How to Use Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

Posted on March 23rd, 2009 by Marck

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Adobe Photoshop can be quite complicated, even for the most experienced users. Clicking through menus and browsing through tools in a tool palette can be quite difficult, and can take up a lot of your time when you’re editing a batch of pictures and images. With the extensive array of editing and imaging tools available in the program, keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop make it easier and more efficient to edit photos.

Why Use Keyboard Shortcuts?

Many of Adobe’s programs (Illustrator, Acrobat Reader, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop) are comprehensive, powerful suites and programs designed to do one thing; in the case of Photoshop, that’s to edit photos. Photoshop has many useful tools that can be used to enhance, edit, and even distort photographs and images for artistic effect. With so many tools, however, it becomes quite difficult and intimidating to go through every menu to look for the right tool for the job.

The good news is that many of the tools in Photoshop are built around keyboard shortcuts. Each command in Photoshop has a keyboard shortcut. There are also many tools and functions that you can activate or execute with a keyboard shortcut.

Types of Keyboard Shortcuts

There are two types of keyboard shortcuts used in Adobe Photoshop:

Modifier-based shortcuts require using either the “Ctrl,” “Shift,” or “Alt” keys to be executed. Most of these commands are found in the Menu bar of the Photoshop window. Examples include “Ctrl+S” for saving a file, and “Ctrl+Alt+X” for activating the Extract tool.
Shortcuts without modifiers. Many of the commands and tools in the Tools palette (by default, the left-hand side of the Photoshop window) can be accessed by pressing a single key, or a sequence of single keys. To use the Path function of the Pen tool, for example, you have to press “P” twice. Pressing the single-key shortcut many times over will cycle through the functions of the tool on the palette.

Tips

Every tool and functionality in Photoshop has a keyboard shortcut to free up the mouse for editing the photo, depending on the version you use. Unless you have exceptionally good memory, you cannot memorize every keyboard shortcut in the program. Here are some tips to help you maximize keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop:

Mouse for photos, keyboard for commands. One way that you can train yourself to use keyboard shortcuts is to use your mouse only for editing photos, and to input important commands through the keyboard. It will take a while for you to train yourself to use the keyboard exclusively for commands, but it adds to your training and knowledge in Photoshop.
Use cheat sheets. Many websites offer cheat sheets, either in HTML or PDF format, where every keyboard shortcut and command is listed. If your line of business deals with editing pictures, you should study these cheat sheets regularly. It also helps to keep a cheat sheet near your computer for your reference.
Memorize important tools. On an idle day, take the time to memorize some of the important keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop. Pay special attention to the Tools palette on the left-hand side of the program window. Hover your mouse above each tool, and memorize the single-key shortcut that links to that set of tools.

Keyboard shortcuts make it easier for you to use Photoshop’s extensive set of tools easier and faster. With the right keyboard shortcuts, you can harness the power of Photoshop right at your fingertips.