Used in conjunction with the mouse, shortcut keys can increase your speed and accuracy 100%.
This appendix covers some of the more common and useful shortcut keys in Photoshop. By shortcut keys, I mean the key combinations that save you from having to select a command via menus. They are, at first, a little awkward. You might wonder at a few of the arrangements and why they picked certain keys, but if you start using these shortcuts, you will find that your time spent with Photoshop (or any application, for that matter) will become much more streamlined.
Note that most of these shortcut keys are listed on the right side of all menus. Also, to give yourself a little extra help, select File+Preferences+General. In this dialog box, select Show Tool Tips. When this feature is enabled, you can place your mouse pointer over a tool in the toolbox and (without clicking) a small tag momentarily appears, telling you the name of the tool and its hot key (the key that selects it).
Windows keys will be covered first, and then, later in this appendix, the corresponding Macintosh keys. The toolbox is covered first, and then commands as they appear in the menus--File menu, Edit menu, and so on, across the top of the screen.
Here are the shortcut keys for the Windows version of Photoshop 4.
The first thing to know about toolbox shortcuts is that they are single keys. If a particular tool has more than one option, such as the Elliptical and Rectangular Marquees, simply press the shortcut key again to cycle through the selections.
Also, when using the Painting tools, click Shift Lock to get a precision cursor instead of the general icon cursor. This will help you to do delicate work. To toggle the toolbox on and off, hit Tab.
Marquee tools | Press M |
Use Alt to drag subtractive marquees | |
Use Shift to drag additive marquees | |
Use Shift to drag multiple marquees (For more information, see Day 2, "Selections: Editing and Manipulating Images.") | |
Crop tool | Press C |
Move tool | Press V (Also, when any other tool is selected, just press Ctrl to get a temporary version of the Move tool. Release and you will be returned to your original tool.) |
Lasso tool | Press L |
Magic Wand | Press W |
Airbrush | Press A |
Paintbrush | Press B |
Eraser | Press E (Press Alt to use the Magic Eraser tool, which erases to a saved version of the image.) |
Pencil | Press Y |
Rubber Stamp | Press S |
Smudge tool | Press U |
Sharpen/Blur tools | Press R |
Sponge/Burn/Dodge | Press O |
Pen tool | Press P |
Text tool | Press T |
Line tool | Press N |
Gradient tool | Press G |
Paintbucket | Press K |
Eyedropper | Press I (Also, when using the Painting tools, press Alt to temporarily select the Eyedropper tool.) |
Hand | Press H (You can get a temporary Hand tool when another tool is selected, by pressing and holding the Spacebar.) |
Zoom | Press Z (Try Ctrl + + to zoom in and Ctrl + - to zoom out.) |
Toggling between foreground | X |
and background colors | |
Setting default colors | D |
Edit in Standard Mode | Q |
Edit in Quick Mask Mode | Q |
Standard Screen Mode, Full | Toggle between F |
Screen Mode with Menu bar, Full Screen Mode |
Remember, for you Windows users, you can use the Alt key to select menu commands. Notice, in all of the menus, all of the letters with underlines. These indicate that they can be selected via Alt. For example, to create a new file, Press Alt + F (for File menu) + I (for File info). It is as easy as that and can give your carpal tunnel syndrome a rest.
New file | Ctrl + N |
Open file | Ctrl + O |
Close file | Ctrl + W |
Save file | Ctrl + S |
Save As | Ctrl + Shift + S |
Save a Copy | Ctrl + Alt + S |
Page Setup | Ctrl + Shift + P |
Ctrl + P | |
Preferences | Ctrl + K |
Exit | Ctrl + Q |
Undo/Redo | Ctrl + Z |
Cut | Ctrl + X |
Copy | Ctrl + C |
Copy Merged | Ctrl + Shift + C |
Paste | Ctrl + V |
Paste Into | Ctrl + Shift + V |
Fill (background color) | Ctrl + Backspace |
Fill (background color, preserving transparency) | Ctrl + Shift + Backspace |
Fill (foreground color) | Alt + Backspace |
Fill (foreground color,preserving transparency) | Alt + Shift + Backspace |
Levels | Ctrl + L |
Auto Levels | Ctrl + Shift +L |
Curves | Ctrl + M |
Color Balance | Ctrl + B |
Hue/Saturation | Ctrl + U |
Desaturation | Ctrl + Shift + U |
Invert | Ctrl + I |
Group with Previous | Ctrl + G |
Ungroup | Ctrl + Shift + G |
Free Transform | Ctrl + T |
Merge Layers | Ctrl + E |
Merge Visible | Ctrl + Shift + E |
All | Ctrl + A |
None | Ctrl + D |
Inverse | Ctrl + Shift + I |
Feather | Ctrl + Shift + D |
Last Filter | Ctrl + F |
Fade | Ctrl + Shift + F |
CMYK Preview | Ctrl + Y |
Gamut Warning | Ctrl + Shift + Y |
Zoom In | Ctrl + + |
Zoom Out | Ctrl + - |
Fit On screen | Ctrl + 0 |
Actual Pixels | Ctrl + Alt + 0 |
Hide Edges | Ctrl + H |
Hide Path | Ctrl + Shift + H |
Show Rulers | Ctrl + R |
Hide Guides | Ctrl + ; |
Snap to Guides | Ctrl + Shift + ; |
Lock Guides | Ctrl + Alt +; |
Show Grid | Ctrl + " |
Snap to Grid | Ctrl + Shift + " |
Help Contents | F1 |
Here are the shortcut keys for the Macintosh version of Photoshop 4.
