It is proven that by using software shortcuts can boost up productivity. Here are 30 secret Photoshop shortcuts that I've learned from years of experience. Well, what I mean by "secret" is that these shortcuts are not documented in the menus. Keep reading and you will find how these shortcuts can speed up your productivity. I bet you don't know all of them.
Note: this article is written in Mac Photoshop format. If you are using PC, Cmd = Ctrl and Opt = Alt.
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Drag selection
With the Marquee tool, drag on the document (do not release the mouse yet), now hold down Spacebar, it will let you drag the undefined selection.
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Navigate the document left or right
Hold down the Cmd key and scroll up or down allows you to navigate the document left or right. For example, hold down Cmd + scroll up will navigate to right.
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Browse the font list
Put your cursor in the font list dropdown, you can browse the font list by pressing arrow Up or Down key.
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Scale font size
Select the text that you want to scale the font size, press Cmd + Shift + > or < to increase / decrease font size.
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Zoom with the scroll wheel
You can zoom in / out by Cmd + Opt + scroll up or down.
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Drag to adjust numberic value
Mouseover the input box, hold down Cmd + drag left or right to increase / decrease. Hold down Cmd + Opt or Shift key and drag can change the value in decimal or 10 interval. This shortcut works in all dialog palettes.
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Scroll to adjust numeric value
Put the cursor in the input box, scroll up or down to increase / decrease value. This shortcut works in all dialog palettes.
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Arrow up / down to adjust numeric value
Put the cursor in the input box, press arrow Up or Down to increase / decrease. Hold down Shift and press arrow Up or Down will change value in 10 interval.
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Zoom to 100%
Double click on the Zoom tool will zoom document to 100%.
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Collapse or expand all layer groups
You can collapse or expand all root-level layer groups by holding down Cmd + click on the triangle icon. Hold down Cmd + Opt + click on the triangle icon will collapse or expand all level layer groups.
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Show / hide in a row
If you need to show / hide more than one layers, instead of clicking one by one, you can click on the visibility icon and drag in a row.
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Hide other layers
Hold down Opt + click on the visibility icon will hide all other layers.
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Navigate layer blending mode
Opt + Shift + "-" or "+" key allows you to navigate through the blending mode dropdown.
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Set specific blending mode
Opt + Shift + C, N, M, S, D... allows to set layer to specific blending mode.
For examples:
Normal = Opt + Shift + N
Screen = Opt + Shift + S
Multiply = Opt + Shift + M
Color = Opt + Shift + C
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Lock layer transparency
Press forward slash ("/") to lock layer transparency.
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Load Channel selection
You probably know that Cmd + number keys (1, 2, 3) will activate the channels in sequent. Press Cmd + Opt + number keys will load the selection. For example, press Cmd + Opt + 4 will load Alpha channel 1.
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Tool panels
Press Tab to toggle tool panels.
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Precise cursor
Caps lock will display tool cursor in precise mode.
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Navigate the tool list
You can navigate through the tool list by pressing Shift + tool shorcut. For example: B = Brush tool, if you press Shift + B again, you will switch to Pencil tool.
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Increase / decrease brush size
With the Brush tool selected, you can increase / decrease the brush size by pressing [ or ] key (square bracket key). Press Shift + [ or ] will increase / decrease brush hardness.
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Opacity
You can set the layer opacity by pressing the number keys (ie. 1 = 10%, 2 = 20%...). When you have the brush tool selected, pressing the number keys will adjust the brush opacity.
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Duplicate layer
There are several shortcuts to duplicate layers.
1. You can hold down Cmd + Opt + drag to duplicate the active layer.
2. Cmd + Opt + arrow keys (Up, Down, Left, Right).
3. Cmd + J will duplicate the active layer in exact position.
4. Hold down Opt + drag within the Layers palette can also duplicate layers.
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Copy visible and paste in a new layer
Press Cmd + Opt + Shift + E will copy the visible layers and paste in a new layer.
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Change workspace background
By default Photoshop use grey for the workspace background color. You can change that by:
1. select your favorite color
2. choose the Paint Bucket tool
3. Hold down Shift + click on the working area (outside the document area)
Update: right-click on the workspace area to get a dropdown menu - allows you to set the background to black, grey, or a custom color (commented by Todd Patrick).
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Fill background or foreground color
Opt + Delete (Backspace) = fill the layer with foreground color.
Cmd + Delete (Backspace) = fill the layer with background color
Update:
Cmd + Shift + Delete (Backspace) = Fill non-transparent pixels with background color Opt + Shift + Delete (Backspace) = Fill non-transparent pixels with foreground color
(commented by André Dion) -
Switch between document windows
Ctrl + Tab will switch between document windows.
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Load layer transparent
Cmd + click on the layer thumbnail will load its transparency.
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Scale proportionally from center
When you are using the Marquee tools or Free Transform, hold down Opt + Shift + drag will scale proportionally from the center.
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Shortcut to Eyedropper
If you have the Brush tool selected, hold down Opt key will quickly activate the Eyedropper tool. Hold down Opt + Shift will activate the Color Sampler Tool.
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Finally...
