Photoshop & PSE: Mac and PC versions Shortcuts

Photoshop & PSE: Mac and PC versions

The software works basically the same on both platforms. The main difference appears in the

keyboard shortcuts. The biggest being that Mac uses Command [Cmmd] and PC uses

Control [Ctrl] and Mac uses [Option] where PC uses [Alt].

Most used keyboard shortcuts in PSE:

Press the Letter:
a Selection Brush
b Brush(Pencil)
c Crop
d Default Foreground & Background Colors
e Eraser
f Magic Selection Brush
g Gradient
h Hand (or hold down the space bar)
i Eyedropper (or hold down Alt)
j Healing Brush (Spot Healing Brush)
k Paint Bucket
l Lasso
m Marquee
n Pencil (Brush)
o Dodge (Burn, Sponge)
p Straighten
q Cookie Cutter
r Blur (Sharpen, Smudge)
s Clone Stamp
t Type
u Custom Shape
v Move (or hold down Ctrl)
w Magic Wand
x Switch Foreground & Background Colors
y Red Eye Removal
z Zoom

Windows: Ctrl + Letter

Mac: Command (Cmd) or Apple + Letter

For example, Ctrl + 0 (Windows), or Cmd + 0 (Mac), will fit the image to the screen.

0 Fit on screen
a All
b Color Balance in Photoshop
c Copy
d Deselect
e Merge Layers
f Last Filter
g Group with previous layer * Also: Create Clipping Mask
h Hide
i Invert (Positive to Negative)
j Duplicate layer
k Preferences
l Levels
m Curves in Photoshop
n New
o Open
p Print
q Close all
r Auto Red Eye Removal
s Save (Save As is Shift + Ctrl + s)
t Transform
u Hue/Saturation
v Paste
w Close
x Cut
y Redo
z Undo

Odds & Ends

Brushes

Change size Left Bracket [ makes it smaller; and right bracket ] makes it bigger

Change hardness Shift + [ or Shift + ]

Change opacity Number keys (0 - 9)

To draw a straight line with a Brush or the Pencil tool, click on the photograph where you want the line to begin, and release the mouse button. Next, position the brush where you want the line to end. Then, press and hold Shift, and click where you want the line to end.

To draw a horizontal line, press Shift and drag.

Crop Tool

Press Shift to make a square selection.
To draw the selection from a center point, press Alt.

Color Picker Tool

Clicking on a color with the Color picker tool selects the color for the foreground color.

Press and hold Alt, and click on a color, to select a color for the background color.

Fill

To fill with the foreground color, use Alt + Delete.

To fill with the background color, use Ctrl + Delete.

Image Size

Alt + Ctrl + i.

Layers Panel

To duplicate a layer, press Ctrl + j.

If Alt is pressed while dragging a layer onto the Create a new layer icon, the dialogue box will appear for the new layer.

To create a new layer under the current layer, press Ctrl while clicking the Create a New Layer icon.

To group a layer below the current layer with the current layer, press Ctrl + g.

Lasso Tools

Press and hold Alt to toggle between the Magnetic Lasso tool and the Lasso tool.

Press Backspace or Delete to go back one point when using the Polygonal and Magnetic Lasso tools.

Marquee Tool

Press Shift to constrain marquee to square or circle.

To draw a marquee from a center point, press Alt.