Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts
The Photoshop shortcuts that save real time, grouped by task. Cross-checked against two independent references.
119 shortcuts · Adobe Photoshop on Windows
Learn these ten first
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + J | Duplicate the current layer |
| Ctrl + T | Free Transform - scale, rotate, skew |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E | Stamp everything visible onto a new layer |
| Alt + Backspace | Fill with the foreground colour |
| Ctrl + Backspace | Fill with the background colour |
| X | Swap foreground and background colours |
| D | Reset colours to black and white |
| Ctrl + Alt + G | Clip the layer to the one below it |
| Left Bracket / Right Bracket | Make the brush smaller or larger |
| Ctrl + 0 | Fit the whole image on screen |
Tools
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| V | Move |
| M | Marquee - rectangular and elliptical |
| L | Lasso - free, polygonal and magnetic |
| W | Object Selection, Quick Selection, Magic Wand |
| C | Crop |
| K | Frame |
| I | Eyedropper |
| J | Spot Healing Brush and Healing Brush |
| B | Brush |
| S | Clone Stamp |
| Y | History Brush |
| E | Eraser |
| G | Gradient and Paint Bucket |
| O | Dodge, Burn and Sponge |
| P | Pen |
| T | Type |
| A | Path Selection and Direct Selection |
| U | Shape tools |
| R | Rotate View |
| H | Hand - pan around the image |
| Z | Zoom |
| Q | Toggle Quick Mask mode |
| Shift + the tool letter | Cycle through the tools hidden behind it |
The document
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + N | New document |
| Ctrl + O | Open |
| Ctrl + S | Save |
| Ctrl + Shift + S | Save As |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + W | Export As |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + S | Save for Web, the legacy exporter |
| Ctrl + W | Close the document |
| Ctrl + Alt + W | Close every open document |
| Ctrl + P | |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + I | File Info |
Undo and repeat
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Z | Undo, and keep pressing to step back |
| Ctrl + Shift + Z | Redo, stepping forward again |
| Ctrl + Alt + Z | Step backwards through history |
| Ctrl + F | Repeat the last filter with the same settings |
| Ctrl + Alt + F | Repeat the last filter, but open its dialog first |
| Ctrl + Shift + F | Fade the last action - reduce it after the fact |
Selections
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + A | Select everything |
| Ctrl + D | Deselect |
| Ctrl + Shift + D | Reselect what you just deselected |
| Ctrl + Shift + I | Invert the selection |
| Shift + F6 | Feather the selection edge |
| Ctrl + Alt + R | Open Select and Mask |
| Ctrl + click a layer thumbnail | Load that layer's shape as a selection |
| Hold Shift while dragging | Add to the current selection |
| Hold Alt while dragging | Subtract from the current selection |
| Shift + F5 | Open the Fill dialog |
Layers
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + J | Duplicate the layer, or copy the selection to a new one |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | New layer, with the dialog |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N | New layer, straight away, no dialog |
| Ctrl + E | Merge down onto the layer beneath |
| Ctrl + Shift + E | Merge everything visible |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E | Stamp visible onto a new layer, keeping the originals |
| Ctrl + G | Group the selected layers |
| Ctrl + Shift + G | Ungroup |
| Ctrl + Alt + G | Create or release a clipping mask |
| Ctrl + Right Bracket | Bring the layer forward one step |
| Ctrl + Left Bracket | Send the layer back one step |
| Ctrl + Shift + Right Bracket | Bring the layer to the front |
| Ctrl + Shift + Left Bracket | Send the layer to the back |
Adjustments
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + L | Levels |
| Ctrl + M | Curves |
| Ctrl + U | Hue and Saturation |
| Ctrl + B | Colour Balance |
| Ctrl + Shift + U | Desaturate to grey |
| Ctrl + I | Invert the colours |
| Ctrl + Shift + L | Auto Tone |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + L | Auto Contrast |
| Ctrl + Shift + B | Auto Colour |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B | Black and White |
The brush
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Left Bracket | Smaller brush |
| Right Bracket | Larger brush |
| Shift + Left Bracket | Softer edge |
| Shift + Right Bracket | Harder edge |
| 1 to 9, then 0 | Set brush opacity from 10% to 100% |
| Shift + 1 to 9 | Set brush flow instead of opacity |
| Comma / Full stop | Previous or next brush preset |
| Shift + Comma / Shift + Full stop | First or last brush preset |
| Caps Lock | Switch to the precise crosshair cursor |
| Hold Alt while painting | Temporarily pick up a colour with the eyedropper |
Moving around
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Plus | Zoom in |
| Ctrl + Minus | Zoom out |
| Ctrl + 0 | Fit the image on screen |
| Ctrl + 1 | View at 100%, actual pixels |
| Hold Spacebar | Temporarily grab the Hand tool and pan |
| Tab | Hide every panel - and press it again to bring them back |
| Shift + Tab | Hide the side panels but keep the toolbar |
| F | Cycle through the screen modes |
| Ctrl + R | Show or hide the rulers |
| Ctrl + Semicolon | Show or hide the guides |
| Ctrl + Apostrophe | Show or hide the grid |
| Ctrl + H | Hide the extras - selection edges, guides, grid |
Transform
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + T | Free Transform |
| Ctrl + Shift + T | Repeat the last transformation |
| Hold Shift while dragging a corner | Constrain, or release, the proportions |
| Hold Alt while dragging | Transform from the centre outwards |
| Hold Ctrl and drag a corner | Distort that corner on its own |
| Enter | Commit the transform |
| Escape | Cancel it |
Type
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Enter | Commit the text you are editing |
| Ctrl + Shift + Full stop | Increase the font size |
| Ctrl + Shift + Comma | Decrease the font size |
| Alt + Left / Alt + Right | Tighten or loosen the letter spacing |
| Alt + Up / Alt + Down | Tighten or loosen the line spacing |
| Ctrl + Shift + L | Align the text left |
| Ctrl + Shift + C | Align the text centre |
| Ctrl + Shift + R | Align the text right |