10 Shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop

We recently provided a quick run through the various tricks with which you can optimize performance of Adobe Photoshop*. Another way to zip through your work with the image processing software is to use keyboard shortcuts. We’ve put together ten shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop (Windows and Mac OS users) that make image processing a touch easier. The nifty cheat sheet (coming soon) to print out and stick to your monitor contains our favorites from Adobe’s detailed overview.

*The shortcuts work with Adobe Photoshop CC and Photoshop CS6.

Do you frequently process several images at once? Use the keyboard combination "Control" + Tab to switch between open documents literally at the push of a button.

Grouping layers helps you keep the layer panel tidier and your projects better organized. The keyboard shortcuts "Control" + "G" for Windows and "Command" + "G" for Mac OS lets users group layers that bit quicker.

Whether it’s the image size or the font, you sometimes need to tweak things a little to find the right measurement for the perfect image. The keyboard shortcut "Shift" + "Down" or "Up" Arrow lets you increase or decrease the values shown in the control panel in increments of ten.

Wouldn’t a photo look nice on the flyer? The Place command adds a photo, art, or any Photoshop-supported file to your document. Windows users press the combination "Alt" + "T" + "P" to place objects that bit quicker. Mac OS users press "Option" + "T" + "P".

The Magic Wand is used if you want to select an area with the same or very similar colors, for instance a blue sky. It recognizes pixels with comparable tones and colors. "W" is the magic key you press to access the tool without bothersome clicking (does not work in type mode).

Are you looking to take your colleague’s head from one image and insert it into a funny birthday card? No problem: Press "C" to open the cropping tool a bit faster (does not work in type mode).

Mirroring can create interesting effects. Press "M" (does not work in type mode) to open the mirror tool without taking your fingers off the keyboard.

While all your colleagues may be smiling cheerily on the staff photo, your boss has red eyes. Group photos can be really challenging. But at least it’s easy to remove the red eyes: Just press "E" (does not work in type mode).

Maybe the motif for the new campaign would look better in black-and-white? Just give it a go by pressing the combination "Shift" + "Control" + "Alt" + "B" for Windows users or "Shift" + "Command" + "Option" + "B" for Mac OS users.

Has something gone wrong? The "F12" key will take you straight back to the last version you saved.