Killer Photoshop shortcuts

[dogbone]

I'd love to see a list of absolutely killer shortcuts. Not useful ones that are well known but useful ones that are not well known. Forget about stuff like Cmd + J because really you should already know about that. The real gems are hard to find because they get buried under an avalanche of useless 'tips'.

So if you have found some shortcut that has amazed and astounded you this is the place to post it.

I mean tips like...

Use the 'enter' key on the number pad to exit a text box and start a new text box without leaving the text tool.

or...

Cmd + Shift + Spacebar to scroll around a window while using the text tool.

or...

Cmd + Option + Shift + E to 'bake' the current image onto the active layer.

 

[Doctor Q]

Is there a way to change layers from the keyboard? If I'm in layer 4, I'd like to know how to switch to layer 3 or layer 5 without having to click in the layers palette.

 

[iMeowbot]

Is there a way to change layers from the keyboard?

Oo oo I know that one! option-[ and option-] !

 

[Doctor Q]

Thanks! That's no doubt documented, but I didn't spot it.

I used to be annoyed by "tips" that pop up when you launch an application, but with very sophisticated programs I can only learn a few new shortcuts at a time, so they aren't so bad after all.

So I don't mind reading about a new Photoshop "tip of the day" or "tip of the week" on a website or in a magazine article, whether or not it is documented.

 

[iMeowbot]

Thanks! That's no doubt documented, but I didn't spot it.

I'm sure it's buried somewhere in the help, but Adobe programs have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to keyboard shortcuts. Typing "keys" into Adobe Help Center will bring up all the entries with shortcut tables, but just the list of tables can be overwhelming!

Clearly, Adobe interface designers should read The Cure for Information Overload.

 

[Cooknn]

I've never taken the time to find out if there is a way to add a layer mask with the keyboard. I always have to mouse over to the button. It's not the same as Layer Mask Selection... I use keyboard shortcuts for almost everything else - and if it doesn't exist, I'll create it. Just can't figure out how to do it for Add Layer Mask...

 

[dogbone]

Come on guys. I was really hoping for the real timesaving super secret flash of light tips that you've come across.

The sort of post production I do uses blending modes a lot. I knew the keyboard short cut of Option + Shift and then a particular key like 'e' for difference, etc, but what I didn't know is that...

Option + Shift + (the plus and minus keys) will scroll through all the blending modes. That is cool.

How about when you're in full screen mode with a huge magnification, spotting large areas of uniform colour like, sky. Did you know that you can scroll all over the image in perfectly lined up tiles by using the Page Up and Page Down keys, (add Cmd to scroll left and right). Then assign that to your wacom express keys on the left hand side. So you can methodically cover every bit of the image scrolling with your left hand while spotting with your right.

 

[Sam/B]

if you hold "command + L" in with your left big toe and "shift J" with your right middle toe and hit space 3 times with the palms of your fist it takes you into the inner workings of photoshops mainframe which allows you launch nuclear bombs into space !!

(tru story)

 

[ATD]

Clearly, Adobe interface designers should read The Cure for Information Overload.

Good one

 

[kretzy]

I'm a PS amateur, but the shortcut I use the most is zoom in/out.

Cmd + +/-

The only reason I know this one is because it's usable in other programs too.

 

[dogbone]

Clearly, Adobe interface designers should read The Cure for Information Overload.

Excellent. That was the reason for the thread. Nearly every photoshop forum has a sticky of shortcuts. After a short while there are half a dozen really good sometimes undocumented shortcuts, buried in a sea of hundreds of utterly useless crap.

 

[BakedBeans]

some that i use regularly

?+shift+s = Save As
?+Option+Shift+s = Save For Web
?+Option+I = Image size
?+Option+c = Canvas size
] = Brush size bigger
[ = Brush size smaller
?+0 = Fit to screen
?+Option+0 = Actual image size

 

[MacHarne]

Cmd + Option + Shift + E to 'bake' the current image onto the active layer.

Do you mean merging layers? To merge layers you only need Apple + E.

 

[dogbone]

No I mean 'bake' It's a 3D term like when you bake live rendered shadows so that they become pixels and are not rendered any longer.


For example say you have a background layer and then a layer above that set to difference and then a layer above that set to exlusion and it is at 41% and now the image looks just how you want it to look.

Cmd e won't work. If you press Cmd + Option + Shift + E and you are on the layer that is 41% everthing will look the same but the layer will now be normal and 100%.

