Adobe Photoshop CC Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows and Mac

• 5 minutes READ

Back when I started using Photoshop, the shortcuts available were still a new thing for me. I was using the mouse way too much and I can say this always slowed down the processes I was undergoing.

I actually taught myself to use shortcuts in a brief period of two weeks when my long-serving IBM mouse broke down. While waiting for my new mouse to arrive, I had to use my trackpad – which, let’s face it, is not so impressive and smooth on an HP laptop. So I decided to browse the web for the most used shortcuts and memorize them – and after two weeks, when my new mouse arrived, I was already faster than before because I taught myself to move quickly around the program.

Knowing the shortcuts in Photoshop is a very good and efficient way of sparing some few seconds at mostly each command. And if you intend to be a professional working 8 hours a day with Adobe’s top editing tool, think of how much time you could spare by learning to move quickly around.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Keyboard Shortcuts

Photoshop CC Windows shortcuts

Although I only used Photoshop CC on Windows during a brief period, luckily the shortcuts are quite similar to the ones in the previous versions. Let’s see which are the most important.

  • Open File – This is where all starts from – opening a picture. Do this by pressing Ctrl + O.
  • 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 plus and minus keys.You can also press Ctrl and use the scroll click on a mouse to zoom both ways.
  • Save for the web – This is one of the key shortcuts I use most often. 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

Photoshop CC Mac shortcuts

Now most of the shortcuts are more or less the same, where you only replace the Ctrl key with the Mac’s Command. Sometimes you also have to replace Windows’ Alt with Mac’s Option.

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  • Open File – Command + O is where you start this time.
  • Create document – If there is nothing to open, Command + N will create a new document.
  • Zooming in and out – Although Command + plus and minus work on Mac too, I seriously think zooming in and out with the trackpad is faster once you get used to it.
  • Save for the web – Command + Option + Shift + S is the shortcut for Macs.
  • Transform layer – Transforming the active layer happens when pressing Command + T.
  • Edit key shortcuts – Customizing the shortcut keys can be done by pressing Option + Command + Shift + K.
  • Preferences – Command + K takes you to the Preferences.
  • Levels – Accessing the Levels box is similar to the Windows shortcut, Command + L.
  • Curves – Command + M will allow you to quickly edit the Curves.
  • Hue/Saturation – To edit this, press Command + U.
  • Color Balance – To edit the Color Balance of a picture, simply pless Command + B.
  • Desaturate – Desaturating can be done by pressing Command + Shift + U.
  • Image size – Finding out the Image size of a picture is simple: just press Command + Option + I.
  • New Layer – Create a new layer in the active document by pressing Command + Shift + N.
  • Liquify – Need to liquify? Then Command + Shift + X will take you there in no time.
  • Invert – Inverting the colors in Photoshop on Mac can be done by using the Command + I keyboard shortcut.
  • Fit on screen – Command + 0 will fit the document on your screen.
  • Ruler – Like on Windows, pressing Command + R will hide or show the ruler.
  • Show grid – You can show or hide the grid by pressing Command + ‘
  • Show guides – You can quickly show or hide the guides by pressing Command + ;
  • Locking guides – If you want to lock the guides, simply use Option + Command + ;
  • Brush size – Playing with the brush size is now very easy to do with [ and ].
  • Brush hardness – The brush hardness can be modified from the keyboard by using { and } – which basically means Shift + [ and Shift + ].
  • 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

There you have them, the most important and probably the most useful keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop CS6 on both Windows and Mac. The differences between the current shortcuts and the ones from the previous versions are not very big, so if you have a grip of those back in CS6, you will most definitely be able to use them in the last Photoshop version too.

Keep in mind that using keyboard shortcuts in different programs (not only in Adobe’s Collection) will speed up your workflow and will help you finish work faster than others, offering you an advantage over other competitors.

And if Photoshop’s keyboard shortcuts are not suiting your fingers’ way of moving over the keyboard, then you can always customize them yourself and make the best out of the keyboard in a program where rookies only use the mouse.

Christian Vasile

Christian Vasile is an enthusiastic Romanian web designer currently living in Denmark. You can follow him on Twitter at @christianvasile or visit his web portfolio.

Posts by Christian Vasile
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