Photoshop Ninja
Expert Photoshop tips and tricks for designers and photographers since 2005
All Photoshop Tool Shortcuts
Most of these tool shortcuts are essential for any Photoshop user to learn – they really speed up how you work!!
Here are all the keyboard shortcuts for switching to different tools in Photoshop CS. When a tool has a ‘flyout’ – shown by a little black arrow in the bottom right corner you generally (depending on preferences) hold down shift and hit the letter corresponding to the shortcut to switch to the other tool.
I have highlighted the most useful ones in bold for reference – shortcuts are the path to not only these basic tools but many other advanced features…but all in due time ninjas!
If you hover your mouse over any tool it will show the shortcut to remind you, remember, just kit the key – no modifyer keys required!
OK, here goes – starting from top left and working across and down:
M
-RECTANGULAR MARQUEE TOOL
-ELIPTICAL MARQUEE TOOL
-SINGLE ROW MARQUEE TOOL (ON THIS MENU, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE BY THIS SHORTCUT!)
-SINGLE COLUMN MARQUEE TOOL (ON THIS MENU, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE BY THIS SHORTCUT!)
V
-MOVE TOOL
L
-LASSO TOOL
-POLYGON LASSO TOOL
-MAGNETIC LASSO TOOL
W
-MAGIC WAND TOOL
C
-CROP TOOL
K
-SLICE TOOL
-SLICE SELECT TOOL
J
-HEALING BRUSH TOOL
-PATCH TOOL
-COLOUR REPLACEMENT TOOL
B
-BRUSH TOOL
-PENCIL TOOL
S
-CLONE STAMP TOOL
-PATTERN STAMP TOOL
Y
-HISTORY BRUSH TOOL
-ART HISTORY BRUSH TOOL
E
-ERASER TOOL
-BACKGROUND ERASER TOOL
-MAGIC ERASER TOOL
G
-GRADIENT TOOL
-PAINT BUCKET TOOL
R
-BLUR TOOL
-SHARPEN TOOL
-SMUDGE TOOL
O
-DODGE TOOL
-BURN TOOL
-SPONGE TOOL
A
-PATH SELECTION TOOL
-DIRECT SELECTION TOOL
T
-HORZONTAL TYPE TOOL
-VERTICAL TYPE TOOL
-HORIZONTAL TYPE MASK TOOL
-VERTICAL TYPE MASK TOOL
P
-PEN TOOL
-FREEFORM PEN TOOL
-ADD ANCHOR POINT TOOL (ON THIS MENU, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE BY THIS SHORTCUT!)
-DELETE ANCHOR POINT TOOL (ON THIS MENU, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE BY THIS SHORTCUT!)
-CONVERT POINT TOOL (ON THIS MENU, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE BY THIS SHORTCUT!)
U
-RECTANGLE TOOL
-ROUNDED RECTANGLE TOOL
-ELLIPSE TOOL
-POLYGON TOOL
-LINE TOOL
-CUSTOM SHAPE TOOL
N
-NOTES TOOL
-AUDIO ANNOTATION TOOL
I
-EYEDROPPER TOOL
-NOTE, YOU CAN TEMPORARILY SWITCH QUICKLY TO THIS TOOL WHEN USING A BRUSH BY HOLDING DOWN ALT.
-ALSO HOVERING OVER WITH CURSOR WILL OUTPUT YOUR COLOUR INFO
-COLOUR SAMPLER TOOL
-MEASURE TOOL
H
-HAND TOOL
YOU DONT ACTUALLY HAVE TO USE THIS SHORTCUT, OR EVEN EVER HAVE TO CLICK ON THIS ICON-THIS IS ACCESSIBLE BY USING SPACE TO TEMPORARILY SWITCH TO THE HAND TOOL ANYTIME, UNLESS YOUR EDITING TYPE OF COURSE!
Z
-ZOOM TOOL
AGAIN, YOUR BEST TO FORGET ABOUT THIS ONE TOO AND ZOOM IN AND OUT YOUR IMAGE USING COMMAND/ALT+SPACE
X
SWITCHES FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND COLOURS
D
RESETS FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND COLOURS BACK TO PHOTOSHOP DEFAULT BLACK AND WHITE
NOTE, THE LAST 2 COLOUR CHANGE ONES ARE NOT DISPLAYED ON HOVER OVER, SO REMEMBER THESE SHORTCUTS!
Q
QUICKMASK MODE
F
-STANDARD SCREEN MODE
-FULL SCREEN MODE WITH MENU BAR
-FULL SCREEN MODE
-AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST…
SHIFT+COMMAND+M
EDIT IN IMAGE READY
(3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Written by Jonny Allbut - freelance graphic designer
Last modified: 16 March, 2009 (13:29) | First published: 2 June, 2005
Filed under Shortcuts - Tools 4 Comments »
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Comment by Zoë
December 19, 2008 @ 7:39 pm
Hello, Thanks for that one – very useful. Im going to link it to my own blog also =)
Pingback by Meta Dragon » Blog Archive » Photoshop Tool Shortcuts
December 19, 2008 @ 7:43 pm
[...] Photoshop Ninja Tool Shortcuts [...]
Comment by admin
January 6, 2009 @ 2:07 pm
My pleasure Zoë – glad it helped you out!
Pingback by Quick switch into the Tools List in Photoshop | A.nelia
October 19, 2010 @ 12:02 pm
[...] a detailed list with all the shortcuts in Photoshop, can be found at Photoshop Ninja. [...]