Before pressing the key combo you can make a new empty layer first and all your other layers stay intact and the new layer is the 'baked' version.

The sort of work I do sometimes involves 50 layers and 10 different blending modes with variouis opacities and I'll want to suddenly make a composite of what I see on screen to a new layer and then reblend that back in.

But even if Cmd E (merge) will work one often wants to leave the layers intact but still get the effect as if they were merged and have that on a separate layer.

 

[dogbone]

?+0 = Fit to screen
?+Option+0 = Actual image size

Isn't it easier to double click the magnifier tool or the hand tool to achieve this? Especially when using a sylus

I tried the Cmd + Option + I but it didn't work, it brough up a metadata info box. ! I tried various combos but I couldn't make it bring up the Image Size box . (I'm using CS)

 

[Mike Teezie]

I don't think there was a keyboard shortcut for Image size or canvas size before CS2.

That was one of the most bonehead omissions, and I was very happy to see Adobe put shortcuts into CS2.

 

[spacepower7]

???

My one question...

Why doesn't Cmd(Apple) + H hide Photoshop?

Does Adobe think that they are god... to disrespect one of the most common and consistent keyboard shortcuts over the past 10-15 years?

 

[homerjward]

i love all the shortcuts to tools in the toolbox; i only wish there were ways to change the mode from the keyboard (or whatever it's called--like brush/pencil/color replace)
i also wish you could cycle through brushes (as well as brush sizes) somehow.
probably my favorite shortcut, though, is the ability to zoom in on an area by dragging a square with the zoom tool, although this isn't a keyboard shortcut.

 

[BakedBeans]

Isn't it easier to double click the magnifier tool or the hand tool to achieve this? Especially when using a sylus

No.

Not for me at least

I tried the Cmd + Option + I but it didn't work, it brough up a metadata info box. ! I tried various combos but I couldn't make it bring up the Image Size box . (I'm using CS)

Sorry, CS2 only for command+option+i/c

 

[dogbone]

... my favorite shortcut, though, is the ability to zoom in on an area by dragging a square with the zoom tool...

Sigh!

<boring rant>
This is what I mean. I don't know why it is so difficult to get a thread of *KILLER* Photoshop shotcuts going. As I said on the first post for some reason these threads get bogged down in shortcuts that every man and his dog knows, and therefore become useless. I was really hoping for really obscure but incredibly useful shortcuts.
</boring rant>

i love all the shortcuts to tools in the toolbox; i only wish there were ways to change the mode from the keyboard (or whatever it's called--like brush/pencil/color replace)

You can do this. Just keep hitting the keyboard shortcut to cycle through the alternative tools. You can use the shift key or you can set the prefs to not use the shift key. As for cycling through the brush modes you can also do this using the same keyboard shortcut as choosing blending layer modes, if you have the brush tool selected, (see post #7)

 

[BakedBeans]

Sigh!

<boring rant>
This is what I mean. I don't know why it is so difficult to get a thread of *KILLER* Photoshop shotcuts going. As I said on the first post for some reason these threads get bogged down in shortcuts that every man and his dog knows, and therefore become useless. I was really hoping for really obscure but incredibly useful shortcuts.
</boring rant>

Why do people want obscure shortcuts?

surely the most used ones would benefit more?

 

[Mike Teezie]

My one question...

Why doesn't Cmd(Apple) + H hide Photoshop?

Does Adobe think that they are god... to disrespect one of the most common and consistent keyboard shortcuts over the past 10-15 years?

Cmd+H hides the selection box (marching ants), which I use all the time and am thankful it's in there.

On the rare occasion I need to hide PS, I just do it from the menu.

 

[dogbone]

Why do people want obscure shortcuts?

surely the most used ones would benefit more?

heh heh

Perhaps I should have said obscure in the sense of not being widely known, yet very useful. Up until I found I could use the numberpad enter key to escape from a text box and start a new one, I had to click the move tool and then the text tool again. That used to bug me for years. Same with scrolling around. How many times have I habitually hit the Spacebar to scroll while in a text box, only to add a million spaces.

 

[dogbone]

Cmd+H hides the selection box (marching ants), which I use all the time and am thankful it's in there.

On the rare occasion I need to hide PS, I just do it from the menu.

This is a bonus with X-Assist Not only is the application switcher back but "Hide Application" is at the *top* of the menu.

 

[macOSX-tastic]

i think these are correct:

cmd+e = merge layer down

cmd+i = invert

cmd+z = undo previous action

S