Adobe Photoshop can be a bit overwhelming at first, with all its menus, sub-menus and tools. Instead of paying attention to the work you should do, you lose time wandering the menus and toolbars for a specific tool or option. This is a list of useful keyboard shortcuts that will help you work faster.

Basic Photoshop shortcuts

Creating a new file: Ctrl+N on PC or CMD+N on Mac.

Opening a file: Ctrl+O on PC or CMD+O on Mac.

Saving a file: Ctrl+S on PC or CMD+S on Mac.

Photoshop does not allow you to undo multiple times by hitting Ctrl+Z. By pressing Ctrl+Z or CMD+Z on Macs you go one step backwards on your work, and by pressing it again you go to the current step.

Step Backward: Ctrl+Alt+Z or CMD+Option+Z on Macs (A.K.A undo)
Step Forward: Shift+Ctrl+Z or Shift+Cmd+Z on Macs

Photoshop Layer Commands

Create new layer: Ctrl+Shift+N on PC or CMD+Shift+N on Mac.

Speaking of layers, you should know that by pressing Ctrl+J on PC or CMD+J on Mac you will duplicate the selected layer via dialog box. Adding the Alt key on PC or the Option key on Mac to the previous key combination will duplicate the selected layer without the dialog box.

Photoshop Tool Shortcuts

By repeatedly pressing a tool’s shortcut key, you can cycle around similar tools located under the default one.

Move Tool – V.

Rectangular Marquee Tool, Elliptical Marquee Tool – M.

Lasso Tool, Polygonal Lasso Tool, Magnetic Lasso Tool – L.

Quick Selection Tool, Magic Wand Tool – W.

Crop Tool, Slice Tool, Slice Select Tool – C.

Eyedropper Tool, Color Sampler Tool, Ruler Tool, Note Tool, Count Tool – I.

Spot Healing Brush Tool, Healing Brush Tool, Patch Tool, Red Eye Tool – J.

Brush Tool, Pencil Tool, Color Replacement Tool – B.

Clone Stamp Tool, Pattern Stamp Tool – S.

Eraser Tool, Background Eraser Tool, Magic Eraser Tool – E.

Gradient Tool, Paint Bucket Tool – G.

Pen Tool, Freeform Pen Tool – P.

Horizontal Type Tool, Vertical Type Tool – T.

Pressing the “D” key will change your foreground and background to their default values.

Photoshop Workspace shortcuts

To pan your project, just press and hold the “Spacebar” key. You’ll see your cursor changing into a hand. Click and drag while holding the key down.

Zoom in: “Ctrl” + “=” or CMD+= on Macs.

Zoom out: “Ctrl” + “-” or CMD+- on Macs.
The incremental value of zooming this way is 100. To freely-zoom around, just press and hold the Alt key on PC or the Option key on Mac, and use the scrolling wheel.

Default zoom (100%): Ctrl+1 or CMD+1 on Macs.

The end: ctrl+shift+Rats

If Photoshop’s default keyboard shortcuts aren’t cutting it for you, just go to the “Edit” menu, and click on “Keyboard Shortcuts…”. Alternatively, just press Alt+Ctrl+Shift+K or Option+CMD+Shift+K on a Mac.