10 Photoshop Secrets and Useful

Keyboard Shortcuts
by  SMASHINGEEK   on  MARCH 31, 2010  ·  1 COMMENT

Photoshop is one of the most used designing source used by the professional web designers. It is already known
and also proven that using shortcuts increases productivity in very less time. Photoshop is a complex of many
tools and features which makes the working on photoshop somewhat hard.I have gathered some collections of
photoshop secrets or tricks which can make the designing experience easy and more faster. Keep reading the
tricks below and will know how these photoshop secrets can increase your productivity.

Note: This article is written with respect to Mac’s Photoshop. If you are using Windows, Cmd = Ctrl andOpt =
Alt.
 Drag selection-With the Marquee tool, drag on the document (do not release the mouse yet), now
hold down Spacebar, it will let you drag the undefined selection.
 Navigate the document left or right-Hold down the Cmd key and scroll up or down allows you to
navigate the document left or right. For example, hold down Cmd + scroll up will navigate to right.

 Browse the font list-Put your cursor in the font list dropdown, you can browse the font list by
pressing arrow Up or Down key.

 Scale font size-Select the text that you want to scale the font size, press Cmd + Shift + > or < to
increase / decrease font size.

 Drag to adjust numberic value-Mouseover the input box, hold down Cmd + drag left or right to
increase / decrease. Hold down Cmd + Opt or Shift key and drag can change the value in decimal or
10 interval. This shortcut works in all dialog palettes.
 Collapse or expand all layer groups-You can collapse or expand all root-level layer groups by
holding down Cmd + click on the triangle icon. Hold down Cmd + Opt + click on the triangle icon will
collapse or expand all level layer groups.

 Navigate layer blending mode-Opt + Shift + “-” or “+” key allows you to navigate through the
blending mode dropdown.

 Navigate the tool list-You can navigate through the tool list by pressing Shift + tool shorcut. For
example: B = Brush tool, if you press Shift + B again, you will switch to Pencil tool.

 Duplicate layer-There are several shortcuts to duplicate layers.1. You can hold down Cmd + Opt
+ drag to duplicate the active layer.2. Cmd + Opt + arrow keys (Up, Down, Left, Right).3. Cmd + J will
duplicate the active layer in exact position.4. Hold down Opt + drag within the Layers palette can also
duplicate layers.

 Copy visible and paste in a new layer-Press Cmd + Opt + Shift + E will copy the visible layers
and paste in a new layer.
Simple Photoshop Shortcut Commands
 Z (Zoom Tool) — This command just brings up the zoom tool, which allows you to zoom in. Like
with the hand tool, if you hold down the Alt key, it temporarily switches to the zoom out mode.
 Ctrl + 0 (Fit on Screen) — This is a quick-and-dirty command to get the entire photo in front of
your eyes. That’s Ctrl + zero, not the letter “O”.
 B (Brush Tool) — The brush is an extremely useful tool when working with masks, and I’m
constantly using this command along with the hand and zoom tools.
 Ctrl + Z (Undo) — Very useful for the little mistakes we all make.
 Tab (Hide/Show Palettes) — Hiding the palettes gives you a little more working room, thus
decreasing your need to pan and zoom while editing.

Intermediate Photoshop Shortcut Commands

 [ (Decrease Brush Size) -- Quickly decrease your brush size to get into those tighter spots.
 ] (Increase Brush Size) — Quickly increase your brush size for the larger areas.
 Shift + [ (Decrease Brush Softness) -- Decrease the softness of the brush by 25%.
 Shift + ] (Increase Brush Softness) — Increase the softness of the brush by 25%.
 Shift + 1->0 (Tool Flow) — This works exactly like the opacity changer, but you just have to hold
the Shift key down while you hit the numbers.
 Ctrl + Shift + N (New Layer) — This will bring up the new layer dialog box and place a new layer
on top of the active layer.
 Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N (New Layer No Dialog) — This command skips the dialog box and just
places a new layer on top of the active layer.
 Ctrl + Alt + Shift + K (Show Keyboard Commands) — If you forget any of these commands, or if
you want to check on other commands, use this to bring up the help dialog on keyboard shortcuts.

Know More Shortcuts ?

Do you know more Photoshop shortcuts which are not listed above, if you know more about another shortcuts,
you can share with us via commenting below.