PC Keyboard Shortcuts

Open File – This is where all starts from – opening a picture. Do this by pressing Ctrl +

Create document – If you have no picture to open, create a new document by pressing

Ctrl + N.

Zooming in and out – You do this by pressing the Ctrl button and the + and - keys. You

can also press Ctrl and use the scroll click on a mouse to zoom both ways.

Save for the web – Alt + Ctrl + Shirt + S will always take you to the “Save for the web”

box. Keep in mind that you can press the first three keys in any order you wish – the

shortcut will still work.

Transform layer – If you wish to transform the active layer, all you have to do is press

Ctrl + T.

Edit key shortcuts – If you want to customize the keyboard shortcuts, all you have to do

is press Alt + Shift + Ctrl + K.

Preferences – Ctrl + K will always take you to the Preferences menu.

Levels – If you edit pictures, accessing the levels box is something you do often. From now

on, do it by pressing Ctrl + L.

Curves – Ctrl + M will allow you to quickly edit the Curves.

Hue/Saturation – To edit this, press Ctrl + U.

Color Balance – Color Balance is another thing very useful for photo manipulation. Ctrl +

B is the shortcut for this.

Desaturate – If you quickly want to desaturate, press Ctrl + Shift + U.

Image size – Another of my personal favorites is Ctrl + Alt + I.

New Layer – Creating a new layer can simply be done by pressing Shift + Ctrl + N.

Liquify – If you use the Liquify tools often, Shift + Ctrl + X should be your best friend.

Invert – Inverting the colors in Photoshop on Windows can simply be done by using the

Ctrl + I shortcut.

Fit on screen – Fitting the image on your screen is simply done by pressing Ctrl + 0.

Ruler – You might not always want the ruler on, especially if you have a small screen,

therefore keeping in mind Ctrl + R could be useful.

Show grid – You can show or hide the grid by pressing Ctrl + ‘

Show guides – If you want to quickly show or hide the guides, simply press Ctrl + ;

Locking guides – If you work with guides and want to lock them, Alt + Ctrl + ; will do the

job.

Brush size – If you want to increase or decrease the brush size, [ and ] will do the job very

quickly.

Brush hardness – If you want to modify the hardness of the brush, Shift + [ and Shift + ]

will do the trick.

Different Tools (where starred, it means pressing “Shift” and the respective key will help

you cycle through different tools of the same type)

Move Tool – V

Marquee Tool – M*

Lasso Tool – L*

Crop Tool – C*

Quick Selection / Magic Wand – W*

Patching Brushes – J*

Eraser – E*

Gradient Tool / Paint Bucket – G*

Pen Tool – P*

Type Tool – T*

Switch Foreground / Background Colors – X

Default Foreground / Background Colors – D

Line / Polygon / Ellipse tools – U*

Sponge / Dodge / Burn tools – O*

Brush History – Y*

Rotate View Tool – R

Hand Tool – H