Keyboard Shortcuts & Keystroke Combinations

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I use Photoshop everyday, and I really love the keystrokes and keystroke combinations. They really do help speed up my work flow and also help keep me in the groove of what I am doing. As an Artist and Designer I find these shortcuts to be and important part of my Photoshop knowledge. There are definitely a lot of valuable keystrokes and keystroke combinations and I know I can’t remember them all, but there are some very useful ones that I am always using on a daily basis. It also really impresses others around you when you are able to fly through keystrokes and keystroke combinations. I always enjoy when people say “Hey what did you just do” 🙂 

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This is a list of keyboard shorcuts and keystroke combinations I find most useful.

Press Ctrl + N / Cmd + N
New document;

Press Ctrl + S / Cmd + S
Save! This is one I used the most

Toolbar Shortcuts
Memorize shortcuts of the tools you use the most.
You can easily see keyboard shortcuts by mouseover on certain tool :

Press U 
Shape Tool;

Press L 
Lasso Tool;

Press V 
Arrow Tool;

Press B 
Brush Tool;

Press/Hold Alt while using the Brush Tool
to get the eye droppper;

Press and Hold Space Bar
while using the Brush Tool;

Press [ or ] 
Scaleing your Brush Size larger or smaller;

Press Ctrl + Alt + Z 
Multiple undos based on the amount you allow;

Press G
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Press Ctrl + G
to group selected layers in one group;

Press Tab
Hides all menus;

Press F
Toggles through;

Press F5
Brings up your Brush Palette;

Press Alt + Backspace
to fill the layer with foreground color;

Press Alt + Backspace
to fill with background color;
Tip: You can use ALT + BACKSPACE or SHIFT + BACKSPACE to fill non-transparent pixels;

Press CTRL + E 
to merge selected layers

or

Press CTRL + SHIFT + E 
to merge all visible layers into one;

Press CTRL + ALT + 0 
to get actual pixels 100 % size;

Press D
to reset foreground/background color to black/white;

Press CTRL + I 
to inverse current selection;

Press CTRL + D 
to deselect current selection;

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I also have a few custom keyboard shortcuts using Actions. I find this to be very helpful for specific Keystroke Combinations that I always use.

A Custom Keyboard Shortcut Example is:

F2 vs Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Y
New Layer without dialogue box;

I use F2 instead of Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Y to create a new layer since I am always adding layers while I work. You can see how that would make it much easier. I don’t want to be constantly pressing multiple keys at once when I can set it up so I only need to press one.