18 Most Useful Photoshop Shortcuts

Spend a few weeks editing images in Photoshop and you’ll probably get tired of constantly clicking your mouse. Want to resize an image? That’s around 3 clicks. Save your progress? 3-4 clicks. You end up wasting more time on actually looking for the tools, than on perfecting your images!

In this article, I’ll show you 18 most useful Photoshop shortcuts that most of us use every day.

10 CTRL Shortcuts

CTRL on Windows | CMD on Mac

1. CTRL + ‘+/-‘ (Zoom in/out) – Useful for whenever you need to be precise (removing the background, removing blemishes etc.).

2. CTRL + S (Save) – You should make it a habit to save your work every couple of minutes. Your computer can, and will crash at least once while working on something important.

3. CTRL + S + ALT + SHIFT (Save For Web) – If you want to save an image and share it online, but need it to be as small as possible in size, choose the Save For Web option.

4. CTRL + S (Save As) – This shortcut will take you to the complete Save menu where you can select a bunch of different formats (.psd, .jpeg, .png etc.)

5. CTRL + ALT + I (Resizing) –  This one brings up a menu where you can manually change the dimensions of your image.

6. CTRL + W (Close) – Just like in a browser, this is the fastest way to close a tab.

7. CTRL + Z (Undo/Redo) – Switch between Undo and Redo. Useful for comparing two different edits.

8. CTRL + ALT + Z (Undo) – The more you press it, the more progress you will undo.

9. CTRL + SHIFT + N (New Layer) – Instantly creates a new layer.

10. CTRL + E (Merge) – Merge all layers into one.

8 Tool Shortcuts

• B (Brush)

Selects the Brush/Pencil/Color Replacement Tool

• L (Lasso Tool)

Three lasso tools to select a certain part of your image (that you can then copy, edit etc.)

• X (Foreground/Background Switch)

Quickest way to switch between your primary and secondary color.

• E (Eraser)

Shortcut for the Eraser tool.

• F (Display)

Toggle between previewing your image in full screen/normal layout.

• G (Gradient)

Gradient Tool and Paint Bucket (for solid color) Tool.

• T (Typing Tool)

Click and type or drag to manually choose the size of your text area.

• V (Move)

If you want to move a layer, just press V and you’re ready! While there are over 500 shortcuts in Photoshop, you won’t really use most of them. The ones above are what I use almost everyday, and if you ever forget some just press CTRL + SHIFT + K to see all available shortcuts.