Illustrator CS6 Useful Keyboard Shortcuts: Windows


TOOLS
V...........Selection
A...........Direct Selection
Y...........Magic Wand
Q...........Lasso
P...........Pen
+...........Add Anchor point
-............Delete Anchor point
Shift-C...Convert Anchor point
T...........Type
............Line Segment
M...........Rectangle
L............Ellipse
B...........Paintbrush
N...........Pencil
Shift-B...Blob Brush
Shift-E....Eraser
C...........Scissors
R...........Rotate
O...........Reflect
S...........Scale
Shift-R...Warp
E...........Free Transform
Shift-S....Symbol Sprayer
J............Column Graph
U...........Mesh
G...........Gradient
I............Eyedropper
W...........Blend
K...........Live Paint Bucket
Shift-L....Live Paint Selection
Shift-O...Artboard
Shift-K...Slice
H...........Hand
Z...........Zoom
X...........Toggle between Fill & Stroke
Shift-X....Swap Fill & Stroke
D........... Default Fill & Stroke
(white fill/black stroke)
...........Fill or Stroke w/Gradient
/............Fill or Stroke w/None
F...........Cycle through Screen Modes


Double-click tools to bring up options.
Press CAPS LOCK to change tool pointer to crosshair.
Hold down Shift to constrain movement to 45°, 90°, 135°, or 180




SELECTING AND MOVING
To access Selection or Direction Selection tool (whichever was used last)
at any time........................................................................................Control
To switch between Selection and Direct Selection tools........................Ctrl-Alt-Tab
To cycle through tools behind column tool.........................................Alt-click tool
To make copy while dragging...........................................................................Alt
To add to a selection.....................................................................................Shift
Move Selection...............................................................................Any arrow key
Move Selection 10 pts.............................................................Shift-any arrow key
Lock selected artwork..................................................................................Ctrl-2
Lock all deselected artwork............................................................Ctrl-Alt-Shift-2
Unlock all artwork..................................................................................Ctrl-Alt-2
Hide selected artwork..................................................................................Ctrl-3
Hide all deselected artwork............................................................Ctrl-Alt-Shift-3
Show all artwork.....................................................................................Ctrl-Alt-3




PATH EDITING
Join and Average at same time........................................................Ctrl-Alt-Shift-J
Convert Anchor Point tool from Pen tool...........................................................Alt
Switch between Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point tools......................Alt
Add Anchor Point tool from Scissors tool..........................................................Alt
Move anchor point while drawing with Pen tool......................................Spacebar
Create closed path with Pencil or Paintbrush tool..................................................
......................................when finished drawing, hold Alt and release mouse
Connect to an open (& selected) path with Pencil....................................Ctrl-drag




PAINTING AND TRANSFORMING
Eyedropper tool from Live Paint Bucket tool .....................................................Alt
Samples intermediate color from gradient, picture, etc. with eyedropper........Shift
Sets center point and shows dialog............................................Alt-click with Tool
Duplicates and transforms selection.........................................................Alt-drag
Transform pattern without transforming object...................................~(tilde)-drag
Scale proportionally with Selection tool............................Shift-drag bounding box
Scale from center with Selection tool..................................Alt-drag bounding box
Move mesh point along path with Mesh tool..........................................Shift-drag
Add mesh point with Mesh tool without changing color..........................Shift-click
Remove mesh point with Mesh tool..........................................................Alt-click




SHAPES (WHILE DRAWING)
Draw from center.............................................................................................Alt
Draw from center with dialog....................................................................Alt-click
Constrain proportion......................................................................................Shift
Constrain orientation of polygons, stars, spirals..............................................Shift
Move object while drawing....................................................................Spacebar
Add/subtract sides, points, spiral segments..............................Up or Down Arrow
Decrease inner radius.....................................................................................Ctrl
Create continuous duplicates along mouse movement.........hold ~ while dragging



