definitely change the layout of your keyboard, so choose the correct region and language in order to use the keys accordingly. I hope this helps. ;)
I was talking about a real spanish keyboard…
The solution I found (maybe it’s not the best but it works) is to switch to US keyboard mapping, create two actions with some hard keyboard shortcuts, switch back to my classical spanish keyboard mapping and then assign the shortcuts to the scroll wheel of my intuos…
Maybe tedious but now it works perfectly and I can enjoy all the power of my intuos 4
awsomely awsome shortcuts :P btw saw for the 1st too.. i use CS4. Anyway to get same shortcuts working in CS4 ?
I believe most of them work the same in both versions, with the exception of the ones introduced in CS5, of course.
Cmd + 0, Ctrl+ 0 – fit to screen
Drag Zoom also work by only leaving “Z” pressed and moving mouse left or right.
I knew the majority of these. The one I never knew about included the “Hold ‘H’ + Click for full document/zoom. Very schnazzy!
same here buddy, this one is awesome!
Great help, thx a lot, thumbs up :)
Very nice!
Hotkeys REALLY do save time!
wow great tips :)
thanks :)
Does anyone know how to quickly bring up the colour selection tool, for changing the foreground colour, without having to click on the colour square and using the colour chart or dropper?
Excuse my ignorance but I didn’t know there’s a Color Selection Tool. I really don’t understand your question, as far as I know those are the only three ways you can pick a color (i.e. Swatches, Color Picker, Eye Dropper). Am I right guys?
Hi,
Use Alt+click while you are using the Brush tool. Alt temporarily activates the Eye dropper tool and after then it switches back to the last used tool (Brush).
There’s nothing by default for the color picker- but you can set it if you go into the tools section of the keyboard shortcut menu. I assigned ‘q’ as I never use the quickmask mode.
is there a shortcut to change to:
“Windows > Arrange > Tile” ?
No, but you can always assign your own shortcut. I use Cmd+Shift+F.
You can use Crtl+tab.
nice Keyboard Shortcuts for Photoshop ur thanx
Thanks for all the tips, I got one for you as well,
In screen mode, when zoomed in you can also use the space bar, hold it down and the grabber tool comes up to navigate round the screen. :-)
Also the High Pass filter is a great way to highlight detail in an image… check out our tutorial :-)
Awesome list. I’ve read a million shortcut lists and this is by far the most useful. Years of using photoshop and u still taught me something you. Thank you so much.
THx,Very usefull :)
Great post and great comments .
Great list of shortcuts here. Thanks for the share.
[offtopic] I’ve a problem with photoshop shapes (rectangle, pen, whatever.. ) pixelating at the edges. Is there a possible solution for this? I’ve tried increasing my grid subsections to 100, and 1 per pixel which I read somewhere. No avail though. It’s annoying to say the least. Please let me know if there’s a fix. Much appreciated. [/offtopic] :)
Option+Command+G – Create/Release Clipping Mask
I use this one so often and really can’t imagine work without it ;)
Great shortcut! Thanks for sharing!
I have a shortcut to add which comes useful when saving a flatten image of your file. instead of opening the file and merge it down to one layer you can hold CTRL ALT SHIFT and open the file. it will ask you to read the composite data only, press yes and it will open the psd on one layer. Saves much of time on huge PSB files!
hope that helps :)
That is a very useful one indeed! Thanks for sharing!
Great tips Martin! It’s always hard for me to force myself to use a newly learned shortcut (being used to the way I accomplished whichever task before), but I’m always so glad once I’ve committed one to memory. There are some good ones on this list I already knew, and a few I’ll be forcing myself to remember to use!! Thanks!
Use pen tool drag any where which you want to make,
without closing use Ctrl+enter that will be automatic select!
for new layer hit Ctrl+shift+n= new layer,
then hit Ctrl+back-arrow.that filled it,
hit G for Gradient and enjoy !!!!!!!