Finally, if you want to check or set your own custom shortcuts, press Cmd + Opt + Shift + K will bring up the Keyboard Shortcuts panel.
Additional from the comments
- In some dialog boxes, holding the Opt key will turn the “Cancel” button into a most useful “Reset”. (by Miguel Tavares)
- To stroke a path, first select the path, then change to the brush tool, select a brush, and type Enter or Return. This works with all of the brush-like tools (eraser, clone, blur, etc.). (by buddhistMonkey)
- To turn a path into a selection, type Command-Enter or Command-Return (doesn’t matter what tool is selected). If there is already a selection, then Command-Shift-Return will add your path’s shape to the selection, Command-Option-Return will subtract it, and Command-Option-Shift-Return will select the intersection. (by buddhistMonkey)
- If you are adding a “Drop Shadow” layer effect, and you have the Layer Style dialog open to the Drop Shadow settings, you can move the shadow around by clicking and dragging in the image. This also works with the “Inner Shadow” effect. If you hold down the Option key, you can also adjust the Gradient Overlay, Pattern Overlay, and Satin effects by clicking and dragging. (by buddhistMonkey)
Do you know more shortcuts?
Do you know more Photoshop shortcuts that are not listed in this article? Please post them in the comment form. Make sure they are "secret" (not documented in the Photoshop menus).
wow,
very good list of shortcuts,
btw, your site rocks
i find very useful the shortcut to switch the frontal and background color just with the “x”, but im not sure if it secret or not
Excellent! Thanks for sahring them. Secret tips from Avi Cornfeld are also great. Thanks to him as well.
A great list of short cuts. There were a few that I had no idea about. Thank you for spreading the knowledge!
I didn’t know the 11 of the hints. Thank you.
I don’t know whether this hint is documented, but I got to know it recently, well:
Ctrl + Y – shows how the document will look in CMYK, and you need not to change the document into CMYK, work in RBG and convert it in the end, and not to got to problem with colors, that looked great first in RGB.
awesomee thanks!
Additional to no. 26:
Cmd + “>” or “” & “
That’s a good article. Thanks for that.
CTRL + “]” or “[" - moves layers up and down through layer list
ALT + "]” or “[” – selects layers up and down through layer list
Thanks a lot. Very helpful.
no 5. is wrong…..just need to press option witht the mouse wheel
Thanx for the tips, Nick. I’ve got another shortcut that wasn’t mentioned yet: to create a clipping mask, on the layers pannel, hold the mouse between the two layers where you want to create the clipping mask and press “alt” key.
May I give you a suggestion: it would be even nicer if you gathered all the different shortcuts (not doccumented, only, for sure) that were sent by your readers and make another post with them. That’s because before I posted this one, I had to read all the comments to see if I wasn’t repeating a shortcut already mentioned before.
Anyway, thank you very much! Great work!
This is a great list. Another couple of tips I have learned over the years – 1) When using the eraser tool, holding down the “alt” key turns the eraser into an uneraser – allowing you to un-erase something that you accidently erased. 2) Using the pencil, brush, eraser, etc – if you click on a point, then release and hold down the “shift” key, you can move your cursor to another position and click, causing a line to be drawn between the 2 points. These have been great time savers for me!
Good Job ! Thanks for the tips, looking forward for more !
Hey Nice list!! :]
I actually knew almost all of them (didn’t know workspace coloring, font scale and double click zoom – but I won’t use them anyhow)
100% zoom can also be achieved through Ctrl+Alt+NumPad0
(wich is for me much faster- because I don’t have to mouse all over the screen and look for a tool I never use)
very handy Layer Stuff:
Grouping: select layers you want to group and hit Ctrl+G (just like in Maya :D)
I also set up F2 and F3 for create Layer and Delete Layer. I did this with actions: just recorded me deleting a layer and asigned it to F3 and the same with make layer. VERY useful!!! and MUCH faster than looking for the tiny icons or dragging a layer to the trash can!! OH MY! That seems to take ages now! :)
also undocumented I guess:
RMB on the titlebar of a document to choose between:
*duplicate…
*IMAGE SIZE…
*CANVAS SIZE…
*file info
*page setup
RMB on the ruler and you can choose the ruler units
RMB on a transform area to choose from all transform modes including warp
or very nice as well:
shift drag guide lines from the ruler to make them snap to ruler graduations – no more sub-pixel guidelines!
Ah and about font choosing: I never take the hand away from the mouse to do that: just klick in the font field ans scroll for the font you want.
and did you know this: doubleclick the Photoshop background to open a file
DOH! You are on the mac you have no background, don’t you? Oh pardon me .. I did everything win-style as well ^^
Good work!
There’s a little mistake in the number 28, the cmd button should actually be the opt (alt) button.
one other trick : you can create a clipping mask by pressing the option button (alt) just beetwen 2 layers.
Another one that took me YEARS to stumble upon: ALT + CMD + M brings up the curves dialog box and brings back the last curve you applied.
Just found this out! Shift + double-click in workspace starts Adobe Bridge.
Cool!
Wow! Great tips.
Thanks!
Nice… time is money… // N this read was well worth the time : )