working on your projects without leveraging the photoshop keyboard shortcuts is less effective especially if you are in an environment that requires you to work fast and get things done quickly, and that’s why i created this comprehensive tutorial that will introduce you to all of the Photoshop keyboard shortcuts that you’ll need to get extremely fast when working on projects

Note that all the shortcuts will be explained for mac and windows and and although its from Photoshop CC 2018 perspective it is still pretty much the same for older Photoshop versions which i’ll be talking about later in this tutorial

Master photoshop keyboard shortcuts

#1 – The Tools panel shorcuts

the first keyboard shortcuts that you’ll need to know about when you’re just starting with photoshop and the most that you’ll be using are the tools panel shortcuts, now these are single key shortcuts and will work for both mac and windows

photoshop keyboard shortcuts

And these are not the only tools in the panel,in addition you can click and hold on any tool and see the other hidden tools underneath it and you can cycle between these tools holding   SHIFT+THE tools SHORTCUT  for example i can use SHIFT+M to cycle between the rectangular and the elliptical marquee tools

photoshop keyboard shortcuts

#2 – Workflow Keyboard Shortcuts

A – Most used and Must Know keyboard Commands

These commands are the most noteworthy because you will be using them all the time, they will save you a lot of time and will speed up your productivity and workflow tremendously when working on Photoshop because you won’t have to go through the menus and drop down each time

Command

Undo

Command Z

CTRL + Z

Step Back​

CMD Option Z

CTRL + ALT + Z

Save As​

Command Shift S

CTRL + SHIFT + S

Save for Web​

Command Shift Option S

CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + S

Merge Selected Layers​

CMD+E

CTRL + E

Stamp visible​

Command Shift Option E

CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + E

Full-screen​

F

F

Duplicate​

 Command J

CTRL + J

Hide Extras​

 Command H

CTRL + H

Decrease/Increase Brush Size​

[ & ] or Hold option and move mouse left and right

[ & ] or Hold ALT and move mouse left and right

Decrease/Increase Brush softness​

[ & ] or Hold option and move mouse up & down

 [ & ] or Hold ALT and move mouse up & down

Open Fill dialog box​

Shift Delete

 Shift + backspace

Default Colors​

D (black and white)

 D (black and white)

Lock transparent pixels​

 / (back slash)

 / (back slash)

