There are over 300 keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop and they dramatically help improving the efficiency of your work. However, it can be overwhelming to try and memorize them all, especially for a beginner.
In this guide, we will break the Photoshop keyboard shortcuts into categories and you can learn them in a more organised way.
Note: if you’re on Apple Mac, substitute Ctrl with Command key.
Shortcuts for Everyone – Must Know
These are 10x Photoshop keyboard shortcuts we recommand everyone to learn as soon as you starting using Photoshop:
Ctrl + N: Create a new document
Ctrl + O: Open an existing document
Ctrl + S: Save the current document
Ctrl + Z: Undo the last action
Ctrl + Shift + Z: Redo the last undone action
Ctrl + X: Cut the selected area
Ctrl + C: Copy the selected area
Ctrl + V: Paste the copied area
Ctrl + D: Deselect the current selection
Ctrl + A: Select the entire canvas
Shortcuts for Improving Workflows
Once you mastered the above shortcuts, moving onto these ones below. They’re shortcuts that will dramatically improve your workflow:
Spacebar: Use the Hand tool to pan around the canvas
Ctrl + Alt + Z: Step backward through the edit history
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Z: Step forward through the edit history
Tab: Toggle the visibility of the Tools panel and other panels
F: Cycle through different screen modes (Full Screen mode with Menu Bar, Full Screen mode, and Standard Screen mode)
Shift + F: Cycle through the screen modes in the opposite direction
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S: Save the current document with a new name
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + W: Close all open documents
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Q: Quit Photoshop
Shortcuts for Digital Artists and Designers
Ok, you’ve learned all the shortcuts above. Now let’s get to these job-specific ones that are more advanced.
We suggest the following essential shortcuts for digital artists and desginers:
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E: Create a new layer that combines all visible layers
Ctrl + Alt + G: Create a Clipping Mask using the selected layer
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + G: Release the Clipping Mask
Ctrl + T: Enter Transform mode for the selected layer
Ctrl + Alt + T: Create a copy of the selected layer and enter Transform mode
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + [: Select the layer below the current layer
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ]: Select the layer above the current layer
Shift + ]: Bring the selected layer up one level in the layer stack
Shift + [: Send the selected layer down one level in the layer stack
Ctrl + Shift + [ or ]: Select multiple layers in the layer stack
Shortcuts for Photographers
If you’re a photographer, we recommand these keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop:
Ctrl + O: Open an existing image
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + S: Save the image for the web
Ctrl + Alt + I: Open the Image Size dialog box
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + I: Open the Canvas Size dialog box
Ctrl + Shift + E: Merge the visible layers into a new layer
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E: Create a new layer that combines all visible layers
Ctrl + J: Duplicate the selected layer
Ctrl + Shift + J: Cut the selected area and create a new layer
Ctrl + Alt + G: Create a Clipping Mask using the selected layer
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + G: Release the Clipping Mask
Shortcuts for Color Correction
Once you dive deeper into Photoshop, color correction is something you would do on a regular basis. Remember these shortcuts would greatly speed up your process:
Ctrl + L: Open the Levels dialog box
Ctrl + U: Open the Hue/Saturation dialog box
Ctrl + B: Open the Color Balance dialog box
Ctrl + M: Open the Curves dialog box
Ctrl + Shift + L: Auto-adjust the Levels of the image
Ctrl + Shift + U: Auto-adjust the Hue/Saturation of the image
Ctrl + Shift + B: Auto-adjust the Color Balance of the image
Ctrl + Shift + M: Auto-adjust the Curves of the image
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + L: Match the color balance of the image to a specified color
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + M: Match the tonal range of the image to a specified image
I hope these shortcuts help you streamline your workflow in Photoshop! Let me know if you have any other questions.
There is a handy keyboard shortcuts graph you can download here: https://photoshoptrainingchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Photoshop-2020-Keyboard-Shortcuts.jpg
