How to Use Keyboard Shortcuts in Photoshop

Stringing Keyboard Shortcuts Together

The real speed comes from chaining keyboard shortcuts. Shift + Option/Alt + Cmd/Ctrl + N makes a new layer. Option/Alt + Delete fills it with the foreground color. V selects the Move tool and then a number key sets layer opacity – 5 gives you 50%. Ctrl/Cmd + T transforms, Enter commits. Shift + Plus cycles blend modes. That is a half-dozen operations without the cursor leaving the canvas.

The Keyboard Shortcuts Editor

Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts opens one of the best shortcut editors in any application. The dropdown at the top switches between Application Menus, Panel Menus and Tools, and each section lists every command with its current binding. Browsing the File menu alone shows how much is already mapped.

Print a Complete Keyboard Shortcut Reference

Click Summarize and Photoshop writes an HTML file listing every shortcut in the program. It opens in your browser, where you can read it, search it, or print it as a reference sheet. This is the fastest way to discover shortcuts you did not know existed.

Assigning Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts

Find the command in the list, click its keyboard shortcut field, and press the keys you want. If the combination is already taken, Photoshop tells you exactly what it will be removed from – choose Accept and Go To Conflict to reassign it. Adding a layer mask is a good example: it has no default shortcut despite being something you do constantly, so Shift + Option/Alt + Cmd/Ctrl + M is a natural pick. Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All gives you a white mask; Hide All gives you black. Gaussian Blur is another worth binding if you use it for effects.

Panel Menus and Tools

The Panel Menus section reaches things like the Adjustments panel – bind a Curves adjustment layer to a key combination and it is one press away. The Tools section shows the single-letter shortcut for every tool, and you can change any of them. If a default binding does not make sense to you, reassign it to something that does.

Saving Your Keyboard Shortcut Set

When you are done, click the save icon in the dialog to write your changes into a shortcut set. That set can be moved between computers, so a workflow you built once follows you to every machine you install Photoshop on.

Keyboard Shortcut Quick Reference

• Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts – the editor
• Summarize – export a full HTML list of every shortcut
• Three sections: Application Menus, Panel Menus, Tools
• Accept and Go To Conflict – take a combination from a command you never use
• Save the set to carry your shortcuts to another computer