As a Web Designer I know the value of keyboard/mouse shortcut key in every design industry software. Photoshop being the most popular graphic/web design software is used by millions of Designers around the world and these people always look for the help to improve their selves. I think Keyboard Shortcuts can really helps to build up working speed using them in your workflow.
There are huge amount of keyboard shortcuts available in Photoshop but I have complied a list of useful keyboard shortcuts which I think are useful for everyone using Photoshop. The list also includes some shortcuts where combination of mouse is used with keyboard.
List 1
Advanced Photoshop Shortcut
| Shortcut | Result | Explained |
| Alt + Ctrl + A | Select All | Slect All Layers in the Document |
| Ctrl + Shift + C | Copy Merged | Useful for copying a selected area what you see on screen. |
| Ctrl + H | Hide/Show Guidelines | Useful to Hide Guidelines while working with lot of layer with many guidelines for alignment. |
| Ctrl + A + Any arrow key | Selects present Layer | makes selection of present selected layer (except text layer) |
| Ctrl + Mouse click on Layer (layer palette) | Makes Layer Selection | - |
| Ctrl + Scroll Mouse (up/down) | Moves document left or right | The shorcut Navigate the document left or right |
| Ctrl + Shift + > or < | Increase Decrease the font size | Select text, press Ctrl + Shift + > or < to increase / decrease font size. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Mouse | Zoom In/Out | Zoom In/Out |
| Double click Zoom tool | Zoom to 100% | Double click on the Zoom tool will zoom document to 100%. |
| Tab | Toggle Tools Panel | Press Tab to toggle tools panel |
| Shift + Tab | Show / Hide Palette Windows | Show / Hide your active Palette Windows |
| Caps lock | Precise cursor | Caps lock displays tool cursor in precise mode |
| Ctrl + Tab | Switch between document windows | Switch between document windows |
| Select Text – Ctrl + Enter + Enter + Move arrow keys | Change font style | Easy to select your desired font style from hundreds of fonts available with just arrow keys |
List 2
Photoshop Useful Function Keys
| Shortcut | Result | Explained |
| F5 | Show/Hide Brushes palette | Press F5 to Show/Hide Brushes palette and Press B to activate the palette |
| F6 | Show/Hide Color palette | Show/Hide Color palette |
| F7 | Show/Hide Layers palette | Show/Hide Layers palette |
| F8 | Show/Hide Actions palette | Show/Hide Actions palette |
| F12 | Revert | Revert to Last Saved |
| Shift + F5 | Fill | Opens the Fill Box |
| Shift + F6 | Feather Selection | Feather Selection |
| Shift + F7 | Inverse Selection | Inverse Selection |
List 3
Photoshop A to Z Shortcut Keys
| Shortcut | Result | Explained |
| B | Brush / Pencil / Color Replacement Tool | To Pick Brush / Pencil / Color Replacement Tool |
| C | Crop Tool | To Pick Crop Tool |
| D | Default Color | Set Default Foreground/Background (Black/White) Color |
| E | Eraser Tool | To Pick Eraser Tool |
| F | Cycle Screen Modes | Cycle Screen Modes upto full screen |
| G | Gradient / Paint Bucket Tool | To pick Gradient / Paint Bucket Tool |
| I | Eyedropper Tool | To pick Eyedropper Tool |
| L | Lasso Tool | To Pick Lasso Tool |
| M | Marquee Tool | To Pick Marquee Tool |
| O | Dodge / Burn / Sponge Tool | To pick Dodge / Burn / Sponge Tool (Use Shift + O to toggle between) |
| P | Pen / Freeform Pen Tool | To pick Pen / Freeform Pen Tool (Use Shift + P to toggle between) |
| Q | Standard / Quick Mask Mode | To Activate Standard / Quick Mask Mode |
| S | Clone / Pattern Stamp Tool | To pick Clone / Pattern Stamp Tool (Use Shift + S to toggle between) |
| T | Type/Text Tool | To Pick Type/Text Tool |
| U | Shapes Tool | To pick Shapes Tool |
| V | Move Tool | To pick Move Tool |
| W | Magic Wand Tool | To Pick Magic Wand Tool |
| X | Switch Colors | Switch beween Foreground/Background Color |
List 4
Photoshop Miscellaneous Shortcut Keys
| Shortcut | Result | Explained |
| Ctrl + D | Deselect | Deselect your selection on the document |
| ] | Increase Brush Size | Increase Brush Size |
| [ | Decrease Brush Size | Decrease Brush Size |
| 1 - 0 | Tool Opacity | Use numbers from 1 - 0 to set opacity |
| Hold Space | Hand Tool | Hold Space and use mouse with left click to move around the document |
| Ctrl + Shift + I | Inverse Selection | Selects opposite of your present seleciton |
| Alt + Ctrl + D | Feather Selection | Feather Selection |
| Ctrl + Space + Click | Zoom In | Zoom In Document |
| Alt + Space + Click | Zoom Out | Zoom Out Document |
| Shift + A-Z keys | Toggle Between | Toogle Between the hidden tools |
| Alt + Ctrl + Shift + S | Save for Web | Save Document for Web in your desired selected options (JPG, GIF, PNG, etc.) |
| Ctrl + T | Free Transform Tool | Free Transform Tool |
| Alt + Ctrl + T | Duplicate Free Transform | Duplicate Free Transform |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + T | Duplicate Transform Again | Duplicate Transform Again |
| Alt + Backspace | Fill Foreground Color | Fill Foreground Color |
| Ctrl + Backspace | Fill Background Color | Fill Background Color |
| Ctrl + ] | Bring Forward | Bring Forward (Selected Layer) |
| Ctrl + [ | Send Backward | Send Backward (Selected Layer) |
| Ctrl + Shift + ] | Bring To Front | Bring To Front (Selected Layer) |
| Ctrl + Shift + [ | Send to Back | Send to Back (Selected Layer) |
| Ctrl + J | Layer via Copy | Layer via Copy |
| Ctrl + Shift + J | Layer via Cut | Layer via Cut |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | New Layer | Create New Layer |
| Ctrl + E | Merge Layers | Merge Layers |
| Ctrl + Shift + E | Merge visible | Merge visible Layers |
| Alt + ] | Next Layer | Move to Next Layer |
| Alt + [ | Previous Layer | Move to Previous Layer |
| Ctrl + W | Close | Close Document |
| Ctrl + 0 | Fit on Screen | Fit on Screen |
| Alt + Ctrl + 0 | Actual Size | Actual Size of Document |
Hope the list of essential photoshop shortcuts will be helpful for you guys.
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Here are the major ones I use that have always helped sped up my work. ctrl+shft+c to copy mereged, then ctrl+n to open a new page and ctrl+alt+shft+s to save for web. I do this all the time when I am cutting out a psd to mark it up for the web. My fingers even already know the shape of these various shortcuts that I dont even really need to look anymore…awesome!!
Damola.
this stuff really helps
This is really cool and useful information, I am definitely bookmarking this page.
I would suggest another copy of this post somewhere that has the Mac-equivalents to these keyboard shortcuts for those beginners who don’t use Windows to use Adobe® Photoshop®.