75 hotkeys for productivity in Photoshop

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Save your time with these shortcuts.

Some of the listed keys and combinations may not work in older versions of the program.

Layers

1. Show or hide the layers panel: F7 (Windows, macOS).
2. Create a new layer: Shift + Ctrl + N (Windows), Shift + Cmd + N (macOS).
3. Create a layer using the copy method: Ctrl + J (Windows), Cmd + J (macOS).
4. Create a layer by cutting: Shift + Ctrl + J (Windows), Shift + Cmd + J (macOS).
5. Merge visible layers: Shift + Ctrl + E (Windows), Shift + Cmd + E (macOS).
6. Make the selected layer the topmost: Shift + Ctrl +] (Windows), Shift + Cmd +] (macOS).
7. Make the selected layer the lowest: Shift + Ctrl + [(Windows), Shift + Cmd + [(macOS).
8. Raise the selected layer one level: Ctrl +] (Windows), Cmd +] (macOS).
9. Lower the selected layer one level: Ctrl + [(Windows), Cmd + [(macOS).
10. Merge selected layers: Ctrl + E (Windows), Cmd + E (macOS).
11. Select a layer one level higher: Alt +] (Windows), Opt +] (macOS).
12. Select a layer one level below: Alt + [(Windows), Opt + [(macOS).
13. Create a new layer below the current one: Ctrl + click on the new layer icon (Windows), Cmd + click on the new layer icon (macOS).
14. Fill the layer with the top color: Alt + Delete (Windows), Alt + Backspace (macOS).
15. Fill the layer with the lower color: Ctrl + Delete (Windows), Ctrl + Backspace (macOS).
16. Open the "Layer Style" window: double-click the left mouse button on the layer (Windows, macOS).
17. Copy all layers in the selection to the clipboard: Shift + Ctrl + C (Windows), Shift + Cmd + C (macOS).

Correcting images

1. Open the "Levels" window: Ctrl + L (Windows), Cmd + L (macOS).
2. Open Curves window: Ctrl + M (Windows), Cmd + M (macOS).
3. Open the "Color Balance" window: Ctrl + B (Windows), Cmd + B (macOS).
4. Open the Hue / Saturation window: Ctrl + U (Windows), Cmd + U (macOS).
5. Open the "Image Size" window: Ctrl + Alt + I (Windows), Cmd + Opt + I (macOS).
6. Switch to free transform mode: Ctrl + T (Windows), Cmd + T (macOS).
7. Desaturate selection or layer: Shift + Ctrl + U (Windows), Shift + Cmd + U (macOS).
8. Apply "Autotone": Shift + Ctrl + L (Windows), Shift + Cmd + L (macOS).
9. Apply Dynamic Contrast: Alt + Shift + Ctrl + L (Windows), Opt + Shift + Cmd + L (macOS).
10. Apply Auto Color Correction: Shift + Ctrl + B (Windows), Shift + Cmd + B (macOS).
11. Create or Undo Clipping Mask: Ctrl + Alt + G (Windows), Cmd + Opt + G (macOS).
12. Open desaturation window: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + B (Windows), Shift + Cmd + Opt + B (macOS).

Scale control

1. View image at 100% scale: Ctrl + Alt + 0 (Windows), Cmd + Opt + 0 (macOS).
2. Resize the image to fit the window: Ctrl + 0 (Windows), Cmd + 0 (macOS).
3. Zoom in on the image: Ctrl + "+" (Windows), Cmd + "+" (macOS).
4. Zoom out: Ctrl + "-" (Windows), Cmd + "-" (macOS).
5. Smoothly adjust the scale: Alt + scroll wheel (Windows), Opt + scroll wheel (macOS).

Highlighting

1. Reset selection: Ctrl + D (Windows), Cmd + D (macOS).
2. Revert selection: Shift + Ctrl + D (Windows), Shift + Cmd + D (macOS).
3. Invert selection: Shift + Ctrl + I (Windows), Shift + Cmd + I (macOS).
4. Select all layers: Ctrl + Alt + A (Windows), Cmd + Opt + A (macOS).
5. Select top layer: Alt + "." (Windows) Opt + "." (macOS).
6. Select the bottom layer: Alt + "," (Windows), Opt + "," (macOS).
7. Exclude part of the selection: hold down Alt + selection (Windows), hold down Opt + selection (macOS).
8. Add a new area to the already selected: hold down the Shift key + selection (Windows, macOS).
9. Select a color in the image: Alt + click with the Brush tool (Windows), hold down the Opt key + click with the Brush tool (macOS).
10. Feather Selection: Shift + F6 (Windows, macOS).
11. Select all opaque areas of the layer: Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail (Windows), Cmd + click on the layer thumbnail (macOS).

Brushes and colors

1. Show or hide the brushes panel: F5 (Windows, macOS).
2. Decrease brush size: [(Windows, macOS).
3. Increase brush size:] (Windows, macOS).
4. Decrease brush hardness: {(Windows, macOS).
5. Increase brush hardness:} (Windows, macOS).
6. Switch to the previous brush: "," (Windows, macOS).
7. Switch to the next brush: "." (Windows, macOS).
8. Switch to the first brush: "<" (Windows, macOS).
9. Switch to the last brush: ">" (Windows, macOS).
10. Enable airbrush effects: Shift + Alt + P (Windows), Shift + Opt + P (macOS).
11. Choose default color: D (Windows, macOS).
12. Swap top and bottom colors: X (Windows, macOS).
13. Open a window with fill options: Shift + F5 (Windows, macOS).

Editing text

1. Align text to center: Shift + Ctrl + C (Windows), Shift + Cmd + C (macOS).
2. Align text to the left: Shift + Ctrl + L (Windows), Shift + Cmd + L (macOS).
3. Align text to the right: Shift + Ctrl + R (Windows), Shift + Cmd + R (macOS).
4. Increase text size: Shift + Ctrl + ">" (Windows), Shift + Cmd + ">" (macOS).
5. Decrease text size: Shift + Ctrl + "<" (Windows), Shift + Cmd + "<" (macOS).
6. Increase letter spacing: Alt + right arrow (Windows), Opt + right arrow (macOS).
7. Decrease letter spacing: Alt + left arrow (Windows), Opt + left arrow (macOS).
8. Hide or show the selection of a text fragment: Ctrl + H (Windows), Cmd + H (macOS).

Miscellaneous

1. Create a new document: Ctrl + N (Windows), Cmd + N (macOS).
2. Open a document saved on your hard drive: Ctrl + O (Windows), Cmd + O (macOS).
3. Save document in PSD format: Ctrl + S (Windows), Cmd + S (macOS).
4. Open the "Save for Web" window: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + S (Windows), Shift + Cmd + Opt + S (macOS).
5. Cancel any dialog: Escape (Windows, macOS).
6. Undo last action: Ctrl + Z (Windows), Cmd + Z (macOS).
7. Switch the working window display mode: F (Windows, macOS).
8. Show or hide the action bar: Alt + F9 (Windows), Opt + F9 (macOS).
9. Open keyboard shortcuts window: Alt + Shift + Ctrl + K (Windows), Opt + Shift + Cmd + K (macOS).