temporarily switch to the Hand tool​

Hold Spacebar

Hold Spacebar

Deselect

 command D

 CTRL + D

Inverse selection​

CMD + OPTION + i

CTRL + SHIFT + i

Restore Last Selection​

Shift Command D

Shift + CTRL + D

Fill with Background color​

 Command Delete

 CTRL + BACKSPACE

Fill with Foreground color​

 Option Delete

ALT + BACKSPACE

temporarily switch to the Eyedropper while in any paint tool​

hold Option

HOLD ALT

Commit edits when typing​

 Command Return

CTRL + ENTER

Move tool while in painting tool​

hold Command

HOLD CTRL

temporarily switch to the Zoom tool

CMD + space

CTRL + SPACE

temporarily switch to the Zoom tool while in hand tool​

hold CMD

HOLD CTRL

B – Blending Mode Keyboard Shortcuts

Cycle through blending modes: Shift + or Shift –

Cycle through blending modes: Shift + or Shift –

Normal: Shift Option N

Normal: Shift alt N

Dissolve: Shift Option I

Dissolve: Shift alt I

Behind (Brush tool only): Shift Option Q

Behind (Brush tool only): Shift alt Q

Clear (Brush tool only): Shift Option R

Clear (Brush tool only): Shift alt R

Darken: Shift Option K

Darken: Shift alt K

Multiply: Shift Option M

Multiply: Shift alt M

Color Burn: Shift Option B

Color Burn: Shift alt B

Linear Burn: Shift Option A

Linear Burn: Shift alt A

Lighten: Shift Option G

Lighten: Shift alt G

Screen: Shift Option S

Screen: Shift alt S

Color Dodge: Shift Option D

Color Dodge: Shift alt D

Linear Dodge: Shift Option W

Linear Dodge: Shift alt W

Overlay: Shift Option O

Overlay: Shift alt O

Soft Light: Shift Option F

Soft Light: Shift alt F

Hard Light: Shift Option H

Hard Light: Shift alt H

Vivid Light: Shift Option V

Vivid Light: Shift alt V

Linear Light: Shift Option J

Linear Light: Shift alt J

Pin Light: Shift Option Z

Pin Light: Shift alt Z

Hard Mix: Shift Option L

Hard Mix: Shift alt L

Difference: Shift Option E

Difference: Shift alt E

Exclusion: Shift Option X

Exclusion: Shift alt X

Hue: Shift Option U

Hue: Shift alt U

Saturation: Shift Option T

Saturation: Shift alt T

Color: Shift Option C

Color: Shift alt C

Luminosity: Shift Option Y

Luminosity: Shift alt Y

Master photoshop keyboard shortcuts

C – Selection Keyboard Shortcuts

Command

Add to a Selection

Shift

Shift

Subtract from a Selection

Option

alt

Intersect with a Selection

Shift-Option

alt shift

Select All

Command A

ctrl A

inverse Selection

Shift Command I

ctrl shift I

Feather Selection

Shift F6

Shift F6

Draw Marquee from Center

Hold Option

Hold alt

Select all Opaque Pixels

Command click on Layer Thumbnail

ctrl click on Layer Thumbnail

Deselect

Command D

ctrl D

Restore Last Selection

Command Shift D

ctrl shift D

Move Marquee while drawing selection

Hold Space

Hold Space

Move Selection (in 1-pixel Increments)

Arrow Keys

Arrow Keys

Move Selection (in 10-pixel Increments)

Shift Arrow Keys

Shift Arrow Keys

Select layer luminosity

Command Option Shift

ctrl alt shift

D – layer Keyboard Shortcuts

Command

New Layer

cmd shift N

ctrl Shift N

Layer Via Copy

cmd J

Ctrl J

Layer Via Cut

cmd shift J

Ctrl shift J

Create Clipping Mask

cmd option G

ctrl alt G

Group Layers

cmd G

ctrl G

Ungroup Layers

cmd shift G

Ctrl shift G

Bring To Front

cmd shift ]

ctrl shift ]

Bring Forward

cmd ]

ctrl ]

Send Backward

cmd [

ctrl [

Send to Back

cmd shift [

ctrl shift [

Merge Layers

cmd E

ctrl E

Merge Visible

cmd shift E

ctrl shift E

E – image Keyboard Shortcuts

Command

Levels

cmd L

ctrl L
Curves

cmd M

Ctrl M
Hue/saturation

cmd U

Ctrl U

Color Balance

cmd B

ctrl B

Black & white

cmd option shift B

ctrl alt shift B

Invert

cmd D

Ctrl D

Desaturate

cmd shift U

ctrl shift U

auto tone

cmd shift L

ctrl shift L

auto contrast

cmd option shift L

ctrl alt shift L

auto color

cmd Shift B

ctrl shift B

image size

cmd option i

ctrl alt i

canvas size

cmd option C

ctrl alt C

Record measurement

cmd shift M

ctrl shift M

F – Filter Keyboard Shortcuts

Command

Last Filter

cmd F

ctrl F

adaptive wide angle

cmd option shift A

ctrl alt shift A

camera raw filter

cmd shift A

Ctrl shift A

lens correction

cmd shift R

ctrl shift R

Liquify

cmd shift X

ctrl shift X

vanishing point

cmd option V

Ctrl alt V

G – View Keyboard Shortcuts

Command

Proof colors

cmd Y

ctrl Y

gamut warning

cmd shift Y

Ctrl shift Y

Zoom in

cmd+

Ctrl+

Zoom out

cmd-

ctrl-

Fit to screen

cmd 0

ctrl 0

100%

cmd 1

Ctrl 1

Extras

cmd H

ctrl H
target path

cmd shift H

ctrl shift H

Send Backward

cmd [

ctrl [

Send to Back

cmd shift [

ctrl shift [

Merge Layers

cmd E

ctrl E

Merge Visible

cmd shift E

ctrl shift E

#3 – Customizing The Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

Furthermore you can customize the Photoshop keyboard shortcuts to your liking by changing the current ones to custom shortcuts or even assigning new ones for commands that doesn’t have a shortcut and you can do that by going to the Edit menu then keyboard shortcuts on windows and on mac you can access it from the Photoshop Menu then keyboard shortcuts from there you can choose the panel from the dropdown to change it’s shortcut

photoshop keyboard shortcuts

and from here you can navigate to the command that you wanna change and click on it to replace it, for example i have step forward and backward changed to F2 and F1 because i use it all the time and i like to use one key shortcut.

once you replace the shortcut hit enter to commit the changes

photoshop keyboard shortcuts

Now if the shortcut you enter is already assigned photoshop will give a warning that its already in use, you can accept the changes and it will be removed or click on the accept and go to conflict button to change the conflict

photoshop keyboard shortcuts

Alright that’s pretty much it for all the photoshop keyboard shortcuts that you need to know, let me know what you think in the comments below if there is any shortcuts that i didn’t mention in this article.

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