The first thing to know about toolbox shortcuts is that they are single keys. If a particular tool has more than one option, such as the Elliptical and Rectangular Marquees, simply press the shortcut key again to cycle through the selections.
Also, when using the Painting tools, turn on Caps Lock to get a precision cursor instead of the general icon cursor. This will help you to do delicate work.
To toggle the toolbox on and off, hit Tab.
Marquee tools | Press M |
Use Option to drag subtractive marquees | |
Use Shift to drag additive marquees | |
Use Shift to drag multiple marquees (For moreinformation, see Day 2. | |
Crop tool | Press C |
Move tool | Press V (Also, when any other tool is selected, just press Command to get a temporary version of the Move tool. Release and you will be returned to your original tool.) |
Lasso tool | Press L |
Magic Wand | Press W |
Airbrush | Press A |
Paintbrush | Press B |
Eraser | Press E (Press Option to use the Magic Eraser tool, which erases to a saved version of the image.) |
Pencil | Press Y |
Rubber Stamp | Press S |
Smudge tool | Press U |
Sharpen/Blur tools | Press R |
Sponge/Burn/Dodge | Press O |
Pen tool | Press P |
Text tool | Press T |
Line tool | Press N |
Gradient tool | Press G |
Paintbucket | Press K |
Eyedropper | Press I (Also, when using the Painting tools, press Option to temporarily select the Eyedropper tool.) |
Hand | Press H (You can get a temporary Hand tool when another tool is selected, by pressing and holding the Spacebar.) |
Zoom | Press Z (Try Command + + to zoom in and Command + - to zoom out.) |
Toggling between foreground | X |
and background colors | |
Setting default colors | D |
Edit in Standard Mode | Q |
Edit in Quick Mask Mode | Q |
Standard Screen Mode, Full | Toggle between F |
Screen Mode with Menu bar, Full Screen Mode |
New file | Command + N |
Open file | Command + O |
Close file | Command + W |
Save file | Command + S |
Save As | Command + Shift + S |
Save a Copy | Command + Option + S |
Page Setup | Command + Shift + P |
Command + P | |
Preferences | Command + K |
Quit | Command + Q |
Undo | Command + Z |
Cut | Command + X |
Copy | Command + C |
Copy Merged | Command + Shift + C |
Paste | Command + V |
Paste Into | Command + Shift + V |
Fill (background color) | Command + Delete |
Fill (background color, preserving transparency) | Command + Shift + Delete |
Fill (foreground color) | Option + Delete |
Fill (foreground color, preserving transparency) | Option + Shift + Delete |
Levels | Command + L |
Auto Levels | Command + Shift +L |
Curves | Command + M |
Color Balance | Command + B |
Hue/Saturation | Command + U |
Desaturation | Command + Shift + U |
Invert | Command + I |
New Layer via Copy | Command + J |
New Layer via Cut | Command + Shift + J |
Group with Previous | Command + g |
Ungroup | Command + Shift + G |
Free Transform | Command + T |
Merge Layers | Command + E |
Merge Visible | Command + Shift + E |
All | Command + A |
None | Command + D |
Inverse | Command + Shift + I |
Feather | Command + Shift + D |
Last Filter | Command + F |
Fade | Command + Shift + F |
CMYK Preview | Command + Y |
Gamut Warning | Command + Shift + Y |
Zoom In | Command + + |
Zoom Out | Command + - |
Fit Onscreen | Command + 0 |
Actual Pixels | Command + Option + 0 |
Hide Edges | Command + H |
Hide Path | Command + Shift + H |
Show Rulers | Command + R |
Hide Guides | Command + ; |
Snap to Guides | Command + Shift + ; |
Lock Guides | Command + Option +; |
Show Grid | Command + " |
Snap to Grid | Command + Shift + " |
Help Contents | F1 |
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