Do you want to spend less time and be more productive when using Photoshop, whether it’s cropping a photo, improving the resolution, or changing the canvas size?
There are numerous options available to make your Photoshop journey simple and easy. All you have to do is print out all of these shortcuts and begin practicing them on a daily basis, and you will easily save some time with themes amazing keyboard shortcuts within a few days.
Note that while all of these shortcuts are accessible on both Windows and Mac, they are not always the same. We’ve included both types below, and where they may differ, Mac instructions appear in italicized parentheses.
In addition, the plus sign (+) is only used in these formulas to represent the combination of key commands. On rare occasions, it may be part of the command itself, such as when you press the plus sign to zoom into a specific area of an image, but don’t press the plus sign between commands.
- Control + Alt + i (Command + Option + i ) = Change the image size.
- Control + Alt + c (Command + Option + c ) = Change canvas size.
- Control + + (Command + + ) = Zoom in.
- Control + – (Command + – ) = Zoom out.
- Control + ‘ (Command + ‘ ) = Show or hide the grid, the automatically-generated horizontal and vertical lines that help align objects to the canvas.
Selecting the Best Tools
These shortcuts will activate various tool groups, such as “Lasso,” “Brush,” or “Spot Healing Brush.” There are, however, various functions within these tools. For example, in the “Magic Wand” tool group, you can execute a new selection or add and subtract from an existing one.
Each of these tools has a keyboard shortcut, which we’ve listed below.
- v = Pointer, a.k.a. Move Tool
- w = Magic Wand
- m = Rectangular Marquee, a.k.a. the Select Tool
- l = Lasso
- i = Eyedropper
- c = Crop
- e = Eraser
- u = Rectangle
- t = Horizontal Type
- b = Brush
- y = History Brush
- j = Spot Healing Brush
- g = Gradient
- a = Path Selection
- h = Hand
- r = Rotate View
- p = Pen
- s = Clone Stamp
- = Dodge
- z = Zoom Tool
- d = Default Foreground and Background Colors
- x = Switch Foreground and Background Colors
- q = Edit in Quick Mask Mode
- x = Change Screen Mode
Using Different Blending Options: Blending options have a variety of features that can be used to improve the appearance of your graphics. You can always select a blending option from the top menu bar by going to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options. Alternatively, you can double-click any layer to bring up the options for that layer.
After you’ve opened the blending options, you can use keyboard shortcuts to select them without having to move your mouse. To use the shortcuts, first select the Move tool (“v”), and then the layer on which you want to use the blending options. Some of the most popular modes are listed below.
- Shift + + or – = Cycle through blending modes.
- Shift + Alt + n (Shift + Option + n) = Normal mode
- Shift + Alt + i (Shift + Option + i) = Dissolve
- Shift + Alt + k (Shift + Option + k) = Darken
- Shift + Alt + g (Shift + Option + g) = Lighten
- Shift + Alt + m (Shift + Option + m) = Multiply
- Shift + Alt + o (Shift + Option + o) = Overlay
- Shift + Alt + u (Shift + Option + u) = Hue
- Shift + Alt + t (Shift + Option + t) = Saturation
- Shift + Alt + y (Shift + Option + y) = Luminosity
Here are some shortcuts you might want to know if you want to modify an object or get complex with multiple layers:
- Control + a (Command + a ) = Select all objects
- Control + d (Command + d ) = Deselect all objects
- Shift + Control + i (Shift + Command + i ) = Select the inverse of the selected objects
- Control + Alt + a (Command + Option + a) = Select all layers
- Control + Shift + E (Command + Shift + e) = Merge all layers
- Alt + . (Option + .) = Select top layer
- Alt + , (Option + ,) = Select bottom layer
The brackets ([ ]) represent the command’s keystrokes, and “OR” refers to the actual word — as in, press one bracket OR the other, not the letters “o” and “r.”
- Alt + [ OR ] (Option + [ OR ]) = Select next layer down or up
- Control + [ OR ] (Command + [ OR ]) = Move target layer down or up
- Control + Shift + [ OR ] (Command + Shift + [ OR ]) = Move layer to the bottom or top
- Shift + Control + n (Shift + Command + n) = Create a new layer
- Control + g (Command + g) = Group selected layers
- Control + Shift + g (Command + Shift + g) = Ungroup selected layers
- Control + e (Command + e) = Merge and flatten selected layers
- Control + Shift + Alt + e (Command + Shift + Option + e) = Combine all layers into a new layer on top of the other layers.
This step creates a combined layer with all of its elements in separate layers below, which differs from a traditional merge-and-flatten layers command.
- Control + t (Command + t) = Transform your object, which includes resizing and rotating
- And finally save your work for later
- Control + Shift + s (Command + Shift + s) = Save your work as …
- Control + Shift + Alt + s (Command + Shift + Option + s) = Save for web and devices
This shortcut is essential for any graphic designer. If you have any other cheat codes or tips, please leave them in the comments section so that others can benefit.