VIEWING & GUIDES
Get Hand Tool (while NOT editing Type)................................................Spacebar
Get Hand tool (while editing Type)...........Hold Control, then Space. (This will show the Zoom tool). Let go of Control so you see the Hand tool and IMMEDIATELY start dragging the mouse so you don’t end up typing spaces. Be sure to let go of the Spacebar while dragging so you again don’t type more spaces.
Zoom In Tool...................................................................................Ctrl-Spacebar
Zoom Out Tool...........................................................................Ctrl-Alt-Spacebar
Zoom In to exact size..............................................................Ctrl-Spacebar-drag
Hide/Show all tools and panels.......................................................................Tab
Hide/Show all panels except toolbox.......................................................Shift-Tab
Switch between horizontal/vertical guide....hold Alt while dragging out a new guide
Release Guide (turns it into a regular path)..........................Shift-Ctrl-double-click




TYPE
Decrease/Increase type size.........................................................Ctrl-Shift-< or >
Decrease/Increase leading...................................................Alt arrow up or down
Decrease/Increase kerning/tracking.......................................Alt arrow left or right
Kerning/tracking x 5........................................................Ctrl-Alt arrow left or right
Decrease/Increase baseline shift..................................Shift-Alt arrow down or up
Baseline shift x 5....................................................Ctrl-Alt-Shift arrow down or up
Align type left, right, center..........................................................Ctrl-Shift-L, R, C
Justify type...........................................................................................Ctrl-Shift-J
Justify last line....................................................................................Ctrl-Shift-F
Reset horizontal/vertical scale to 100%................................................Ctrl-Shift-X
Reset kerning or tracking to 0.................................................................Ctrl-Alt-Q




PANEL SHORTCUTS/FUNCTION KEYS
Show/Hide Brushes .........................................................................................F5
Show/Hide Color .............................................................................................F6
Show/Hide Layers ...........................................................................................F7
Show/Hide Info ........................................................................................Ctrl-F8
Show/Hide Gradient .................................................................................Ctrl-F9
Show/Hide Stroke....................................................................................Ctrl-F10
Show/Hide Attributes...............................................................................Ctrl-F11
Revert file......................................................................................................F12
Show/Hide Graphic Styles........................................................................Shift-F5
Show/Hide Appearance............................................................................Shift-F6
Show/Hide Align.......................................................................................Shift-F7
Show/Hide Transform...............................................................................Shift-F8
Show/Hide Pathfinder.......................................................................Shift-Ctrl-F9
Show/Hide Transparency.................................................................Shift-Ctrl-F10
Show/Hide Symbols........................................................................Shift-Ctrl-F11



LAYERS PANEL SHORTCUTS
Toggle layer between Preview/Outline mode..................................Ctrl-click on eye
Show layer while turning‑off all others............................................Alt-click on eye
Select all items on layer..........................................................Alt-click layer name
Copy selected item to different layer.........Alt-drag selection square in Layers panel
To create the new layer at the top of list..................................................Ctrl-click
To create the new layer below selected layer......................................Ctrl-Alt-click



COLOR PANEL SHORTCUTS
Saturate/Desaturate current color.........................................Shift-drag color slider
Change Color Mode.................................................................Shift-click color bar
Select compliment of current color...........................................Ctrl-click color bar



SWATCHES PANEL SHORTCUTS
Create a swatch as a global color..............................Hold Crtl–Shift while creating
Replace a swatch with another.................................Alt-drag new swatch over old



MISC.
(In any panel) Apply a value, but keep value highlighted in panel.......Shift-Return
Create New Symbol..........................................................................................F8
Swap Colors in a Gradient.................................Alt-Drag a color stop onto another





Photoshop CS6 Windows shortcuts


Although I only used Photoshop CS6 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)
o Move Tool - V
o Marquee Tool – M*
o Lasso Tool - L*
o Crop Tool - C*
o Quick Selection / Magic Wand - W*
o Patching Brushes – J*
o Eraser – E*
o Gradient Tool / Paint Bucket – G*
o Pen Tool – P*
o Type Tool - T*
o Switch Foreground / Background Colors – X
o Default Foreground / Background Colors – D
o Line / Polygon / Ellipse tools – U*
o Sponge / Dodge / Burn tools - O*
o Brush History – Y*
o Rotate View Tool – R
o Hand Tool – H